Halloween over the years

Baby Bat

 
Monkey!

 
TROGDOR!!!

 
Oogie Boogie

 
Slinky Dog

 
Ben Obi Wan Kenobi

 
The Black Knight

 
Bilbo Baggins

 
Red Ninja

Ninjini

Dad's Back!

Dad went to physical therapy on Saturday and she got him to walk!  Mom and I couldn't believe it.  So on Sunday mom and I were sitting down to dinner and dad was in the garage roasting coffee.  Can you believe it?! He hadn't been in the garage for 9 weeks!

So I said to mom, "Dad is dad again!"

Mom said, "Yeah, isn't it great? He's walking and roasting coffee..."

I said, "You don't even know what I mean.  I mean he's late for dinner!"

*rim shot*

Swahili

I learned this song for the winter concert at school.  I have been singing it incessantly for the last few days. Fast, slow, in the shower...My mom recorded me so she and dad can learn it too.

Hectic!

My mom asked where my jacket was.  I forgot it in August's car.  She pointed out that I never used to forget stuff, I always came home with everything I went to school with until lately.  I told her, "Yeah, I know. I'm in third grade now and third grade is so hectic!"

8th Birthday CD

Once again, an epic tracklist for my birthday CD:

 1. Yoda - "Weird Al" Yankovic
 2. Days With You- Jason Webley/Sxip Shirey
 3. One Tiny Thing - 8in8
4. Amish Paradise - "Weird Al" Yankovic
5. Don't Stand So Close to Me - The Police
6. The Problem With Saints - 8in8
7. David Bowie - Phish
8. Fat - "Weird Al" Yankovic
9. Raisins - Barenaked Ladies
10. Re: Your Brains - Jonathan Coulton
11. Donkey Beef - Big Little Dipper Dipper
12. Reno - Billy Nayer Show
13. Whip It - Devo
14. Burning for You - Blue Öyster Cult
15. Pogoniasis II - Nuclear Rabbit
16. The Future Soon - Jonathan Coulton
17. Fury of the Storm - DragonForce
18. Toy - The Melvins
19. Shop - Bill Cosby
20. Chocolate Cake for Breakfast - Bill Cosby
21. Moth-Chew-Moth - Nuclear Rabbit

Google sweatshirt

Dad got me a sweatshirt from Google. I love it, it's really soft and warm. But the first day I wore it, it got a hole in the seam of the sleeve. Dad took it back and exchanged it for a new one and that one got a hole in the same place!!

Mom said, "Come on Google?! Who is making your sweatshirts?!"

I said, "Microsoft."

:)

Teleportation

I wish I could fly. No, I wish I could teleport. I wish I had a teleport jetpack so I could teleport while flying.

Exposure

The 2 latest things that I've said that makes my mom think she's exposing me to the right things in life...
There was a desk bell at the store, and when it rang, I pointed out that it's the sound they have on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.

And a video game had a guy say "Outstanding"...I finished that with "...In the Field" :)

Also, I climbed into bed with my mom and dad on Christmas morning, laid there with them a minute then said, "Why are you guys so calm? IT's CHRISTMAS!!"

Your Own Worst Enemy

Today Jimmy said, "Wasabi is my worst enemy."

I said, "Well, then it's your friend...if it's your worst enemy."

It took mom a few seconds to figure that one out.

7th Birthday CD

We put together the CD favor for my birthday this year.

1. We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
2. Thunderbird - They Might Be Giants
3. Shack - Medeski, Martin & Wood
4. Cherry Bomb - The Runaways
5. I Love Rock 'n' Roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
6. Goody Two Shoes - Adam Ant
7. Blue Sock - Charlie Hunter Trio
8. Untitled - Neutral Milk Hotel
9. Cashout - Fugazi
10. Back To The Garden - Jason Webley
11. Boris - The Melvins
12. Josh's Antelope Blues - Mustard
13. Mustt Mustt - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
14. Llama - Phish
15. Take Me to the River - Talking Heads
16. So Lonely - The Police
17. Hockey Star - Big Little Dipper Dipper/Jason Webley
18. It's Kickin' In - They Might Be Giants

Zero is the hero

If there were no zeroes, there wouldn't be any hundreds or thousands. There wouldn't be a lot of numbers. Actually, there wouldn't be any numbers at all because zero starts all the numbers.

