Archive: The Fine and Right Education of the Young Doctor Benny

Benny was going to be a Three King. That is, I spent a lot of time making that costume for him. BUT when it got right down to it, and he was waking up from his bitterly resented nap in time to get dressed to go trick-or-treating, he decided the only thing he could imagine being was a bee. So. Forget the king costume, forget the crown, the jewelled collar, the belt, the tunic, the vest, etc. Easy come, easy go. There's always the nativity pageant at church. So we went trick-or-treating a bit in our neighborhood, then went to Benny's dear friend Katrina's house where her mom and dad were throwing a costume party, and we trick-or-treated a fair amount over there too! :)

Here are the pictures:




Here we are going down the street...


Up the steps to someone's house...


To the door and back again. :)



Benny grew more and more gregarious and social as the evening went on. He was saying "OH HI!!!" to everyone who came to the door, and proclaiming "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" to all he met. Here are some other highlights from the evening, examples of some stuff he said.

To someone coming to the door who was sort of a stout old man: "OH LOOK MOM! It's a great big old dad!"
To someone without any pumpkins on their porch: "OH NO! You forgot to put your pumpkins!!! Maybe we can find a pumpkin for you!"
To a big bunch of people on a porch: "WOW EVERYBODY, HERE I COME! TRICK OR TREAT!"
To a kid in a dinosaur suit who was passing out candy, in the most patronizing tone imaginable, while patting the dinosaur on the back: "OH THANK YOU DINOSAUR! YOU DOING A VERY GREAT JOB! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!"
To three ladies sitting on the porch passing out candy, "HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO YOU, AND YOU, AND YOU TOO!"

He was just in general being so charming and darling and TALKY and completely totally INTO IT, it was enjoyed by all. One woman said, "I can see why you're pregnant. If I had one like him, I'd want to have six more." He was just ON in all the full force of his political persona, talking to everyone and being the life of the party. He was EXTREMELY polite, saying "excuse me" to other children on the sidewalk, and saying "THANK YOU" very grandly to people who gave him candy. He got a huge bag of loot. He had a GREAT TIME.

Then at the party, he had a marvelous time admiring Andrea's wonderful and artful pumpkins, and had such a good time playing with Katrina that he yelled all the way home, "NO, MOM, YOU CAN'T GO HOME! You have to stay and play with Katrina! You have to trick or treat some more! You have to talk to the Halloween guys!" He asked me what was my best thing and I said, "Trick or treating with you." He said his best thing was "talking to the Halloween guys" and I assume this meant the conversations he struck up with everybody he met while out traipsing about. :) What a guy.

I forgot to say yesterday... when Benny was swimming around in the pool after his lesson, he kept hollering, "I'M A PIRATE EEL! I'M A PIRATE EEL!"

Today Benny floated while Ms. Deanah counted to ONE HUNDRED. In other words, he knows how to float. This is fantastic since just a few weeks ago he couldn't make it to ten. Something clicked -- the brilliant Ms. Deanah found yet another secret formula -- this one involved getting him to kick around on his back while holding the kickboard in the water behind his head. Sounds complicated but I think it was just what he needed to get his belly up and realize things about breathing that helped him out.

Tuesday he had his October group class for the Pre-Twinklers at the Academy of Music. He did a rather good job -- bit sloppy during the group activities but he pulled it together to play "Tocca Tocca Stop Stop" with good rhythm and good definition between the A and the E string. He's VERY sloppy at lesson about stuff that he's clean about at home... I guess there are the distractions of the other kids. He seemed like he wanted to sort of "joust" with the violins -- that was an awful idea, of course -- and he was also making a little girl laugh by saying "STINKY DIAPER!" in sepulchral tones. Fascinating. The other day he was making a girl laugh by pretending to vomit. NEAT.

Three Conversations

Eels
Benny is in the shower, and he's got the jets on that are waist high for us, perfect height for him to have a "real" shower, and he's got them turned on very low and he's lying down stretched in the shower stall like he's swimming.
Me: What are you doing?
Benny: I'm in the sea.
Me: You're in the sea?
Benny: Yes with my eels. (I see that he's making an "eel" head with each of his hands)
Me: Well, tell the eels it's almost time to get out of the shower.
Benny: Okay, eels. See you later! Go swim! Have a good time! And if you see your mom, just go with her, and then she will just stay with you! Okay goodbye!

Dreams
I'm in the bathroom brushing my teeth and he has his teeth already brushed and is in bed waiting for me to come and read. And pops his head into the bathroom.
Benny: Mom, you want to come dream with me?
Me: (duh) Sure, honey, I'll dream with you.
Benny: Okay, what are you going to dream about?
Me: Well what should I dream about?
Benny: You dream about Ben.
Me: You want me to dream about you?
Benny: Yes.
Me: Okay, what are you going to dream about?
Benny: I'm just going to dream about Mom.
Me: You think we should dream about each other?
Benny: Yes.
Me: *dies from love*

Rain
It's dark and Benny is lying in bed with his eyes closed and I'm sitting next to him and it's raining outside and I think he's asleep.
Benny: Listen, Mom. It sounds like I'm dreaming.
Me: What are you dreaming, Benny?
Benny: I'm dreaming rain. And it sounds like rain and dark. And I'm dreaming dark and rain. And that's great. Do you hear it, Mom?
Me: *wakes him up from hugging and kissing on him so much*

I didn't even know he understood the concept of dreams. Maybe he doesn't?