Compare, compare

I really never knew that it could be so much fun to compare children.  In the childcare world  you are basically taught not to ever compare children.  Especially when talking to parents.  You don't want one parent to think there child is better than the next child or visa-versa.  But come on, what parent doesn't think their child is the brightest, funniest and cutest child they have ever seen?  Until the next one comes along...

Well, I am currently comparing children.  It is the psychologist in me coming out.  As you know, Bennett and Will are only 6 days apart.  And Miles is just 9 months back of them.  And of course Harrison is really not that much older.  He is 28 1/2 months older than Bennett and Will.  Yet I still have a hard time remembering some of the things he used to do...

Currently Bennett and Will are learning to say words and small phrases.  Will is a little ahead in this category.  He started saying things like 'Mama' and 'ball' and 'please' before Bennett.  And now he has moved onto phrases such as 'help please' and 'up please' as well.  Bennett is coming along as well.  He loves to say please.  You still have to prompt him to say it but when you do he usually gets all smiles and puts all his effort into it.  This morning he wanted something and I told him 'help please' and for the next 10 minutes all we heard was 'elp pees.'  So cute!  

We have a magnet toy on the fridge.  It has the entire alphabet and then a place to put the letters to hear what they sound like.  Bennett is content to throw the letters on the floor or work very hard to get them to fit into the player.  Will on the other hand wants them to fit but can't always figure that out.  And the reason he wants them to fit is because he wanted to learn what they are what the sound makes.  He has a deep fascination with letters.  

The same concept happens when we get out the puzzles.  Bennett wants to put the puzzles back together.  And Will wants to know what the puzzle pieces are.  

There is also a difference that I haven't really figured out yet.  Will still loves to put things in his mouth.  I am sure it has to do with teething but he literally puts everything in his mouth!  Bennett on the other hand can be trusted with just about everything.  That is one of my secret joys at the end of the day.  I can hand Bennett a toy not appropriate for someone his age, little Legos, small screw driver set, etc and he will work and play with it for almost 30 minutes.  This is a blissful 30 minutes as I wind down before starting to make dinner, etc.  And this is about the only thing that will keep his attention for longer than 5 minutes (without me being right there).  No toys that he should be playing with!  Bennett LOVES little things.  He likes to touch them, roll them in his hand and see how they feel and he likes to try and put them together.

Cartoons is a funny difference that the boys have.  Harrison didn't watch cartoons until he was almost 3.  We watched a few Baby Einstein videos, but that was it.  Little good that did us, since now it is his favorite thing...  Will LOVES to watch cartoons as well.  And he has favorites.  Blues Clues and Sesame Street are two of his favorites here.  Bennett on the other hand could care less.  He doesn't have any interest in sitting and watching a show.  He likes to watch Baby Einstein, IF I stay and watch it with him, but that is about it.  That is, unless we are in the car.  Then he totally will watch whatever you put in the DVD player and likes it best when you put on Diego.  Strange children!!!

Miles is at the dropping from the high chair stage.  And that is a funny show to watch.  Will pays no attention to this.  Bennett on the other hand is deeply troubled.  Every time Miles drops something, Bennett goes to get it and give it back.  He does this until he can't stand it anymore, at which point he yells at Miles and then comes and gets me (pulls me by my finger) to help and assess the situation.  Often times as I 'talk' the situation over with Miles, Bennett also 'talks' the situation over by pointing his finger at Miles.  Bennett often does this as well when I am talking with Harrison.  He comes over to where we are and gets down on his knees to discuss Harrison's egregious behavior.  We have started to go to a room where we can discuss alone because of Bennett's mother-hen tendencies.  I don't know where he gets that!

Anyway - this post is getting kind of long.  There are so many other things that all of the boys do the same and all do differently.  It is just fun watching them do these things.  It shows their individuality off so well.  So fun...