Bennett's Vocabulary, Take 2

Well, maybe he doesn't have a bunch of words, but he sure does have many gestures and sounds to direct us around in our daily lives.

Some examples:

• Fingers in mouth, making sound = Taggie (blanket with tags around edges)
• Scrunch up shoulders = I dont know
• Da da da da ta da = TA DA (with arms out to side)
  
• aah oh = uh oh
• pointing furiously with a funky fist pointed finger and almost hyperextending his elbow
• aahhh = drink / water
  
• golfer motion, then lean over to pick up ball, then wave to crowd
• ooh, ah, ooh ah = monkey
  
• ooooooh = can be either cow (mooo) or chocolate milk (also related to cow)
  

Connor (finally has a sound for his brother) = rah rah
Avery = (just sounds medium then high)

Connor's Mothers Day Poem

Connor brought this home to Mommy from school for Mother's Day. The way he read it to Jamie with his little voice was just very, very sweet...

Sometimes I might upset you
Just because I'm small
By leaving fingerprints of mine
On a table, chair or wall.
But everyday I grow a bit
And I'll be big one day
When all my tiny fingerprints
Have long been cleaned away
So keep these prints of my two hands
To help you recall
Just how big my fingers were
That time when I was small.

(he made a towel with his handprints on it)

Indian Princesses / Guides

We joined Indian Princesses and Guides through the YMCA this year. Our friend Stace convinced us on the Princesses side, and Connor's school buddy Dane and his dad Bruce told us about their tribe.

Avery is in the Galloping Ponies (Palomino Nation) - Connor is in the Aztecs (Falcon Nation). Although I don't remember too many details about it, I was in Indian Guides as a kid. I was Brown Bear, and my dad was Black Bear. I'm going to try to have my kids be some kind of "bear" related name to keep the tradition going. I mostly just remember doing fun activities with my dad -- most notably the "derby car" races (small wooden cars we'd build ourselves and race down a track).


Our first outings:

• Avery - Blair Valley
• Our first campout. We had to gear up big time for this one - it's a "primitive" campout in the Borrego desert. There is no running water, no bathrooms (the Y brought in porta-potties). It was definitely a unique experience. Cooking for ourselves, hiking to some ancient hieroglyphics, etc.
  
• Connor - Mission Trails
• This one is nearby, just down in Mission Valley. Connor was bummed cuz all but one of the braves had their bike on this campout. We went on a hike with the other boy that didn't and his dad. It gave Connor tons of incentive to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. Jamie took him to her parents house in Fallbrook, put him on his bike without training wheels on the grass, and he learned it in a couple minutes.
  
• Avery - Indian Hills
  
• What an awesome campout! This one has a playground with a huge 2 story treehouse with a slide down from there. We did activities like Paint Ball shooting, Zip Line, and panning for gold all day Saturday. Avery ended up reciting the 6 aims to the Nation Chief at this campout, earning her 6 aims patch. (she had been practicing all week)
  
• Connor - Indian Hills
• Back to Indian Hills the very next week with Connor. Since Avery had done the 6 aims the week before, he had incentive to learn them as well. He actually ended up doing them twice, earning a 6 aims path AND a sharks tooth (for any subsequent time).

Pics at flickr.com