Books

I am happy to say that in the last month or so, Ben has really started to love books. He grabs a book and carries it over saying "book, book, book." It warms this English major's heart!

Ben has several favorites, but right now he most loves this flap book that the Easter bunny brought him.

Sometimes he will read to himself.

This must be some heavy stuff, if that look of concentration is any indication.

Most times he likes to plant himself on mom or dad's lap and read to us.

And we're happy to oblige. I am just so relieved that he likes books. For a bit, he didn't seem interested, and I was worried. I think he was just too busy learning to walk and explore to sit still for a book. Thank goodness he loves them now!

(Sorry for the crappy picture quality. I left my camera at Brad's on Mother's Day so my iphone is filling in until I get my camera back.)

Feeding Himself (Well, Trying Anyway)

Ben really enjoys trying to feed himself. "Trying" is the operative word in that sentence.

He insists on holding the spoon himself. If I try to get sneaky and give him a spoon and then use a spoon myself to attempt to get food into his mouth, he commandeers both spoons. If it is a jar food or yogurt, he likes to hold that himself too. Here are the results of Ben's attempt.





I believe Lily was neatly feeding herself at around 12 months. Ben is 15 months, and clearly his skills still need some polish.

Our Little Bruiser

I was talking to Mom this weekend about Ben's antics, when I realized I'd failed to share any pictures of Ben's rough week.

Last Tuesday I got a call from his daycare letting me know that Ben accidentally slammed his face into the edge of the table, giving him what looks like a black eye.

Then Sunday, Easter, we were out in the backyard playing, and Ben decided to run on the patio. His running ended with him tripping over his own feet, falling forward, and breaking his fall with his chin on the first brick step leading into the house. (If there was any doubt, with all this clumsiness we've now confirmed Ben is definitely my kid.)

Five minutes of screaming and crying (not sure who was carrying on more, me or Ben) and all was well. All that blood was just a very badly scraped chin. It is healing nicely, and except for pulling off every band-aid we tried to apply, Ben barely seemed to notice it after the initial drama.

Sadly, I didn't get any great pictures of the black eye when it was at its worst -- swollen, puffy, and black; and I didn't get any close-ups of the chin either. But in this picture you can kind of see both injuries.

And the fact that he is holding a bat that is as large as he is leads me to believe that this will not be the last of his injuries. He is all boy, that is for sure.





All I can think when I see this picture is "Happy F***ing Easter."