Ben's Valentine's Card!

We took Ben out to the Boise Depot yesterday and shot some fun pictures of him looking at the train they have parked there. He cried when we left - I think he wanted to stay longer and look!

Triple Love Valentine's Day Card

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Explore.

yes. he is eating a tube of butt cream. yes, the cap is firmly on.

That's what our little monkey does during all of his waking hours. He explores. He explores his toys by selecting, discarding and moving on to the next. Within minutes of being set in front of his little toy basket in his room, it looks like a tiny toy war zone. He explores his books, and he absolutely has favorites. He really loves the Look Book that his awesome Aunt T sent and the two touch & feel books he has. Everything is still automatically put in his mouth for a taste. Even things we would rather he not have a sample of. Like the small carpet fibers that our lovely and well mannered cat pulls up.

Ben is a PRO at pulling up to stand. I find him standing in his crib at the end of almost all his naps. He can use just about anything to get up and is pretty good at plopping back on his bottom when he wants back down. He's still working on cruising but is getting better and better at that as well. Today he used one of the dining room chairs to pull himself up, then used the craft cutting mat I have stashed behind the chair to make it over to the dining room window sill, where he had a grand time playing peekaboo with the curtains.

He's learning plenty of hard lessons. Like drawers can really hurt when they're shut on tiny fingers (he did that all by himself and I felt TERRIBLE - we don't have locks on all the cupboards, just the ones under the sink and with things like all of our glass casserole dishes or our small appliances). He's learning that just because he can see a space, doesn't mean his body (generally his giant head) will fit there.

Two of our most challenging things to try to get over are #1: his constant gagging of himself. He does it ALL the time, shoving his fingers down the back of his throat til he gags. It's awful and some times he does it after dinner and then throws up everything he ate. I have no idea how to discourage this behavior. #2 is rolling over while being changed. This includes diapers and getting dressed. It's frustrating because he gets really upset when I won't let him roll over and I get really annoyed because I can't change him upside down. Sigh. We'll get through it.

He's starting to recognize words. I must have said "duck" to him 500 times this evening and I swear he said it back once. We were playing with one of his bath towels that has a duck on it and I just kept saying "duck, duck, duck" over and over (til the word lost all meaning haha) and I'd say "Ben, where is the duck?" and he'd reach for the duck. It amazes me to no end when he learns something new. He can also show you his toes. :-)

Lots of jabber (ga ga ga is his new favorite) from him still but no actual words - that we've noticed anyway. Still no teeth.

Next Saturday we're getting more pictures taken. The same lady that did his 6 month photos is having another mini-session sale and we're taking advantage. These aren't for any special "month" - I just wanted some cute pictures of him in a pumpkin patch. I think we'll actually just do it at a park, with some pumpkins I'll bring and a few bales of hay. I'm gonna be on the hunt for a wagon this week as I want one in the pictures and he'll wear his Halloween costume (a pumpkin, har). Nick's work is doing a special day where trick or treaters can come through in their costumes, so I think we might get a little extra mileage out of my $5.95 costume deal (I heart children's resale stores) and take him to that. Our local zoo also does a deal on the 30th that we may go to.

So that's really it on Ben news. No more "sickness" necessarily, but he has been rocking a snotty nose pretty consistently for a week or so. I'm hoping that's a teething queue but again, no teeth yet and no real signs of them. They'll show up eventually!

Skillz.

Well, most of you know that Ben has his 9 month check up on Monday. He's doing great - he's a tall boy at 30 inches and he weighs 18.10 pounds. The doctor is super pleased with his progress. She told me I needed to make sure he was eating 3 solid meals a day, in addition to his formula. I have to admit that I'd slacked off on that a lot. Since we introduced some finger foods to him, he no longer has an interest in cereal and refuses to eat it at all. I got tired of throwing it away and quit making it for him, so breakfast was sort of lost. So since Monday I've been making sure he eats breakfast, lunch & dinner. I've also slightly decreased the amount of formula he's on. He was eating right about 30 ounces every day and she said that was fine (he needs to have a minimum of 20 and should be down to 20 by the time he's a year) but if he didn't have much of an appetite for meals to try decreasing the formula a bit. That should also help stretch how long it lasts. We buy the giant cans from Costco that are $35 and we currently use 3 of those a month. Spendy stuff. I'll be excited when he's off of it and on whole milk - she said a few weeks before his 1st birthday we can start mixing whole milk in with the formula until it's all milk and no formula. Only $300 more dollars to go (ha, that's how I think of it since it's about $100 to feed him formula a month).

