17 month update

You are growing so big!  I can't believe that you will be old enough to go to nursery in a month!  You are truly testing out your boundaries and fighting for whatever independence you can get.

Some things about you at 17 months:

*You are saying so many new words, although I may be the only one who can understand them!  I'm constantly translating for other people, even Daddy sometimes.  New words: baby, pee-pee, Bennett ("nennett"), where is it ("wizzit"), outside ("ow-sye"), Pocket ("dahdet"), Red ("whey"), off, lotion ("wub-wub"), more ("me") - you also sign "more!"
*You are good at following simple directions.  You'll throw things away for me, give things to the puppies, or take things to whoever I tell you to.
*We bought a small potty for you to start getting acquainted with so that potty-training will hopefully go easier down the road.  You've grown very fond of the gummy bears I bought you for your potty treats and any time you spy the bag on the counter you'll point to it and ask hopefully "teat? teat?" You know the rule is you only get one if you sit on the potty, so I'll take one out and tell you to sit on the potty and you'll toddle over and sit on it (rarely correctly, or sometimes you'll stand in it instead, but it still counts!)
*You still love playing with cars and get excited if you see a big truck outside.  Whenever we're at a store you throw a fit if you see a toy car and we don't let you play with it.
*You are kind of obsessed with the puppy kibble.  You'll happily munch on it if we don't catch you first.  We have to hide it behind the couch so you don't get to it, but you are already learning how to climb so I have a feeling that it won't be much longer before we have to come up with a new solution.
*I showed you how to put on lotion and you LOVE it.  If you see a lotion bottle you'll ask for the "wub-wub" (rub rub) and hold out your hands so I can put a little bit on your palms, then we'll have to prompt you to "rub rub"
*You have a hiding spot in the house where you think I can't see you - you hide in your room behind the rocking chair. 
*Tooth #7!  On the bottom next to the middle right.  Popped up around December 1st.
*You love Aunt Ayisha so so much.  She is your favorite person in the whole world.  You start bawling when you realize she's about to leave.  She's the only person that you will cry over other than me.  She's a very good mommy substitute because she parents you the same way I do, but every once in a while you show me that you still like me best, which is good for my ego!

16 month update

Happy 16 months!  I'm still amazed every day by how quickly you are learning and growing!

Some things about you at 16 months:

*You like to help throw your dirty diapers away.  You just started doing it on your own one day.  When we finish a diaper change you'll get up, pick up the dirty diaper, and walk it over to the trash can and wait for me to open it then you'll toss it in.
*You like to play with stickers.  I first bought some a couple months ago but you weren't interested.  You found the stickers a couple weeks ago and suddenly decided they were so much fun to play with.  You'll bring the sticker pad over to me because you can't peel them off yourself.
*You like to try to get the pups to chase you around and then you'll giggle like crazy.
*You've learned the art of "gasping" with surprise and delight and do it constantly.  It's so silly and dramatic!
*If you catch sight of a toy or something hiding underneath furniture, you understand now that you need to crouch down and look underneath to find it, rather than just poking at it until it pushes back out of sight.
*Everything is a phone.  The remotes are the most common, but anything will do.  You'll hold it up behind your ear and walk around saying "hewwo? oodis? (who's this) dada?"
*You like to "hide" things behind your back, and have also learned the "fakeout" - offering us something then when we reach out for it, pulling it away and giggling
*You have tooth #4 and 5!  They both came in around October 30th.  Both on the top.  The 4th one was the other middle one (on the right).  Because you don't let us touch your mouth when you're teething, we didn't even know about tooth #5 (other side of middle left tooth) until I saw it when I was brushing your teeth!  It was the same length as #4 so they must have come through at the same time - no wonder you were so fussy!
*You say no to EVERYTHING, even things you actually want!  All the books say this is just your way of asserting yourself the only way you know how.  So I just offer you things and ignore your verbal no, waiting for you to instead pull it close or push it away.
*You love to help me unload the silverware tray in the dishwasher.  You'll hand me each item one by one and I'll put them in the proper drawer.  It takes forever, but I think it's worth it.
*You like to sing along with me.  If I start singing you'll sing "doodoo, doodoo" with me.
*You now hold your arms out and tug on our pants when you want to be picked up.
*You've figured out how to pull your socks off, and it's a miracle if you keep them on for any length of time.  I'm hopeful that as it gets colder you'll realize the value of keeping them on.
*You have several new words.  My favorite is "please" which you also sign as you say it.  Other words are amen, hello (hewwo), this (dis), cheese, and again (nanen)

