A few photos

Here are some pictures of Ben from the last few weeks. He has been chatting up a storm!

He is still working on walking, but now will stand on the stairs and use the banister (with supervision!) to walk up or down the stairs. Unless he decides it's time for a quick belly slide down the stairs, just for fun! (Or to run away from Mommy who is trying to get him to bed!) He has also discovered that if he stands on the 3rd step, he can reach the light switches and spend minutes flipping them on & off!

"Bath" is now one of Ben's favorite signs. It may look like he's trying to sing opera in the photo below, but I think he's just signing "bath." We have to be careful not to use the word around him unless it's bath time because he gets very disappointed! He really loves splashing and playing with his bath toys. We've started saying "bye bye" to the water as we drain the bath to work on transitions, but it is still a challenge to get him out of the tub & dried off without a major protest.

Ben's stuffed animals regularly get hugs & kisses & occasional nibbles. He adores his teddy & puppy but also is the third generation to cuddle with Georgie, below.  In the mornings he will often point to the stuffed animals next to his bookcase and ask to "peash" have them in his crib until he ends up with a whole pile. Even his beloved animals aren't immune from his new game of holding something up high and dropping it with enthusiastic force! Here are some photos of his gentler moments.

Happy day

There was nothing particularly noteworthy about today, but it was just a really happy day for Ben. He was smiling & laughing so much! We gave him blackberries for the first time and he scarfed them down. He decided he doesn't like raw red peppers as much as he likes the cooked ones he had the other day with his fajitas. He LOVES his baths and signed "bath" hopefully several times this morning before his bath, which was needed as he got soy butter in his hair again. We didn't bathe him again tonight after he rubbed hummus on his face during dinner. Thankfully, a washcloth sufficed for that. Ben did love the hummus, though!

Full-out walking is still a work in progress, but Ben is taking several sets of a few steps at a time. He slides down stairs backwards on his belly for the sheer joy of it. We had a video chat with Grammie & Grandpa this morning and he waved, smiled & played peek-a-boo. He flirted with a nice lady at a neighboring booth at Red Robin. We sang "Baa Baa Black Sheep" about 5x because Ben requests it over and over by saying "baa!" and signing "music." He's getting a little better in climbing into a lap to read a story, but if he can't exactly get the movements, he'll settle for just tackling you. He really is just such a joy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day wishes to our moms, grandmas, "second moms" and friends who are moms! We love you and appreciate all of your support and often behind-the-scenes hard work!

We had a lovely breakfast at Ingredient, walked around Town Center for a few minutes, then headed home for a nap. After nap & his lunch, we headed over to Jerry & Herb's for dinner & dessert with the family. Ben was kind of clingy and Serious Baby this morning as he is teething again but had an awesome new friend to console him, thanks to Uncle Jeff & Rebecca, who went to see Alice Cooper last night!

Ben has seen Alice Cooper's appearance on "The Muppet Show," but somehow did not seem to make the connection between that and his new super-soft bear. Think it's too early to show him some "Wayne's World"?

Ben also independently decided he wanted to push his stroller for a while before getting in it. He pushed Alice Cooper & Teddy around 2 sides of the restaurant with only a little steering help (he was managing to only turn it in circles for the first 30 seconds!).

Ben also got a haircut Thursday night as his hair was getting unruly. He was kind of tired after a hard day of play & learning at daycare, but did perk up a little at the end! Again, I was happy to fork over the small fee so that I didn't have to try to cut his hair in a straight line as he continually turned and twisted to look at everything! I really appreciate that these stylists have the skill & bravery to do so! I guess some kids just get transfixed by the movies they have, but Ben really didn't know what to make of Thomas the Tank Engine and didn't care about Dora other than to have the DVD box to hold. Maybe I should bring a Giada DVD to his next haircut!
 

Ben's new word

Ben is already good at saying or signing "more" and is even getting closer to the actual sign instead of his original clapping approximation. We decided to work on adding "please" to his mealtime requests and he has picked it up quickly. It usually comes out "peash" or "peas" as his l's aren't too good yet. However, he still hasn't quite grasped that just saying "please" doesn't get you whatever you want, right at that moment. He was trying to get my lemonade yesterday and seemed to think that if he said "please" enough times with a sweet look on his face, that would be the magic combination to get the drink.

Ben also seems to be in a kind of window of learning this last week or so- he's talking so much and trying so hard to imitate new words and new signs. It's really fun to watch!