Sunday

i can confidently say that he's "going through a phase". He wants to do everything by himself, but he doesn't want to be alone. He wants to walk up (and down) stairs holding the railing, but his legs are too short and arms aren't long enough (i.e. he's not tall enough) to do that.. so he basically screams because he wants to, but he can't. so we can let him scream or pick him up.. and when we pick him up, he screams because we picked him up... so then we put him down.. and then he screams because he didn't want to be put down.

sound fun? tiring... definitely!

we went to a friend's house over the weekend and it was perfect because they have a fenced off "deck" (it's the roof of their garage.. i love boston) and they have a little backyard like ours, but it's fenced in and safe.. so the kids could just explore and they were fine. yesterday, we tried to bring ben out to our driveway to play with his bikes and some other toys and all he wanted to do was walk out into the street. [insert similar screaming story from above].

being that yesterday marked the start of the revolutionary war.. at about 3pm, the British came and ran through our neighborhood in a parade while firing muskets. That didn't go over well..

we went to the park.. that was all fenced in and has a huge beach area (it's at a reservoir in town) to let him run some of his energy off.. he basically was afraid to go more than a few feet from us, but then didn't want our help with anything. it started to be funny after a while.

we ended up at friendlies for dinner where he smeared ketchup over his burger and only ate fries (after a lunch of jello..)..

finally we were home and just plunked him into the bathtub where he was the happiest that he'd been all day.. what a relief! of course.. that was until he started standing up so he could splash water on his penis.. which is against the rules.. he can do that if he's kneeling.. but there's no standing in the tub.

i'm going to daytona tomorrow for work. i am determined to sit on the beach and watch the sun rise on wednesday morning and if i'm lucky, i may take a dip in the ocean before heading back.