Ouchies

Thursday at daycare Ben tripped on his own feet and fell forward, hitting his chin on a shelf on his way down. In the process, he split his lip. I got a call letting me know he probably needed stitches, so I headed over and picked him up, and off we went to the ER.

Surprisingly, when I picked him up he was totally calm and happy. We hung out in his room in the ER while we waited to see the doctor. Here Ben is showing off his ouchie. Unfortunately, you can't really see it because it is on the very bottom of his lip, and his lip was too swollen.

It was all down hill from here. They gave him a sedative before the stitches. So I now know what it is like to have a drunk 2 year old. Within minutes of taking the sedative, he was stumbling, his eyes were drooping, and he was laughing at anything and everything.

The doctor and assistant wrapped him up like a mummy and then secured him to a board (for lack of a better term) and taped his head to it, then the assistant held Ben's head down for the doctor. Ben was okay for all of this. But when they stuck that needle straight into the cut on his lip (twice) to numb it, all hell broke loose. Ben screamed. And screamed. He got three stitches. His screams sounded so sad, due to the sedative. He made these strange hiccuping noises and it was heartbreaking for me. I just stood by his feet and rubbed his leg, trying to comfort him.

He did not stop screaming until he eventually fell asleep in the car on the way home, his lip swollen and whitish blue.

I carried him up to his crib and, thankfully, he stayed asleep. I was told he'd take a very long nap due to the sedative, but not my Ben! He napped a little over 2 hours (less than usual). But he woke up like nothing happened. His lip was still swollen, but MUCH better than before. He was ready to go -- happy and adorable. Such a relief!

I took him to the store to get some popsicles, but he spotted BBQ potato chips and asked for those. Of course, I could not resist. (He had a small cut inside his lip too, and he kept licking it, as you can see here.)

 This is Ben's idea of smiling for the camera. He says "cheese," and makes this face.

And here he is doing it again, only this time with a chocolate chip milkshake in hand. (What? Perhaps I spoiled him a little bit. He earned it. And luckily he did not throw up from all the junk!)

He gets his stitches out Wednesday. Fingers crossed that it goes better than when he got the stitches put in.

Drivers Beware!

Be sure to wear your seatbelts, Ben's driving now.

Saturday morning (still in his jammies), Ben asked me if he could go "driving."

"Driving" involves pulling out change, then picking it up.

  Steering the car.

Paying tolls. (He is holding our IPASS up to the window; I guess he really is paying attention to Mom and Dad when we're driving.)

Dee is the only one brave enough to risk riding with Ben. And even she is smart enough to look a little  nervous.

Buckling up! It is the law.

 Picking out some tunes on Mommy's iPod.

I think he's got it down. Only 14 more years to go!

ABCDs

Here is a video from a few weeks ago of Ben singing his ABCs, or ABCDs, as he insists on calling them. I love how he gets confused when he starts repeating the "ABC" at the end and just starts over and gives a cheerful shout to deflect.

Randomness

I was looking through my pictures from Ben's birthday and stumbled across these.

Gampy read Ben this book (and others) about 50 times!

And Jenn, Tucker, and Ben spent an entire evening putting together this alphabet mat. Big fun!

Dee even helped out a bit.

Well, maybe "helped out" is overstating things.

More Benisms

After being told he couldn't play with the hose because it is broken: "Hose broken, mama; needs batteries."

After watching Dee poop while we were taking a walk, Ben ran into the yard where Dee had pooped, squatted down and announced: "Dee go poo-poo; Ben go poo-poo."

Cousins

Last week my sister Jenn and her son Tucker came to visit for Ben's second birthday. Ben was napping when they first arrived, but when he woke up we introduced them.

Ben was instantly smitten as they bonded over a snack.

We couldn't help but notice how they look more like brothers than cousins. And for the rest of the week they played and got along like brothers might. Ben was sad to see his cousin Tucker go. Just tonight he reminded me "Jenn and Tucker go bye-bye on airplane." I think he is wondering when they are coming back? Me too!

Trading Laptops

Ben is no stranger to "computing," as you might recall. We've had him hard at work on the laptop since he was a baby.

While Gammy was hard at work on her laptop, Ben decided he'd get to work too.

But Gammy's laptop looked like more fun, so they traded.

I think this is where Gammy realized perhaps Ben had made out best in this deal.

She became a bit more concerned when Ben started giving it kisses. Or maybe he was biting it. I'm honestly not sure. Either way, about this time Gammy decided she might need to get her laptop back.

But once Ben got his hands on the real deal, he was not giving it up. Gammy tried, but he was not having it. She finally just admitted defeat.