I'm really smart.

1st grade journal entries

My mom said this was her favorite. If you can't read it, it says, "This weekend I barfed. I was going to a show, the billy nair show. We were going down the street and that's when the barfing came. Isint that a exiding weekend."

Another entry mom and dad really liked was this one, it says, "This weekend I went to see the Melvens. They played to of there albums, stoner witch and bullhead. There one of my favorite bands in the world."

Tooth #4

My 2nd top tooth has been really loose for weeks. It was hanging on diagonally!  Well, I was about to get in the shower and was horsing around in mom and dad's bathroom and I bumped it out the counter...out it came!

6th Birthday CD

I gave out CDs as favors for my birthday again this year. This is the track list:

1. Iron Man - Black Sabbath

2. First Train Home - Imogen Heap

3. Mice Circus - Coraline Soundtrack

4. Fidelity - Regina Spektor

5. Upside Down Frown - TMBG

6. Chicken Monkey Duck - Mike Phirman

7. Here It Goes Again - OK Go

8. Women and Men - TMBG

9. Fresh - Devo

10. Elephant Elephant - Evelyn Evelyn

11. Rockaway Beach - The Ramones

12. Whistling in the Dark - TMBG

13. Yellow Submarine - The Beatles

14. Devil Be Good - Jason Webley

15. Octopus’s Garden - The Beatles

16. Long Live the King - P.D.Q. Bach

17. Finale - Mount Madonna Ramayana

18. Queen - The Melvins

19. Last Song - Jason Webley

NOVA

I was explaining to Jimmy today that NOVA is way better than Ben10 because NOVA is real and it teaches you things you don't even know!  I don't think I convinced him.

Let's Go Camping!

We went camping in Joshua Tree. It was fun...but hot. I climbed lots of rocks, up reallly high! I asked mom and dad the first morning, when we were just sitting in our campsite, "Why did we come camping?" because I was bored. But then we went on a hike even though I told mom and dad we should have driven. Turns out I was right, it was 2 miles each way to the ranger station. But we got back to camp and were so hot we drove into town in the air conditioned car and got ice and ice cream bars! Yay camping!

Sleeping in the tent was fun:

So was climbing:

So was finding the rattlesnake in our campsite:

Driving home, dad was trying to get me to not spit or put things in my mouth so he said what he always tells me, "Food goes in, words come out."  So I asked him, "What about air dad??"  I'm a smarty pants.

Cake or death?

Mom was giving me options for what I could have for a snack.

She said, "Your choices are apple or banana."

I replied with, "My choices are cake or death."

She laughed a lot.

Picnic Lunch

Last weekend Mom suggested we have a picnic in the backyard. I said, "Let's have a 4-course lunch!"

So we did!

This was my menu:

Course 1: Yogurt and granola
Course 2: Over easy egg
Course 3: Milk (yes, it's a drink but I wanted it by itself)
Course 4: Cookie

"This is the best lunch I've ever had"

Recent Ben-isms

- "Today was a glorious day."

- "I know!!! We can play Ben10 meets Star Wars meets Batman meets Scooby Doo in Dinosaur Land!!"

- When mom said she liked to cook dinners for 4 people while she and dad were talking to 2 friends, I corrected her, "FIVE people Mom!"

Sheep

Ben: "Does sheep's fur grown back?"
Mom: "Yes."
Ben: "Oh, good"

Mom thinks maybe she should look around for a shorn sheep.

5th Birthday CD

I made a CD for my friends and family that came to my birthday party:


1. Star Wars Main Title - John Williams
2. Doctor Worm - They Might Be Giants
3. 7 8 9 - Barenaked Ladies
4. Particle Man - They Might Be Giants
5. Bicycle Race - Queen
6. Rock & Roll High School - The Ramones
7. Snail Shell - They Might Be Giants
8. Dirty Old Town - The Pogues
9. The American Astronaut - The Billy Nayer Show
10. Mr. Fancy Pants - Jonathan Coulton
11. Dog Train - Blues Traveler
12. Code Monkey - Jonathan Coulton
13. Imperial March- John Williams
14. Skweetis - The Melvins
15. Mission - The Phenomenauts
16. Little Boxes - Malvina Reynolds
17. Mr. Roboto - Styxx
18. Get up Offa That Thing - James Brown
19. The House at the Top of the Tree - Thdey Might Be Giants

Bad Guys

You know all guys are really bad guys. Because to the bad guys, the good guys are bad guys because they're trying to fight them.

