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.

Stuck in the bathroom

Today we got all ready to go to church.  You were playing in the bathroom and Daddy was ironing his clothes just a few feet away.  He finished up and we were all ready to go and went to go get you from the bathroom because you had closed the door.  That's when we realized. . .that you were trapped!  He could only open the door about half an inch, and saw that you had opened the drawers right inside the doorway so that they were blocking the door from opening any further.

 



Thankfully you were unaware of the situation and were still blissfully playing in the bathroom with the cotton swabs.  So we scrambled around to find something small enough to fit in the crack to try to close the drawer.  Finally I thought to grab a flat metal pan from the kitchen and we used that to push the drawer in little by little (I would jam the sheet into the side of the drawer to gain traction and then push it to move the drawer up a little, then pull the sheet out and start over)  Finally you were free, and somehow we still managed to make it to church on time!

Lydia

Aunt Rachel had her baby, and they named her Lydia.  She is so sweet.  The week after she was born we went up to their house to meet and cuddle her.  I sat you on the couch then put Lydia on your lap.  I expected you to just wriggle away and get down to keep playing, but instead you immediately put one arm on top of her and just stared down at her quietly.  After a few moments I started to pull her away and you reached your arms out and grabbed her blanket and started to whine, so I put her back down on your lap and you were happy again.  I'm so glad you adore her!

 

While we were there, I put you in your old swing that Lydia is borrowing.  You are definitely so much bigger now than when we first put you in it at a month old! 

Being Silly

 Today when Ellie was here you were digging in her diaper bag and found her blanket.  You immediately put it over your head and started crawling around the living room blind.  You thought you were so funny!  You couldn't stop giggling!

Aquarium

Daddy's work had their company party at the aquarium.  We had so much fun, but then you fell asleep from exhaustion on the way home!

Random pictures from August

Learning how to stand on your tiptoes.  So funny to see you stretch and reach for something on those little twinkle-toes!

You have no fear getting yourself into tight spaces, but then you get really upset and start to wail when you get stuck like this!

There are some days where you definitely look like a little active boy with all your bumps and bruises.  This is right after you took a tumble down the stairs at Aunt Rachel and Uncle Peter's and gave yourself a big goose-egg on your forehead.

We went to Daddy's cohort reunion and you got to experience a sandbox for the first time.  You loved sifting through the sand and moving piles around.

You've finally showed an interest in your ring tower.  You can't do it in order yet but if you run out of room at the top you will carefully balance the rest of the rings one on top of the other until you're done.

Sam's Club had a great sale on diapers so we stocked up and I just left them in the living room to put away later.  I was so surprised when I turned around and found you had used the small box as a stepping stone and had scampered to the top of this makeshift "tower!"  It was a good insight into the little monkey climber I am sure you will quickly become, climbing up everything!

Finally, your friend Jaxon is home!  He's been away all summer.  It was fun to see how much you two have grown.  At the store you took a real interest in each other and were jabbering on to each other for long periods of time.  Can't wait to resume our playdates!

Date night at Wingers!  Your eyes got as big as saucers when they brought the bowl of popcorn so we let you try some.  You practically inhaled it, you were shoveling it in as fast as you could!