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!

Family.

Well, we tried to take Ben to the fair today. Unfortunately, we had some nasty windstorms last night that knocked power out to the fair and they didn't have it restored when we got there, so the fair was still closed. They opened later in the day, but we already had afternoon plans so maybe Nick can sneak away from work a little early and we can hit the fair before he goes to school. The weather today would have been perfect for it, tomorrow will be slightly warmer and the rest of the week may be too hot for standing around in the sun.

This afternoon we all gathered at my parents house to have a celebratory dinner for Connor's accomplishments with Little League. Jamie was sick and couldn't come. The girls had a good time chasing Ben around the living room while the adults visited. They start school this week - it's hard to believe that Connor is starting junior high (and will be a TEENAGER in March!!!) and Emma's ready for kindergarten. Time really does fly on by...

We dismantled Ben's Exersaucer and transformed it into an activity table. He's at a transition phase with it right now - he's too big to sit in the Exersaucer any more but he's not big enough to stand and play unassisted. He did pull himself into a standing position while sitting on my lap by grabbing hold of the Saucer and pulling himself up. He'll be standing on his own and walking before we know it!

I added some links and a little list to the right of the blog. We're certainly not asking for you to run right out and buy him presents, but wanted to let you know what sorts of things he's wearing or toys we think he might enjoy playing with, should you ever be thinking of getting him something but aren't sure what he needs. :-) I'll keep updating the list as he grows into new sizes and as we get closer to his birthday and Christmas.

I can't decide what I want to put him in for Halloween. Do any of Ben's readers have any suggestions for your favorite baby costumes?

Believe it or not - but I didn't take any pictures of him today! Shocking! So I leave you with this cute one from a week or so ago when we went to the park:

Spaghetti.

Today was a long and trying day for Ben. We asked a lot of him and he did such a good job. Ben was invited to a birthday party for a little girl turning 3 (I know her mother through the Bunco group I joined). The party started at 11:00. He napped prior to the party but was ready for another nap by 11:30. He didn't have one until after 3:00. Poor little guy. He made it through the whole party and a little bit of swimming - I set him in the pool to splash around but we only stayed a few minutes - he was done.



After that we came home and he napped for 2 hours and then ate a delicious spaghetti dinner. He made a MESS. It was smeared all over his face, in his hair, in his EAR, he rubbed his eyes with his spaghetti covered hands...I think it liked it, though. Didn't seem to have any trouble with the noodles at all!

No new real tricks as of the last few days, just getting better and better at the skills he recently learned. He's getting so fast with crawling and "chases" me a little bit. If I hide behind a door or a corner and peep out at him, he'll get very excited and crawl a lot faster in my direction. It's way funny. He's waving a lot more now - he doesn't do the open and closed hand wave that he used to very much any more, he just waves his whole arm now. He waves at his own reflection and at our shadows on the wall. He loves to eat toast - I have to limit the number of pieces he can reach because he's been stuffing 4 or 5 pieces in his mouth at once like a tiny chipmunk. He says both "mama" and "dada" but he's not directing those sounds at either of us yet, so I'm not counting them as his first words.

I've been limiting the amount of time he spends with the pacifier lately. I noticed at the Little Gym class that he's the only one there that depends on it during the day (or at least during the class) and I don't want him to HAVE to have it to be calm, so I'm not clipping it to him any more. I still give it to him at bed time and some times in the car and he's been really good with out it.

Updates.

Well, we're back from our whirlwind trip. It was quite an adventure! Saturday morning we got up early and headed to the airport. We made it through the ticket counter and security just fine, no issues (other then Ben peed on me, but that was my fault for not making sure he was positioned right within his diaper - so I ran to change him before we got on the plane and missed our special family boarding and had to sit in the very back). He did super well on the flight, he looked out the window, played, ate and napped. After we got checked in to our hotel, we had lunch, met up with Carin, Hannah & Emma and then went over to the stadium to watch the teams do their ESPN promos. Then we came back to the hotel and Ben played in the pool. Then we got all changed and headed to the game. They lost. :( But they gave it a good run and I'm VERY proud of all they accomplished. After that it was dinner, met up with the baseball gang at their hotel for a bit of celebration and back to our hotel to sleep. We got up Sunday morning, got all packed up and headed back out to the airport.

Tomorrow my little boy will be 8 months old. It's hard to believe how much he's learning every day and to look back at how teeny tiny he was when he was first born to the sturdy little boy he's becoming. So much change coming ahead! From talking and teeth to walking and running to injuries and first days of school....