Aside from that, Ben also got his first illness. Last Monday he came down with an ear infection but a quick trip to the doctor and some antibiotics and he was all better! Seriously, he was 100% better the next day after having the first dose. I hope this was a rare occurrence for him and this doesn't spark a new era of sickness. As well as he did with it, it SUCKS to have a sick kiddo.

Last weekend we drove up to Lewiston, ID to attend my cousin Megan's wedding. We left Friday morning and came back Sunday morning. He's a great traveler and charmed the pants off every one he met. :-)

Last time I blogged I mentioned that he was working on pulling himself up to stand. Consider that skill mastered. This morning I was sitting on the couch and he was sitting on the floor at my feet playing. I got up and crossed the room to get my phone, when I turned back he had pulled himself up to stand. I took a video of it this evening (which is posted on his FB) but that attempt does not do his skills justice. Since I took the video, he pulled himself up 4 or 5 more times and took a little walk down the couch. Our little boy is growing up so fast.

It seems every day he learns a new way he can use his body. It's so fun to watch but it's a bittersweet feeling. I remember very clearly just a short few months ago, wishing for this time - wishing for when we could sit and play instead of me just watching a tiny baby lump sleep. And sleep. And sleep. Now I'm wishing for a bit more sleep time...kind of. I love watching him learn and grow and explore and the things he remembers. For instance, I ditched the baby tub and now he just sits up in the regular bathtub. At first, after he was washed, I'd lay him on his tummy in the water to play and he enjoyed it. A few times after doing that, he licked at the water and got a big mouthful and coughed on it. Ever since then, he cries if we try to put him on his belly - he remembers the time he got scared/hurt from laying down and wants no part of it.

He's also deliberately dropping/throwing things out of his way. The whole drive up to Lewiston, I'd give him toy after toy that he'd play with for a few minutes and then toss out of his chair. During meals, I give him his own spoon to play with so he doesn't grab at the food spoon and fling food every where. He no longer wishes to play with that spoon and drops it on the floor. I play a long for a little bit, by picking it back up and giving it to him but after about the 5th time, the spoon stays on the floor. Stinker. :-)

He jabbers a lot now. I miss it on the days when he's quiet. Like today. Today we were way busy (hardly home at all) and he didn't say much. Usually he's just jabbering non stop and I love it. I love all the different sounds he's figuring out how to make. I can't wait til he says his first (real) words!

I think that's it for a Ben update. We hope you are all enjoying the final days of summer! I know I'm looking forward to fall. I'm WAY excited for Halloween and letting him try all sorts of new stuff at Thanksgiving and spoiling him rotten on his 1st birthday and Christmas just a short week after that :-)

New.

• Slapping his hand over his mouth while he makes noise. The only way I can think to describe the motion isn't very PC but oh well. Who am I offending on this little blog any way? It's the Indian "woo woo" noise. He just randomly started doing this in the car yesterday.
• Clucking his tongue. Again, just randomly started doing it today.
• Standing. He doesn't stand on his own at all yet (still very wobbly on his feet) but he loves to pull himself up to stand. I'm trying to encourage this skill as much as possible (though I'm sure I'll come to regret this soon).
• Opening drawers. And out come the little drawer/door stoppers. In fact, I also bought a shorter trash can to fit under the sink. He plays in the recycle bin, too.
• Being naughty. His favorite thing to do is crawl right over to the outlets and play. They're covered with those stupid plastic outlet over deals but I still don't want him to think it's okay to play there. I shout "no" at him a lot now. He doesn't seem to care.
• Pushing your hands away. This is a fairly new thing, as well. If he doesn't like what you're doing (like buttoning up his shirts, for example), he'll push your hands away. This is super annoying but I like that he's showing some personality and preferences. Kind of.

Bunches.

Oh lots to post since my last Ben blog.

