Bentley's Thoughts

I don't think I could list all of the words Bentley knows at this point. His vocabulary is expanding at quite the rapid rate. There is, of course, the expected vocabulary consisting of construction vehicles and animals. The typical fare for young males, right?

There are also the expressions he uses that I'm not sure how he's already learned. Such as:

"I"m king of the mountain!" (as he pushes Jackson off the couch). Or when his remote control car won't start he says to Opa: "It's out of juice!".

There are the big words he throws out once in a while. "Jake is misbehaving!". Luckily for Jake I'm so entranced by Bentley and his four syllable words that he got off the hook. :-)

There are the concepts he's starting to understand. "Mommy, are we on Dowling?". He loves street names and is always asking me about the names of the roads as we drive down them. I try to trick him into conversations on how some roads are parallel to each other and some are perpendicular and there are circular shaped round abouts... but for now he's more about the names than the math. That's okay, we still have time for math!

What's even more fun than the cute expressions is hearing him put all sorts of words together in funny ways I can get a kick out of. He talks, he sings, and he even reads some of his favorite books. (Yes, I know he's not reading - it's called memorization!). Fun times. :-)

I know I am probably a bit more intrigued by all his thoughts than most people would be, but I'm going to share them anyway. It's my blog right?

Viva's screaming, and I ask him why. "I pushed her over, Mommy. But only one time!" Admission of guilt, but with a disclaimer. I love it.

Bentley takes Jake's toy away and I tell him to give it back. He throws it at Jake and hits him in the head. I remind him not to throw, and prompt him to tell his brother he's sorry. "But I'm not sorry, Mommy!". Good point, good point - should you force an apology if they don't mean it? I'm still thinking on that one. Or rather - on how to make him see that he SHOULD be sorry.

Bentley wants help looking for something, but Grandma is on the phone. "You busy. I'll go look for my cement truck". Self initiative and awareness of others. Could I ask for more?!

We're driving down the road and pass a bus. "Is that public transportation?". Awareness that he listens to me as I ramble while we drive down the roads, and stores away the words I use to try out later. Even more? He uses them correctly!

We're outside picking raspberries together and the wind picks up. "Make the wind stop, Mommy!", he says to me. I tell him "That would be cool, but I can't control the weather". What does he say? "Then I will. STOP WIND!!!!". And does the wind stop? You betcha!

Sitting on the couch together, and Bentley tells me he's going to climb the walls. I say: "You're kind of goofy, Bentley!". How does Bentley reply? "I kind of love you, Mommy!". The kid is a hoot, that's all I can say about that one.

He also enjoys loudly exhorting the twins to make good choices. "NO Jake, Mommy said not to climb on the table". Or "Stop, Viva! Those are Mommy's cookbooks". You'd think with the extra voice of reason the twins would be more obedient, right? Unfortunately, not the case...

Often when I ask him questions, or prompt him to share a thought about his day with someone else, he's slow to answer. Too often I start prompting. As in: Bentley, tell Daddy what you saw this morning. A moment of silence... I rush to fill in - Bentley, tell Dad you saw the garbage truck. It's not really that he's slow, it's that he was working up this sentence which then came out in a fast explosion of words "Daddy I saw the garbage truck on the street and it came and picked up our trash". I'm asking for single words and he has complete thoughts to share. He's brilliant (and yes, I know I'm biased!).

I used to wonder what was going on in Bentley's head, and that was a fun activity. Knowing what he's thinking because he can express it? This I love!