Umbrella song

I was singing this the other day while dancing around with and pointing an umbrella.

We love the rain
we love pointing our umbrellas up
we left the rainbows all day long
we love to shoot shoot shoot shoot
sha la la la la la la la la
thank you.

Mom says I'm such a boy!!!

Changer

Changer is my superhero. He's as big as the universe but he can live on Earth. Isn't that cool?

He can eat anything. He can even eat glass. So if he breaks glass on the floor he can just clean it up by eating it. And everything he eats tastes like candy. He can even eat bears. He can even eat bear fur. He can even eat red fur! (Mom asked, "What has red fur?") Everything has red fur because Changer wears red goggles!

He can shoot anchors out of his hands at bad guys.

Stay tuned for more Changer details!!

Update 5/31/09
Changer lives on Sun. He has cannons on the Sun that he can shoot at bad guys that are all the way on other planets. When he's on earth though he's the size of a normal person, about my size. He can even fit on Pluto. But when he's not on the planet he's as big as the universe.

He's also friends with Water Man. Water Man shoots water at bad people but doesn't just get them wet when he shoots water, it's a big wave that knocks them over and washes them away.

Changer's car can bounce up and down and over other cars so he never gets an accident.

Update 6/6/09
Changer can fix glass.

He's more than a google years old.

He pretends to be a table, people put food on him then he pops up and everything breaks and spills. He cleans it up and uses his magic wand to make more food for everybody.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Me : why did the chicken cross the road?
mom: why?
me: because she couldn't lay any eggs
mom: well... why did that make her cross the road?
me: because there was a grocery store across the street and she went and bought an egg and put it up her butt so she could lay it.

Destroying the Universe

Mom came into my room today and saw that I had out The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman. She asked me if I was reading it and I said "No, I'm just using it to destroy the universe. That and my list." My list is the alphabet list from Young Mad Scientist's First Alphabet Blocks. They have all I need to destroy the universe like Monsters and stuff.

Name

I'm going to start a band. Its name will be "Name" and our first song will be called "I Love You". The second song will be "Invisible Sun" about how the Earth really has two suns but one you can't see. I will play drums.

Bee snakes

I had a dream the other night that there was a snake in the house and mom was chasing around with a towel trying to snap it and I was chasing it trying to step on it. It wasn't scary, it was funny. It was a Bee Snake, it was black and yellow striped. It was running away because it didn't want to be snapped or stepped on. We chased it all the way over to Jimmy's where we finally got it. It was so funny.

Imaginary Friend

I told my mom the other day that sometimes, when I'm in the bathroom or by myself in my room, I have an imaginary friend. It's half boy-half girl so its name is boy-girl. I play games with it but I always win because it's imaginary.

Imagination abounds

Today I asked mommy if Neil [Gaiman] put the rain in the clouds. Mommy said "Neil? No." I said, "Well, then who did?" Like there could be no other way. As mommy was trying to figure out what Neil story could have given me that idea, I said "Maybe it was a dream. Sometimes when you're sleeping it's really like you're awake."

Then later I told her that I had the whole universe in my pocket including Pluto, orange juice and sweatshirts.

What will I come up with next?

The secret of the reindeer

I told mom and dad tonight that when I yawn the yawn goes through the walls and up through the ceiling and puts more air into the sky and that's how the reindeer stay up.

I guess everyone should yawn a lot Christmas eve!!

Graveyards and Statues

I was just explaining to Jimmy that sometimes when people die they go into graveyards and become statues. And I saw a statue in Dublin one time that wasn't really a statue but a dead person. Can you imagine that? I saw a real dead person.
I wonder why mom doesn't remember any of this? Jimmy said he saw a statue in San Francisco so I told him it wasn't really a statue but a dead person. Then we decided to watch Winnie the Pooh.