Halloween 2012

 

We have a Halloween tradition.  Every year for the last 4 years (as long as we've both been married and in the same state) we have spent Halloween with Uncle Peter and Aunt Rachel.  They always come to our house, originally because we had more trick-or-treaters.  Aunt Rachel makes a delicious stew cooked inside of a pumpkin, and we make caramel apples coated with candy bar pieces.  Thankfully we've been able to keep up this tradition both these last years, with a newborn you and then this year a newborn Lydia. 

 

 

This year you dressed up as Bam-Bam from the Flinstones.  I wanted to make Pocket a Dino costume, but I ran out of time, so both the puppies were "ferocious" saber-tooth tigers with the leftover material from your costume.  Lydia was an adorable ladybug and I told Callie she could join your pack and be a panther.

 

 

At one point Rachel propped Lydia up in the corner of the couch and suddenly you weren't content to sit on my lap anymore.  You crawled right over and planted yourself down next to Lydia.  I'm so glad that you adore her!  (The whole night was a lot of excitement so you ran out of steam fast which is why I let you have your binkie even though you never have it anymore except for when you're sleeping.  You ended up going to bed right after this.)

 

 

I should mention a story from earlier in the day.  We babysat Lydia for a few hours while Rachel was at work.  When it was her naptime she was so tired but she wouldn't go to sleep.  So I used an old trick from when you were a baby - I put her in the travel system, covered her up, and let you push her all around the kitchen until she fell asleep.  You were such a good boy and were quiet while you pushed her.  You sure do love helping with Lydia (until you get jealous, anyway - after all you're still very much a baby yourself!).  You'll make a great big brother some day!

 

 

Baby Model

Apparantly you think you're a little underwear model.
Another reason why I love having a little boy - superhero nappies!

Pumpkinland 2012

I only have one picture from last year's Pumpkinland trip, but here is the link.

 

If two years in a row makes a tradition, then I guess we've got one started! Another trip to Pumpkinland with Jaxon and his mommy!  You had so much more fun than last year, and next year will be even more fun when you're a little bigger and can play in the activities.  You had fun playing in the pumpkins, but the biggest surprise was how obsessed you were with all the animals!  You just kept gasping and running from cage to cage to chat with the chickens and goats.  I had a hard time tearing you away!

15 month update

Well I think I officially have a toddler now!  It was easy to call you a baby before, but now that you're walking and getting so much more opinionated it's pretty obvious that I can't treat you like a baby anymore.  You are so fun but I get exhausted trying to keep up with all your new demands!

 

Some things about you at 15 months:

 

*You've become very attached to the monkeys in your crib.  For the past few months you've been sleeping with two monkeys - one is a prize Daddy won for me when we were dating, and the other one plays a lullaby when you pull it's tail (the mobile music on your crib broke so we bought this to replace it).  Lately when I check the babycam to see if you've fallen asleep yet I'll see that you've pulled both monkeys over your eyes.  I don't know what the purpose is but it's cute!  Then in the morning you'll clutch a monkey in each arm and call for me.  When I come in and lift you out of the crib you'll hold on to your monkeys tightly, and if one falls you'll start to wail and reach for it frantically until I pick it up for you, and then we all snuggle on the rocking chair while you drink your bottle.  Only after that are you willing to let go of them and get on with the day.

*If mommy or daddy are eating something that you want a bite of, you'll come over and open your mouth wide to try to get us to put some in it.

*If you want help with something you'll bring it over and hold it up to us now - a book you want read to you, a toy you need us to adjust, a snack you've found that you want. . .very good communication skills!

*You have a tooth on the top now!  It's on your left.  You got it on 9/27/12.  The one next to it is close to coming through but not yet.

*Daddy taught you how to clap, and the concept behind clapping.  You're very pleased with this new skill and applaud yourself regularly when you do things!

*You walk like a pro.  I'm always amazed at how quickly you master skills once you put your mind to it.

