Dee Did It

Ben might have found his way into the wrapping paper.

I say might because when I confronted him on the topic, despite the overwhelming evidence, he assured me with this innocent look that he had nothing to do with it. And then he told me it was all Dee.

Side note 1: Sorry about the crappy picture quality. My camera was still at Brad's, so the phone was all I had.

Side note 2: I cannot get over the cuteness of Ben in those athletic shorts, just like Dada wears.

Cheerios

Ben recently moved up to the next room at daycare. Rather than feed him breakfast of baby fruit and oatmeal, they said now he should be feeding himself and to bring in something for him. So I made a bowl of cheerios (regular mixed with a smidge of honey nut) with milk. Big hit!

He was so interested in his breakfast on Friday that for the first time in months, he did not cry and run after me when I left. He just sat at the table shovelling in the cheerios and drinking his milk and watched me go, with an expression that said "Whatever. I've got Cheerios."

This morning we took Ben and Dee to the Naperville River Walk, where Ben enjoyed his cheerios. Since we had Dee, we got bagels and ate outside. Dee was anxious to get a move on and explore.

There was no high chair and the tables were way too high for Ben. But he loved standing with Dada to eat. He also loved the bites of bagel with peanut butter we gave him.



Good stuff!

Here is a short video of Ben saying hi and bye and eating Cheerios.

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."

Posing -- Not So Much

Sadly, this is the best picture we could get of Ben with his great grandma. You can see that I had to bribe him with my cell phone to even get this awful shot.

Clearly Mr. Ben does not take after Ms. Lily in the posing for a picture department. Here is the evidence of that:

1. Hiding and trying to get out of my arms.

2. Actually pushing her away with his hand. What a charmer.

3. Turning away and hiding again.

4. Squirming to get down.

At this point, we gave up.

Chippers!

Generally I don't think Ben takes after me too much. But his love of chips is clearly something he inherited from his mama.

While in Texas, Ben got quite excited when Gammy pulled out the BBQ potato chips. (Mom, apologies for this terrible picture, but it was the only one I managed to get.)

We were trying to get Ben in his PJs for bed, but when he spotted those chippers, all bets were off.


Between Dee and Ben's begging, I don't think Mom got a chance to eat a chip herself. She was too busy throwing them to a crazed Dee. But Ben had a more direct approach. Mom put a chip on her knee for him, he prompty snatched it up and shoved it in his mouth, and then tapped her knee until she forked over another chipper.



Their methods were effective. I think between the two of them, Mom never did get a chip.