Dear Santa

I sent this letter to santa today:

Dear Santa,
Please can I have R2D2
Love
Ben

I hope I get it!

Shooting stars

I was outside the other night and I came in and told mom and dad I saw a shooting star, but it wasn't shooting.

The short sound of the letter A

Mom and I checked a book out of the library called Cats and it's all about words that have the short sound of the letter A in them. It has sentences like "the cat is on the mat."

I read the whole book! I even sounded out words like Pam and Jack. Pretty soon I'll be able to read mommy my three bedtime books!

ABCDEFG

I'm learning to write my letters. I surprised my mom by writing my name in chalk on the sidewalk so then we wrote the whole alphabet out. I needed help with a few letters but I wrote a lot on my own!

I'm a big boy now!

I was riding my bicycle with daddy yesterday, and I had my first spill on the bike. I bumped my knee and scraped my elbow up pretty well. But I survived and I'll get back on the bike and ride again... maybe next time I'll wear my elbow and knee pads though!

I got to put on two Band-Aids: one with Yoda, and one with storm troopers and Bobo Fett so things weren't bad.

My 4-year checkup

I'm 40.2 lbs and 43 inches! 85th percentile for weight and 95th for height. No wonder people never believe I'm only 4!

There was a farmer had a what?

So I was at the motorcycle races with mommy and daddy, and I started to sing a song:

there was a farmer had a dog
...B-I-M-B-O

I don't know why mom and dad started laughing so hard!

So busy these days

So much has happened since I posted last. I'm going to preschool now and I love it. I'm also learning to read a few words. I saw the word "Off" on a building yesterday and pointed it out to mommy. I can also read "on," "cat," "mom," "dad" and "ben."

I dressed up as Oogie Boogie for halloween. Mommy was Sally and Daddy was Jack and our house was really scary and cool. Jimmy won't come up to our house, he's too scared.

I'm not taking naps anymore so mommy gets irritated with me a lot but I don't mind, I just keep coming out of my room anyway. I think I'll do that now.

4h

"That's a 4 but if you turn it upside down, like this, it's an h"
I told mommy that when we were watching the timer on the stove waiting for my pasta to cook. She apparently didn't know because she was very surprised that I told her that.

My first story

There was a bird in a tree and he fell into the water. And a dolphin came by and wanted to bite him. And the Easter Bunny hopped by and he found a present. He had an Easter basket too. "What's in the eggs?" the bird said. "Needlenose pliers." said the bunny.

The bird flew out of the apple tree and he ran away from the dolphins. And that would be scary.

The bunny swooped down for a drink and nothing was in the water. And she swooped and jumped and he swooshed and then he was a fish. And now he is a pasta-flying bird.

Bagel Farmer

So, the other night daddy asked me if I was a genius. I very resolutely told him , "No, I'm a bagel farmer." So there you go!

Come on fhqwhgads

Today is the first time i get to dress up in my Trogdor the Burninator costume for Halloween! Mommy's going out to Toys R Us this morning to find something with a big muscle arm to put on my back because the one she made looks like a manatee and not a big beefy arm.

Mommy got a ball out from under the table for me and I told her "Oh, thank you so much!" I'm funny.

Another big thing is that i used the potty all afternoon yesterday. Everytime I had to pee, i never went in my Spiderman pullups!! My reward is that I get to listen and dance around to the Spiderman theme song :)

Fix my eye, it's broken mommy

I'm getting my first antibiotic today. Luckily it's just eye drops, not so luckily, they go in my eye and are for pink eye. I told mommy "medicine in mouth" but she put them in my eyes anyway. We went to see Dr. Rankin because he needed to "fix my eye, it's broken" and then got the medicine.

Hopefully mommy will realize medicine is for your mouth. Otherwise she's going to have to put it in my eyes four times a day for a week. That won't be any fun for either of us.

I'm a Genius

I was playing with mommy tonight and proudly announced, "I'm a Genius." She thought it was hilarious so I said it over and over. Apparently, I'm also really cute...at least mommy says I am.