*I pulled out all your 9-12month clothes the other day to see if any of them would fit you.  I'm just so sick of your 6-9month clothes since you've been wearing them for 6 months now.  Unfortunately most of them are way too big still, but there are a couple pieces that don't look too ridiculous, plus I went and bought you a couple new pairs of pants since it's getting colder and you mostly have shorts. 

*You interact much more in your playdates.  You will try to engage the other baby in playing with certain toys, and will also get jealous if they're playing with something you want.
*We've pulled your old newborn bouncer out again.  You like climbing so we thought you might like a little chair to climb into, and I thought the bouncer might be just the right height.  You like to climb into it and push the music/vibrate buttons, and then you'll either bounce up and down or just lay back and chill for a while.  Glad we're getting a second use of that!

 

Quiet Book

In anticipation of the plane ride to New York, I decided to make Bennett a quiet book for those awake times on the plane where he'd have to sit still.  I'm not really crafty in the ways of fabric but I've been doing a lot of little projects in the last few months on a borrowed sewing machine so I thought I'd attempt it.  I thought I'd put pictures of all the pages I did.

 

To those who are thinking of attempting such a thing:  Don't.  That's my advice.  Just buy one if you can.  This took way too much time and by the time it was all over it was more expensive than if I had found one online.  When I was first looking up patterns and things everyone was like "just make it out of scraps you have lying around."  Well, I don't sew, so I had no scraps.  No fabric, no buttons, no velcro, nothing.  Which made buying everything very expensive very quickly.  Of course, if you're already a pretty good seamstress and actually do have things lying around, then making your own book probably wouldn't be as big of a deal.

 

Anyway, all these little projects have definitely improved my meager sewing skills tenfold, so while I'm still not ready to sew any clothes or anything, I do have an increased confidence around a sewing machine, and that's what it's all about, right?  Plus I learned a lot about what tricks I used that worked well, and what totally bombed that I should do different if there is ever a next time.

 

Left: Brush the monster's teeth (which are foam so they don't fray).  Bennett just brushes his own teeth instead.
Right:  The wheels are buttons so he can kind of turn them.  I need to sew them on better.

Left:  Sensory page with different fun ribbons.  I think this would've been a bigger hit when he was a little younger.
Right:  Mix 'n' match animals, velcro.  I'm probably most proud of this page, it took a lot of work.

Left:  I used Pocket's old collar and leash so Bennett can actually leash the dog.
Right:  Magnetic fishing.  Bennett surprisingly LOVES this page and will spend half an hour on it.

Left:  Practicing tying a bow.  Wayyy above Bennett's head right now, obviously.
Right:  Put candles in the cake.  Real candles was a mistake.  They break and fall out easy.

Left:  Match the socks in the washing machine to it's mate!  Little old for B right now.
Right:  I sewed a little LED keychain to the inside of this rocket so the flames light up when you push it!

Left:  Monkey parachuter.  Except I still haven't got around to sewing a parachute on. . .
Right:  Fill the piggy bank!  Coins from the Dollar Store.

Left:  Tent was supposed to have a zipper, but I ran out of time.  Hugely unpopular page.
Right:  Abacus.  Bennett doesn't really get the point of it yet but maybe when he learns to count.

Hogle Zoo

Daddy went on a business trip and when he came back we had to pick him up from the airport.  He had the rest of the day free so we decided to go to the zoo!

 

You were absolutely enchanted by the monkeys we saw at the beginning.  They were probably your favorite animal there.  We had to drag you away to see the rest of the zoo.

Looking so tiny in the arms of this giant gorilla.

I had a hard time getting you to stay still, but I wanted the traditional "compare your size to a gorilla" picture that everyone takes.  I'm sure there are pictures somewhere of a childhood me in front of this wall (I hope so anyway!)  Anyway, you measured the size of an infant gorilla althought your arms aren't as long thankfully!

We really wanted a picture of you on this cool elephant statue.  You weren't so sure.



Daddy pointing out the baby elephant to you.  We got there right at feeding time and got to watch the elephant family eat lunch.  The baby tried to stockpile some food into a hidden pile, silly thing!

Playing inside a log at the bear exhibit.

