Top Ten for Mr. Imagination

I've been thinking about making a blog post that captures some of the every day, every moment behaviors of the kids so I can have all of the little things recorded alongside all of the big day trips, beach adventures and family stories that have comprised my blog so far. Something along the lines of a Top Ten for each child that sums up their personality, silly quirks, favorite sayings, and most crazy-making habits.

Of course, I'm a sucker for making lists. So forcing myself to record my thoughts in this way is like forcing myself to try an OnoPop at the farmers' market-- no real challenge, it's just going to happen. I've been informally mulling these ideas over the past few weeks knowing that they'd someday come in handy for some blogging content. By the way, I had a salted watermelon cream popsicle from the OnoPop stand today and it was fab-u-lous.

Let's start with the oldest child, my darling Benjamin (who sometimes likes to call me Darling Mudder, especially when asking me for something). These are the things that help to define who he is right now:

1. Best Short Description: Benji is Mr. Imagination, constantly coming up with scenarios and new uses for found objects. He is a steady stream of questions these days, which can be charming and exhausting at the same time. He tends to be very obedient for other people (teachers, other parents, etc.). He's eager to follow directions in group classes and comes off like a labrador puppy that is eager to please. He could color and dance away an hour, and then wrestle, climb and swim away the next two.  
2. Favorite Toys: legos that become trucks; sticks; palm fronds; coconuts; pretend cameras and walkie-talkies. He often walks around the yard pointing/waving sticks and makes a sound like "waah waaah waaachoo," and we have no idea what that is all about. 
3. Favorite Thing to Say: "Whoppens if?" (what happens if... and then fill in the blank with some obscure and/or unlikely event). 
4. Food Preferences: Benji loves macaroni and cheese, ice cream (and all of its frozen relatives), and cookies of any persuasion. He hates onions, celery and fresh herbs. 
5. What Makes Him Feel Special: He likes to talk and reminisce about when he was a baby. He also loves doing anything that Alice is not yet allowed to do. 
6. What Makes Him Scared: Benjamin seems terrified of disappointing other people and gets very worried if he's told that he needs to apologize to someone outside of our immediate family. When he knocked some mangoes off of our neighbor's tree he was petrified and started crying when I told him he would need to say sorry to Norbert for ruining the unripe fruit. 
7. Things He Likes to Talk About: Benji is fascinated with policemen, firemen, and superheroes. He is also very interested in rocket boots and flying aircraft. He spends a lot of his day thinking about these important people and things.  
8. Most Lovable Characteristics: Benjamin is game for any adventure. He is not a complainer when we go for long walks, eat strange foods, or travel without anything to entertain him to pass the time. He is protective of Alice, and stays by her side when she needs him. Of all of his physical features, I think his cute little round tush is my favorite-- perfect filler for his spiderman underoos. 
9. Ways Drives Us Crazy: The endless questions can be tiring, because sometimes you just can't keep making up answers. We're also doing a lot of refereeing these days. Benjamin has been fighting more with Alice now that she asserts her opinion and can ruin his projects with one stomp of her chubby legs. Bedtime has also become a bigger challenge... he can find all kinds of reasons to emerge from his bedroom between 8:30 and 10:00 pm. Tonight it's the suffering caused by mosquito bites. 
10. If I Could Predict the Future: I would guess that Benji will be a big guy with a tough exterior, but shy and sensitive in his core. While he might play rugby, I would not at all be surprised if he was also a bookworm and tapped into his creative energies in some way. Regardless of the fashion preferences of his generation, I am sure he will be wearing rocket boots.    

Benji met his favorite book character, Arthur, at the Honolulu Book and Music Festival on Sunday.  We have been reading the whole Arthur Adventure series from the big shelf at the Kailua library.

Making Clifford's ears in preparation for the big meeting...

He later asked Tag... "why did Clifford have a zipper on his back, and walk on only two hands?" Perceptive little guy.
We told him the pavement was hot, so he needed to protect his front paws... and sometimes its so warm in Hawaii he needs to shed his fur.