Boople Bablefish

GuggGugg = Milk
CaBoBo = Helicopter
CheeBup = Clean Up
Titty = Kitty
Dee = Light
DoDo = Yogurt
BeepBeep = Car
Boodti = bootie, binky, blankie, pirate bootie snack
Bee = Bread
Nummy = watermelon
Boobie = Blueberries
Hohne = Phone

18 month checkup

I had to get 3 more shots today :( It wasn't fun but they gave me a sticker.

I'm 34" tall, 27lbs 10oz, and my head is a whopping 19inches!
I'm in the 90th percentile for height and, for the first time, up to the 80th percentile for weight!

Things of interest

There are things that i hear a lot or do a lot and i don't want to forget so here's my log:

1. I have been denied things of interest
2. Do babies in Japan sound like they're speaking English gibberish?

The more things change, the more they stay the same

I posted MONTHS ago about this evil thing poking through my gums. It keeps happening!! Now it's my 4th molar, on the top right this time. I wake up at night upset, eating sometimes hurts. Mommy gives me ice in a mesh feeder and that helps...so does ice water. But this just stinks.

Besides that I'm having a good time. Right now I'm hanging out in the laundry basket, I don't know why it's fun in here but it is!!

I played my first private piano recital, just for my mom, the other night. She took pictures and video taped some of it:  this is the 70+MB movie.

I'm as bad at this as my mom

I can't believe I haven't written since May! I can do way more than clap my hands now, although that's still one of my favorite things. I also like to stomp my feet. I'm trying to learn how to jump but haven't gotten off the ground yet.
I run allllllllll over the place.

This weekend we got our Christmas Tree and put it in the living room. I like the lights, I'd like them more if mommy and daddy would let me pull them off but they keep telling me "no." I got to play with them a little.


I can say all kinds of words now: no, yes, hi, hello?, nana (banana), apple (sounds like bappo), Goooooo!, byebye, water, tree, off (which means On, Off, Open, closed, among other things). This morning when mommy was changing my diaper, i said "bootie!" Ha!!

Well, i have lots of toys to play with and danger to get into! Talk to you later!!

Clap your hands!

I was sitting in my highchair this morning and figured out that i could bring my hands together flat and clap! I love it when other people clap, now I can do it too!

Mom tried different veggies with me last night. I ate parsnips sauteed in garlic oil--I'm becoming gourmet. They were yummy. And then she thawed a couple of cubes of green beans in the garlic oil and I ate about half of them before I realized I was eating something green and had to stop that nonsense! I guess I don't like a lot of things because I'm starting to want more flavor. Mom's going to need to try some seasonings now I think.

No big plans for today except that if it's not raining we'll go to the farmer's market.

What is this thing invading my mouth?

There's this horrible, sharp thing that's forcing it's way through my gums and I don't know why it feels the need to do that but I think I'll just scream until it stops. Mommy gave me frozen peaches in my mesh feeder which helped but I couldn't take my nap this morning, my gums hurt too much. She finally nursed me to sleep around 12:30 which is an hour and a half later than I usually sleep.

Before the wicked thing overtook my gums, I was in a good mood, playing, dancing to They Might Be Giants, being a goofball. Hopefully this tooth thing won't last long and I can get back to being my usually self.

I'm a movie star

Mommy and Daddy bought a digital video camera this weekend. So mommy made a bunch of "test" videos of me to see if she liked the camera. Turns out she's taking it back. But in the mean time, I got to dance, climb on daddy, and say MOP on film. My favorite part of They Might Be Giant's song "Violin" is the part that says "MOP!" (as seen in the just mentioned MOP video) and even though mommy and daddy aren't calling that my first word, it's pretty close! Funny since mopping is my mommy's LEAST favorite thing to do -- which is why she never does it!! :P

We also went to the park to meet up with the rest of our baby group. We haven't seen them in a while. Everyone is so big! We talked to the ducks and played with each other's toys.

It was a good weekend.

I told you mom, no green!

Last night mom tried to give me zucchini. She got a couple of pieces in my mouth as finger food but then I wised up. She pureed it and added a little cereal and milk and I wouldn't even swallow that stuff!! So back to sweet potatoes it was.