There was a new baby giraffe that was only born a few weeks ago!

We thought we'd try taking you on the merry-go-round.  I meant to just hold you on the giraffe, but you got scared being so high up so I had to climb up with you.

On our way out we stopped and let you play at the big water marble.  We had to make sure you didn't see it on the way in because we know how obsessed you are with water and were afraid we wouldn't see any animals if you saw the water first.  Sure enough, you were loving it and we had to pull you away kicking and screaming!  This is a cool picture because you can see our reflections in the background.

First sleepover

 

This is the sole picture I have from your first sleepover.  The last time you woke up during the night was months ago, so we decided it was time to try to spend a night apart.  I couldn't bear the thought of being far from you though, so we left you with Aunt Kav and Uncle Joey and went to a Bed&Breakfast only half an hour away.  You did really well and thankfully slept through the night just fine, but we still missed you a lot!

Little sneak

Today when I uploaded all the September pics from my camera, there were 54 pics of the ceiling. I was super confused until I came across this picture. . .mystery solved.

Bubbles!

Today you were finally old enough to understand the magic of BUBBLES!

 

 

You had so much fun watching all the bubbles floating around and popping.  Still kind of confused when you try to touch one and it disappears though.  Naturally, after the initial curiosity wore off you wanted to try to blow the bubbles like mommy.

 

 

Instead you just kind of ate the wand. 

 

 

At the end you grabbed this milk jug by the trash and brought it over and tried to dip it in the bubbles.  It was all very deliberate, but I have NO idea what your intent was!

Grape juice!

 

 

 

I love love love homemade grape juice. My mom got her hands on some a few years back and let me bottle some and I've been addicted ever since. I've been hording my last bottle of juice for over a year because I wasn't sure when I was going to get more. Well, this was my lucky year!

 

I was so fortunate to have access to both red and white grapes this year, so I went bat-crazy picking as much as I could and spending tons of money on new jars to store it all.  I was up to my elbows in grapes for 4 days straight just picking grapes and steaming and canning them.  It takes SO LONG to steam the grapes into juice, then can the juice, but so worth it.  I wanted to build up a nice big stock in case I'm hording them for another few years!

 

My friend Lacee grew up in a house with a vine, and her mom generously let me take as much as I want, so we took our boys over and let them play while we picked grapes.  The boys had fun smooshing grapes in their hands.

After I had some of the juice canned Bennett had fun taking all the rings off the jars.  In fact, he was having a grand old time leaning over the baskets of grapes playing in them. . .until he lost his footing and fell in!  He cried for a long time - more out of fright than hurt, because the grapes provided a nice soft cushion for his head, but he did manage to juice quite a bit of grapes in the process!  Mike had to take care of him and clean him up because I was hiding in the corner laughing.  I'm pretty sure I won the Worst Mom award for that because I couldn't stop laughing at how he had looked toppling over into the basket and then covered in juice.  Poor kid. 

 

Looooving my grape juice!  Here's hoping I get to do this again next summer!

WALKING!!!

You took your first steps today, and no one could be more proud of you than us!  Well. . .except maybe you!  You are awfully proud of this accomplishment!

First time using shoes

Yes, you've WORN shoes precisely two times before (at your baby blessing and at Kav's wedding) but they didn't last more than an hour and never touched this ground.  So this was your first time actually using shoes!  Now that you are mobile I decided you better have something to protect your feet when we are outside playing.  So when we went to the playground today I put these soft shoes on you.  You looked so cute!

 

 

Posing for the camera!

Couch Fort

It's no secret that I'm not in love with our new sectional.  But there IS one thing this couch can do that the old one can't - make forts! 

 

14 month update

What an active little one you are!  I am exhausted all the time now from chasing after you all day.  Your skills are growing so quickly as you become more and more determined to be independent.