Let's see - still no teeth. He's still gnashing everything he can get his hands on and has his cranky moments but nothing poking through yet. All in time! :-)

We went camping this weekend. It was a short trip - Nick had made plans to help his friend Eric move out of his apartment on Saturday (Eric got a job in Iraq! He's crazy!!) so we couldn't go up until they were finished. We didn't end up on the road til close to noon - by the time Nick got here, we got all the last minute stuff packed, dropped Sadie off at my mom's for the dog sitter to watch, filled up with gas and got last minute formula (man he blows through that stuff like it's nobody's business - I should have never given up nursing from a financial stand point...however from a mental health stand point, mama and baby are much happier on formula)...and by that time we were starving as neither of us had breakfast. Anyway, we met up with my parents and my brother's family around 2:00ish (they had come up the night before). Nothing much to say on that, pretty typical camping. Ben's feet didn't touch the ground the whole time. He was just passed from lap to lap. I don't think he minded one bit. ;)

snuggling with nana and gnawing on some tasty fingers

more snuggling with nana, all bundled up in awesome camping jams

This morning we packed up camp and headed home, via a diner on the way for breakfast (it was raining when we woke up and no one wanted to try to cook in the rain). We are glad to be home. So glad, in fact, that we blew off our plans to go camping with Victor & Tiffany next weekend. Now that he's crawling, it's just so much work. He doesn't want to be held for very long any more. He'll come in for a cuddle but after that, he wants down on the ground so he can explore. I think we'll pack away our camping gear for the season and have a whole new adventure next year when he's walking (as much as I HATE those backpack leashes for kids...I just might get one for camping only...).

A clothing update - I stopped by my favorite consignment shop before camping and picked up the CUTEST sleeper (it's brown fleece and has animals like bears, owls, and moose on it - how perfect was that for camping??) in size 12 month, thinking it would be a little big still. Nope. Fit like a glove. He ZOOMED through 9 month stuff - in fact tonight I had to take him out of the sleeper I was going to put him in because he couldn't straighten his toes all the way. :( My mom bought him a little outfit to go camping in size 12 month and I brought him size 6-9 month jeans just in case the 12 month jeans that mom got were too big. Nope. 6-9 month were high waters... so... looks like I have an excuse to go shopping tomorrow! Bubba (my newest nickname for him, he has a million...first he was monkey, then punkin and now bubba) has to have clothes! The way the few size 12 month clothes I have for him fit, I think he'll be in 18 months by Halloween (if not sooner).

We are having some fickle weather. Saturday I had him in shorts and a short sleeve onesie. Today it's sweat pants, a long sleeved onesie and socks. Tomorrow I think it might be shorts again...

He's working on pulling himself up to stand. If I hold his hands in mine and just provide the balance, he'll pull himself up to a stand with no help from me. He's started to put his hands on the edge of his crib but hasn't pulled up yet. I had to take the mobile out of his crib because he could reach the monkey's. He's been spending more time on his knees, just rocking back and forth, so I think he may modify his army scoot to a on all fours crawl here soon.

So I think that's it for Ben news since my last post. I think. :-)

Teeth.

None yet. But I think they may come? Soon? Maybe? He's been a crab monster the last two days. He's been gnawing on EVERYTHING. We put some of his little teethers in the fridge and he loved the cold.

That's about it for today. Nothing terribly exciting - we ate dinner over at my parents house and I got some books from the library. I'm going to attempt to teach Ben some sign language. We'll see how it goes!

So yeah....that's it. Ben's crabby. It's frustrating for him and frustrating for me. We'll get through it! :-)

crawling through the barstool yesterday

Fair.

Today we went to the fair. It was okay, I was hoping there would be a carousel or other type of ride he could do. None this year, but next year he should get to do plenty! We went through the animal enclosures and looked at Llama's & Alpacas (these made him burst into tears for some reason), sheep, pigs, cows, roosters, chickens, hens, baby chicks, ducks....we didn't go over to the horses because by the time we go through the other animals his face was red and his eyes were watering - I think he may have some animal allergies like I do. That being said, we skipped the petting zoo part. We did have him pose with some of those "insert your face here" cut out things and he got to go up in a tractor.

This afternoon I gave him some of those melt away yogurt snacks that I put inside this nifty little cup. It's got a floppy lid that he can push his hand through to get snacks out, but it's supposed to keep the snacks from spilling out if it's knocked over. He figured it out in no time! I was so proud of him!

Today he also discovered the joy of crawling under things. Things like the barstools. He deliberately lined himself up so he could crawl under and to tell you the truth, I didn't think his giant melon would fit but it sure did! He did it several times, so I'm certain he's doing it on puropse.

He also finger painted today. We got VERY messy but the nana's should expect tiny B.O.B. masterpieces in their mail soon..... :)

That's it for day! Ben sends snuggles!