In the more immediate future, I've scheduled another little photo shoot for him towards the end of October. I love Carissa's photography, so we're going to go to a pumpkin patch and have some pictures taken. I've ordered the sweetest little hat for him to wear. :-)

I'm so excited for fall. For bundled up walks around the neighborhood, pulling Ben around in a wagon. Seeing him take his first steps. Gathering with the family for Thanksgiving and getting to watch Ben experience all those foods for the first time. I'm excited to make family crafts out of fallen leaves and pine cones. I'm excited for winter, for laborious walks through the snow, making snow angels and having him "help" to make a snow man. I'm excited for his first Christmas (and even the part where he may potentially destroy my Christmas tree) and starting our family traditions - baking cookies for Santa and waking up early Christmas morning to see what Santa left by the tree. I'm excited for his first birthday and have already started mentally planning what we'll do and who will be able to come.

Trip!

Not a super exciting day, as far as Ben news goes, today. We had the Little Gym today which papa didn't get to go to (he stayed home from work the day before to listen to Connor's baseball game so had to go into the office today). He did a lot of standing on his own (not completely by himself - he was balancing on what they call a "trap" at the Little Gym - just a raised platform thingie), did a forward roll, some walking on the balance beam and a bit of work on the bar. He played with the balls and crawled after bubbles.

This afternoon we headed over to Nana A's again to WATCH Connor's team on ESPN!! It was such an exciting day! Of course, Ben was completely oblivious to the excitement - except when we got really excited and cheered loudly. Then he looked a little concerned but then realized we were happy and started clapping. He is a constant joy, I tell you. Turns out, Connor's team did an amazing job and won their game! They play in the regional finals on Saturday against Washington - and Ben is taking his very first plane ride trip to California to be there to support in person!

I'm so very excited but I'm also really nervous. We're flying Southwest and apparently I'll have to prove he's not 2 years old by supplying a birth certificate. We've never needed his birth certificate so I don't actually have it (I've been meaning to order it, but you know...I haven't needed it, so it gets pushed to the bottom of my to do list). As far as I can tell, the only thing I can do is mail a request in for a copy and wait 2-3 weeks to get it.....I'm going to call the courthouse tomorrow and see if there's by chance anything else we can do. If not, I'll just take what I have. I received information from the Vital Statistics office after he was born, showing information from his birth certificate and I hope that will be enough. Otherwise, I don't know what we'll do. I guess the Beesley branch of the family won't go...which will be a completely disappointing and expensive lesson learned.

So that's the news! No new tricks today, not too much floor time with the Little Gym, sporadic napping and not being at home much. I'm making a list of things to remember to bring on the plane and hope that my baby is an excellent flyer. I really hope he's not one that screams his head off the whole time....

High Five.

More crawling adventures for Ben today. He uses what I now call the Ben Expressway to get to the kitchen faster - there is a Ben sized space between the couch I sit on and the coffee table that he scoots through to get from the living room to the kitchen. It makes me laugh. if he starts to take off around one of the couches or the Ben Expressway to another part of the house, I like to run around and surprise him on the other side - which makes HIM laugh. :-)

Today we went over to my mom's to listen to cousin Connor's 3rd game in the Little League regional games. They won! Hooray!! While we were there, I ran out to bring back lunch and my mom played pattycake with Ben and taught him to high five. Cutest thing ever! The next thing I want to teach him to is blow kisses.

That's about all the Ben news I can think of for now. I'm going through some of the older movies I took of Ben and put on my computer but never shared and posting them on our youtube channel, rather than on my FB. You should check it periodically as I add more: http://www.youtube.com/user/we3beesleys#p/a

See ya!

Park.

Took Ben to the park again today - he has such a blast on the swings! he LOVES them! He isn't frightened by going fast (not too fast) or high - he just hangs on and grins. He loves the rush of the wind on his face. We took him down the little kiddy slide but he didn't really care about it at all. He did enjoy crawling around on the grass.

I have to say, I'm so thankful I have a healthy kid. Nearly 8 months in to this life and his biggest scare was the fever he got after one round of shots. A girl I go to Bunco with has a 5 month old son who is getting tubes in his ears on Friday, as he's had 4 ear infections in 5 months. I'm go grateful that Ben is a happy, healthy little boy!!

On a totally random note, here are a few of Ben's favorite things (burst into random song here):

Favorite Toys:
measuring cups
coasters
bottle lids (from his bottles)
clothes
the curtains

Sounds He's Making:
a putt putt noise
shouting ("AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!")
mumumumumumumumumum
naynaynay
wwwwwwwwwwooooooah!
growling

Food!