We're going to San Francisco for a Fort Pearson tonight. :)

Back in the swing of things

Yesterday i was back to two naps...although they were shorter than normal...and I slept from 8pm (had my 5am snack) until 8:30am. That's what mommy likes!

I got to play with neighbor boy yesterday. Sarah has her hands full with us! Today I get her all to myself though. It's nice out so I get to go to the park! Yay!

Mommy was taking pictures of me in the pack n play this morning...silly mommy.

Hmmm, what else have I been up to? Not much. I'm still working on cutting those top teeth through. I still crawl all over (including up the 2 steps in the family room! And down them if you let me!).

That's about it!

Ow, my gums

Well, I decided not to take my afternoon nap yesterday even though mommy tried for an hour to get me to sleep. So I was awake from noon until my bedtime at 8pm. Then last night i kept waking up and standing in my crib crying...I dont know why. But this morning when i was eating my apple in my mesh feeder, my top gums started bleeding...poor me. I just kept eating my apple but mommy felt sorry for me.

I took a earlier, shorter nap than i usually do but Sarah will be here in about 15 minutes to take me next door to play with Jimmy today. It stopped raining so hopefully we can go to the park!

Yesterday it was raining so Sarah and I went to Borders to read books and I was cracking everyone up by shaking my bootie to the music and smiling at everyone as they walked by. I'm so cute :)

Well, mom needs to get my bag together for the afternoon so I should sign off.

I must be growing

Yesterday i took a 2 1/2 hour nap! It was crazy! I must be having a growth spurt. So then i didn't take my regular afternoon nap because I'd slept so long. Mommy and I went to Goodwill and got some "new" pants and overalls for me since all mine are turning into pedal pushers! I got grumpy while we were shopping and then my next nap was from 6pm-7pm. So i stayed up past 9 last night! It was like a party! I slept well last night too and got up at 8 this morning. Now i'm just playing with my little kitty kitty toy and making lots of funny noises.

Wonder if I'll sleep as much today??

I don't like green

Mommy tried to feed me broccoli last night. I don't know what she was thinking, i don't like green things--silly mommy. She tried to get me to eat it as finger food, but I wouldn't go for it. So she snuck a piece into my mouth while i was laughing...sneaky! But i fooled her, i just pushed it around in my mouth and wouldn't ever swallow it. Instead i had tofu and egg yolk and some boob juice....i opted out of having a vegetable last night.

But I slept well last night and now I'm ready for breakfast.

Mommy's night out

Yesterday mommy and I went to Carrie's baby shower where all these women oohed and awwwed over me. It was great. And then we went and picked up my Auntie Chris and went to visit my Uncle Duncan (i've got a lot of extended aunts and uncles!). Duncan is my mommy's favorite singer's private chef and the biggest sweetheart :) I got to crawl around the hallway backstage at Davies Symphony Hall and i found a shiny wardrobe rack that would have kept me busy for hours! But we had to go so daddy could take me home and put me to bed. Daddy was great, he drove all the way to San Francisco to get me so mommy could go to both her baby shower and her concert. And he drove me home, gave me dinner and put me to sleep for the first time without mommy nursing me (well, since i was just a couple of months old!). I was a little stressed out about it but i did fine and fell asleep with little fuss. Daddy is so cool.

Rain rain go away

I was supposed to go to the part today to play with a bunch of other babies my age. We haven't seen each other in a couple of months and they all must be very big by now! But it's raining :( So no picnic, no swings, no pulling other babies' hair out and scratching their faces--rain ruins everything.

Instead we're going shopping with mom so she can get herself a new pair of boots and a skirt to wear to see Tori tomorrow night.

The finer things....

Starting young:

I can crawl, I can stand....even in my crib!

I'm making naps much more challenging for mommy. I'm sleepy, I rub my eyes, I'm too tired to crawl without falling so mommy puts me in my crib. She leaves--I stand up and start playing with my bunny, or chewing on the crib. Then I get frustrated so I cry. She comes in, lays me back down, gives me my blankie and binky again....She leaves, I stand up....Lather rinse repeat!

It takes 3 or 4 iterations of this for me to sleep but eventually it happens.

Night night.