Mr. Organization

We think little Ben may have inherited some of his mother's organizational genes. (That would be ME - I'm still not used to being the mom!) He has begun to sort his toys, put them into containers, systematically playing with one and then another.

Of course his methods and organizational system are a mystery to us. There seems to be no real "category" (shape, size, etc) - just whatever his whim of that moment may be. Now the blue triangle is intriguing, then the ball with the bell inside must be inspected and tossed repeatedly across the floor, then one of his wooden blocks tastes super yummy... But he does enjoy putting his toys into things...his toy basket, a bucket, a bookshelf, his play pen, or his favorite place - the trash can! We have discovered random balls, stars from his star stacker, shapes from his shape sorter, and blocks in the kitchen trash can. He watches us put things in there, and we can see his little mind thinking, "I want to put something in there too!" I even found a star toy in the office trash can, which is interesting because that one is the "step" kind where you have to step on the lever to open the top...I still don't know how he managed that one! But we are realizing that Ben learns more things that we thought he could at this tender age of 11.5 months! Never underestimate the mind of a baby.

It is scary to know that he's already watching us - we are ever mindful of what we are saying, how we are saying it, what we are doing. Sometimes Bryan and I enjoy rather lively political discussions (we agree on everything, we just love to talk about it all) and we realized the other day that we better watch how we are talking about people - we don't want Ben to pipe up one day and say in front of the wrong people, "Pelosi is an idiot!" That wouldn't be good.

Back to organization...his other favorite place to put his toys is in the kitty's water bowl. He LOVES dunking them, splashing them, and then chewing on them after they're good and wet from Patsy's water. Yum! Unfortunately he did this the other day with a plush toy...yeah, that one is still drying out!!

Come to think of it, he just loves water in general. We have to keep the bathroom doors closed and the toilet lids down at ALL times (when not in use of course). Every time one of us forgets, without fail we'll hear an echo-y "splash, splash" and go running to find Ben very joyously splashing in the toilet! When we get to the bathroom and say "Ben! What are you doing?!" - he grins and giggles and looks so darn cute and is so excited!!

I know I'll miss these moments when he outgrows this stage - splashing in the toilet water, putting toys in the trash. They are so funny and precious! HE is so funny and precious. My little man!