Saben - 25 1/2 months

Things Saben will eat:
Raw Garlic
Chili Pepper Flakes (the kind you put on pizza)
Black pepper (straight out of the shaker)
Mustard
Plain Yogurt w/ Granola
Soy Sauce w/ Wasabi (he dipped a spoon in the spicy stuff I'd mixed for my sushi and said "mmmm!". Then he did it several more times so its no fluke)

Things Saben will NOT even try:
Macaroni & cheese
Rice
Chicken that's not breaded
Eggs
Oatmeal
You get the idea I think.....

Saben Loves
Trains, train tracks, railroad crossings. He has this whole spiel "I hear a train! Train coming! Down the tracks, clickety clack." and he'll repeat it several times if he actually hears a train whistle but will also start saying it at very random times. Tonite he was saying it loudly and quickly as if trying to impress a couple girls we were visiting.


Balls, especially basket balls. We went to the park the other day and instead of playing on the swings & slides he spent the entire time on the basketball court. He would squat down with his little foam soccer ball and then spring up towards the hoops and use the (imaginary) momentum to get the ball about 2 feet up in the air above his head. It was so cute and he ran all over the court chasing the ball. Saben also just got a used basket ball hoop from our neighbors and he loves it.

Keys - he seemed to outgrow this last fall, but it is back and worse than ever because now he can say things like "Saben Drive". And he gets really freaky about having to have them whenever he wants them so its really a pain.

Playdough
Sleeping with balls in his bed
Making granola and cookies with mommy
Puzzles
Children's Museum
Grandparents, relatives & adult friends

Saben Doesn't Like:
Wearing shoes - he'd rather go barefoot, even out in the yard and at parks

His big boy bed - we put it in his room to see what he thought. He thought "no way" so now we are getting ready (i.e. procastinating) to do whatever it takes to get him sleeping in it before baby sister comes along.

Putting toys away - mostly just his favorite ones, like the train tracks, he FREAKS out when we put them away as if somehow they are going to be gone forever. He actually does fine putting some stuff away, but playdough, train tracks - watch out.

The last couple weeks Saben has definitely been pushing us as far as discipline goes. He's taken temper tantrums to new volumes and is constantly testing his boundaries. Sometimes it seems like I say no 10 times in just a few minutes and do time outs constantly. Miraculously this last Tuesday was one of our worst days ever, but slowly he's gotten a lot better every day since then. I'd like to think the discipline thing is finally working, but maybe he's just been in a better mood.

I think the hardest part for me is making the rules and deciding which ones you really want to try and enforce. Because sometimes you say no out of laziness and realize your mistake once he's sobbing and then other times you say yes and realize your mistake when he then expects to be able to use at least 6 spoons at every meal.

Finally, a fun story - the other day Saben was watching his friend Audrey getting her diaper changed and observed that she has a tunnel instead of a pee pee. Why teach your kids real anatomy when its so entertaining to see what they come up with themselves??