Regression.

Ben has started adding words to his vocabulary. He primarily imitates, and almost never performs. So although he may declare "helicopter" (or his version of it, anyway), if you ask, "Ben, what is that up there?" he'll grin, shake his head and turn away, as if saying, "Nice try, yo."
Other words that have made it out of his mouth at one point or another: choo-choo, moon, puppy, peas, peaches, and I swear I've heard "sandwiches". It may just be me, though.

The other day, I was watching this new show on PBS with the kids - "Sid the Science Kid". It's a Jim Henson Muppets - animated show...but I'm not sure if the characters are muppets, Claymation, or what. But they ARE cute. See? Anyway. On this episode about growth, the kids all decide to pretend that growing happens really fast instead of sl-ow-ly. First, they pretend to be babies. "Waaa!" "Feed me!" "Change my diaper!"
Next is 2 year olds. "What do 2 year olds say?" The kids look at each other, and start saying, "No!" "No, no no!"

Whoever wrote that got it exactly right. Because no matter how many words Ben learns, there is that one favorite word of all kids his age. He likes to yell it and purse his lips at me, lifting his head in defiance. Just daring me to disagree. He seems to respond in the negative even to statements such as, "Let's go for a walk!" "Do you want a snack?" or "Are you a boy?"

We were driving in the van the other day, and Ben was saying "NO!" to everything we asked. Leah asked him, "Ben, do you like cars?" Ben said "No!" and Leah declared, without missing a beat, "Ben doesn't like cars anymore!"

So basically, all this lovely vocabulary has been reduced to One. Word. Ju-u-st great.