Since I have been holed up in my apartment due to the COVID 19 outbreak, I have been watching two episodes of Leave it to Beaver on my Smart TV every afternoon after the Minnesota governor's daily health briefing.

i made it up to the second season and one thing I have noticed in a number of episodes that I have watched is that when Beaver talks to Ward (or anyone) he begins a lot of sentences with "Well.." Anybody notice that?

The well thing is something I've noticed with him. And the older he gets, the worse it gets. As season 4 progressed he changed it to something like "wool", with a lot of hesitation.

In the later seasons Beaver nods way too much when he talks. Probably he was self conscious at the time.

As I see these early episodes for the umpteenth time I can't help but notice how good his acting is, in these seasons. Not just the delivery, but the facial expressions are great. As are Rusty's. It didn't seem Mathers developed a personal friendship with Stevens as he did with Correll (per his book), but they sure did great scenes together.

Rusty was just a natural kid. I love when they're talking about the new kid, Gilbert. Larry, Beaver and Whitey all start laughing then Larry stops and says "what a dumb kid." (Lately they cut it out.) Love all the exchanges between him and his mother. I read where Rusty and Tony hung around a lot cuz they liked sports. Rusty wasn't intimidated by Jerry, Tony or Hugh. The scenes with Hugh are classic. (Beaver's Guest and Beaver Says Good Bye.) Also Found Money and Larry Hides Out.

I always loved when little Beaver was trying to understand what Ward just said to him. He does this cute thing where he turns his head and looks down like he's thinking. It's very effective.

I know exactly what you'e talking about with turning and looking down. I've also posted before about how you can almost see the gears turning when Ward (or Miss Landers) is grilling him and he's making up lies.

I think I enjoy seasons 2 and 3 more than any others.