Some things about you at 14 months:

• You have this silly way of picking things up with your mouth.  For example, if you're crawling around and see your binky on the floor, instead of picking it up with your hands you'll lean your head down and pick it up with your mouth.
• You've stopped giving kisses in favor of giving hugs.  You'll snuggle onto our shoulders and relax your arms straight down. 
• You DO accept kisses from the puppies daily!  You'll even invite kisses by opening your mouth wide and leaning toward them for them to lick your face.
• You do so well with walking with your push-dinosaur that Nana and Papa got you.  You can even seat yourself on it, and now you sometimes climb on with both feet on the dinosaur's back and pretend to ride it like a daredevil.
• You love to push your stroller around.  At the airport we locked one of the wheels and you spent a good half hour just pushing the stroller around in circles!
• When we're in public you like to position yourself where you can see the most - even if that means you are sitting backwards in the highchair.
• You still love your cars and trucks.  You'll crawl all over the house pushing one around, and will even try to take them up and down the stairs now.
• As you are getting older you'll constantly alternate between bliss and tantrums.  You will play happily until you don't get your way about something and then you'll throw a fit, then a moment later you'll get distracted doing something else.
• When you throw "quiet tantrums" (as opposed to the kicking and screaming ones) you'll put your head down on the floor while the rest of your body is in the crawling position.  So funny!
• You are very interested in filling and emptying containers right now.  Unfortunately you like to end your games with emptying, so I am constantly picking up after you.
• You can go down stairs now!  I had worked with you several times trying to show you how to scoot down the stairs on your bum, but you didn't seem like you understood.  Then at church a couple weeks ago you spontaneously started doing it for Daddy!  You do really well!
• You are so close to walking.  You will come and grab our hands and then push against us to try to get us to walk around the house with you.  In NY you manipulated Papa John to bend over holding onto your hands and walking around several times a day!  You can't stand on your own yet though unless you are perfectly balanced.
• You don't like it when I wear sandals.  Anytime you see my toes peeking out from shoes you will try to pull my shoes off.
• You say some new words!  You mimic very well but we only count them as real words if you say them on your own and at the proper time.  Your new words are no ("doh"), buh-bye, and that ("dat").

NY trip

In anticipation of the plane ride to New York, I decided to make Bennett a quiet book for those awake times on the plane where he'd have to sit still.  I'm not really crafty in the ways of fabric but I've been doing a lot of little projects in the last few months on a borrowed sewing machine so I thought I'd attempt it.  I thought I'd put pictures of all the pages I did.

 

To those who are thinking of attempting such a thing:  Don't.  That's my advice.  Just buy one if you can.  This took way too much time and by the time it was all over it was more expensive than if I had found one online.  When I was first looking up patterns and things everyone was like "just make it out of scraps you have lying around."  Well, I don't sew, so I had no scraps.  No fabric, no buttons, no velcro, nothing.  Which made buying everything very expensive very quickly.  Of course, if you're already a pretty good seamstress and actually do have things lying around, then making your own book probably wouldn't be as big of a deal.

 

Anyway, all these little projects have definitely improved my meager sewing skills tenfold, so while I'm still not ready to sew any clothes or anything, I do have an increased confidence around a sewing machine, and that's what it's all about, right?  Plus I learned a lot about what tricks I used that worked well, and what totally bombed that I should do different if there is ever a next time.

 

Left: Brush the monster's teeth (which are foam so they don't fray).  Bennett just brushes his own teeth instead.
Right:  The wheels are buttons so he can kind of turn them.  I need to sew them on better.

Left:  Sensory page with different fun ribbons.  I think this would've been a bigger hit when he was a little younger.
Right:  Mix 'n' match animals, velcro.  I'm probably most proud of this page, it took a lot of work.

Left:  I used Pocket's old collar and leash so Bennett can actually leash the dog.
Right:  Magnetic fishing.  Bennett surprisingly LOVES this page and will spend half an hour on it.

Left:  Practicing tying a bow.  Wayyy above Bennett's head right now, obviously.
Right:  Put candles in the cake.  Real candles was a mistake.  They break and fall out easy.

Left:  Match the socks in the washing machine to it's mate!  Little old for B right now.
Right:  I sewed a little LED keychain to the inside of this rocket so the flames light up when you push it!

Left:  Monkey parachuter.  Except I still haven't got around to sewing a parachute on. . .
Right:  Fill the piggy bank!  Coins from the Dollar Store.

Left:  Tent was supposed to have a zipper, but I ran out of time.  Hugely unpopular page.
Right:  Abacus.  Bennett doesn't really get the point of it yet but maybe when he learns to count.