Today was an AWESOME day for Ben! So many adventures - the biggest one is that he fed himself for the first time ever! I've been giving him little bits of finger food for about a week or so now and mostly he just moves it around the tray or smashes it in his fist. Today he moved the food from his hand to his mouth! I was so proud and excited! I did manage to grab a movie of the event:

After breakfast, Ben went on a crawling adventure. He started out in the living room, went around the love seat, down the hall, into the foyer and into the front room. Then he crawled most of the way back to the hall. He was a very tired little boy and slept for about 2 and a half hours. :-)

Now he's tucked into bed and there's a gorgeous lightning storm outside, mama and papa are cozy in the living room watching Forensic Files (so romantic) and sharing home made brownies. Life is pretty good for the Beesley's today!

Nana A's

Today was a fairly relaxing day for Ben. Last night was an adventure - since we had dinner over at my parents house (and the chef may or may not have been behind a few, delaying dinner) we didn't get home until some time after 8:00 which was well over an hour beyond Ben's bed time. We nixed the bath and did a short "night night dance" and got him to bed. He slept until about 7:30 which was a nice surprise. I fully expected him to be up at 5:00 (it seems when we mess with his schedule and get him to bed late, he sleeps poorly that night and is up early) and he was - he woke up at about 4:00, fussed a bit and put himself back to sleep and did the same again at 5:00. Then not a peep til 7:30 - hooray!

Today his crawling adventure took him to the guest bath. That's a long trek - he went from his room, down the hall and in to the bath. There he had a grand time slapping the floor until he found the trash can and we promptly escorted him out. :-)

This afternoon we saddled up and headed out to my mom's to listen to game 2 of Connor & Jamie's Little League games and to cook dinner for my mom (dad headed to Chicago for training for a week boooo). Sadly, the team lost but we still had a nice visit and Ben got to destroy a phone book and eat dinner in mom's living room.

Now my little monster is snuggled all cozy in bed and looking cute as can be. I wish I could share a photo but I'm certain the camera would wake him up so you'll just have to imagine his cuteness.

We hope you all had a wonderful Sunday!

All About Ben.

Welcome to Ben's blog! He has no idea but is absolutely thrilled! :-)

I wanted to create a friendly place to update you to his daily (or weekly, depending on what he's up to) shenanigans. He's growing so much and trying new things every day and I know some of you could just eat up every little detail! I'm going to keep this separate from FB, so keep your yes open for new posts!

Today Nick, Ben, my dad & I headed out to Ann Morrison Park for the annual Boise Beer Fest (I was the DD - lucky me!). Ben did fairly well, he was a bit clingy and wasn't interested in sitting in his stroller but that's okay. He played in the grass and looked around at the different sites. He was in a fairly good mood, even after missing a nap and being up for nearly 4 hours!

I noticed recently (either yesterday or the day before) that you can actually see his bottom two teeth as they make their way up to the top of his gums. This isn't Ben, but here's an idea of what I'm talking about:

Now on this kid, you can see like all of his bottom teeth working their way up to the top of their gums. As far as I can see on Ben, I can only see the bottom two middle ones. It's kind of exciting but it's bittersweet. I am so unbelievably excited to watch him grow, but at the same time I want him to stay little forever :-) Of course, that feeling depends on when you ask me. If he's in the middle of a fit, I can't WAIT for him to grow up. HA

Anyway, aside from the teeth, Ben's trying out all sorts of new foods. Mostly just larger of what he's been eating - I'm trying to encourage him to try feeding himself. He really enjoys cut up orange pieces and cut up avocado (but doesn't really like it smashed...maybe it's the texture?). This morning I gave him little torn up bits of toast which he really liked, especially dipped in yogurt. He tried some honeydew melon that he wasn't too keen on, but it wasn't the greatest melon. It could have been more ripe.

He's getting really great at his crawling - still more of an army crawl/inch worm than a traditional "up on all fours" crawl - which is both a lot of fun and super annoying. LOL he loves things like cords and Sadie's food/water dishes and pretty much all the stuff he isn't supposed to have. He's figured out how to get out of his Bumbo chair, so now I just let him play on the floor while I make his food (but I have to move Sadie's water & food out of his reach, first!).

He's such a great kid, he really is. He smiles and laughs so much and is excited to try new things and go exploring. He makes every day an adventure and I couldn't ask for more!

Well, I think that's it for Ben's inaugural post. Standing in the sun all day at Beer Fest really took it out of me and I'm pooped. More later!