Sorry, Ben

...for totally neglecting your blog for two months.  I'm posting lots of pictures in an attempt to redeem myself.  First, some updates:

Ben's personality is really starting to assert itself in full force, and it's especially evident since I have his sister to compare him with.  One major difference is that Ben displays the full range of his emotions right out in the open for all to see.  He does things BIG: big smiles, big laughs, big hugs (and kisses now too), big hand gestures, big cries.  When he's upset (usually as a result of being denied something he wants), he throws himself backward until his head hits something.  (I hate when he does that on our tile kitchen floor -- he's going to crack his head open!)  He RUNS everywhere, so he always seems to be excited.  He loves to wrestle and roughhouse, but he's also very capable of quiet playing and reading, too.

He's definitely a bit of a daredevil.  He knows he has physical limitations, but he wants to master them.  If there's something he has trouble with, like a big stair or something tall he wants to climb up, he'll try it over and over again until he's done it easily by himself.  I love that quality in him, but sometimes it leads to frustration because there is still so much he isn't ready for.  Whereas Sophie has always seemed to have a sense of what she can't do yet and doesn't even try, Ben wants to do those things in particular!  As the person who's supposed to make sure the kids don't injure themselves, I've had to get used to that tendency of his in a hurry.

I think his attraction to challenges is what drives his constant desire to go outside!  We can't say that word in the house, and it's always a risk to step out the door even for a moment without him.  It doesn't take long each morning before he's communicating quite clearly that that's what he wants to do.  But he's very smart about it, too: he knows you have to get all dressed before you go outside.  So when he wants to go out, he goes and finds a shirt, some pants, socks, and his shoes and brings them to me, then he sits down on my lap so I can put them on him.  If he's already wearing a shirt, he'll just open his drawer and get some bottoms.  And since he's so smart and cute about it, it's very hard to resist.  I wonder if he'll want to go outside less as the weather is consistently colder.

He has, unfortunately, begun the phase of strong attachment to Mama that is typical for this age.  I say "unfortunately" mostly because I think it limits him.  For example, he has started to get sad in the church nursery after I leave, when he didn't before.  He basically becomes inconsolable until I come back.  I don't really mind having him be this attached to me for a little while.  I know it will end, he's my last baby, and he's just so snuggly and soft... even by baby standards.

He's still eating and sleeping very well.  He's been experimenting a lot vocally.  Not many actual words yet.  He says "uh-kuh" for Orca (his friend on car rides) and outside.  He says "muh" for milk.  He also says "dada" a lot, but I'm not sure if it's really in reference to John.  He still mostly just communicates physically: by bringing us things, making gestures, and of course crying and whining.  :)

His relationship with Sophie is getting more complex.  They are definitely "fighting" over more things now.  They have an instinct to push each other away when there is conflict over a toy or book.  Then I tell them to take turns ("first it's Sophie's turn!  OK, now it's Ben's turn!"), and they love to give it back and forth in that context, even though at that point nobody is really using the item anymore!  But they are also just starting to play together.  Ben LOVES it when Sophie touches him or makes eye contact with him; he gets downright giddy about it.  Just today I saw them playing peekaboo together.  So cute.  And they both run around in circles to music.

Speaking of music, Ben is finally showing some interest.  He has had his favorite songs that John or I play on the piano for a while, but I think a lot of that is just that he likes following Sophie as she does her running-in-circles-to-music thing.  But in the past week, I've seen him really start to pay attention to some of the songs on the kids' albums we have.  And last night, we saw him really dance for the first time.

Here are some pictures from the last two months.  I don't have time to do captions, so I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.  :)  Most of them were taken by Grammy Sue, as usual!

Playing at Dinnertime Tonight

Ben is very happy in this video.  Sorry for how loud I am!  Just ignore me.  :)

Year Two

Well, no more babies around here!  Just kidding, I still call them babies.  But technically, I believe that is incorrect.  For me, Ben's first birthday was great -- surprisingly little stress for me!  That day, we went to Baby Time at the library, got a sticker, and had everyone sing to us.  Ben hid his face in my shoulder.  We didn't really do a special dinner or anything since Ben will normally just eat what I make, but we did eat cupcakes -- which seemed to make the kids cranky, not crazy -- and presents.  Ben didn't need much since he always has all of his sister's toys to play with, but we did get him a new interactive book about animals, another They Might Be Giants album, and a big furry rocking dog named Patrick that we adopted from my friend Amy.

Then the next weekend, we used Ben's birthday as an occasion to have some of John's colleagues over.  It was a nice, low-key evening.  I think Ben was only slightly overwhelmed.  :)  He got to eat another cupcake, and the rest of us ate good food, chatted, and played cornhole.  The next morning, we went to a state park to have some professional photos taken.  That was CHAOS!  Ben was too psyched about being in a new environment to be still, and then he got anxious because I think he could tell that we were trying to control his behavior a lot.  BUT the photographer just posted our gallery and she actually managed to get some cute ones!  If you want to see them, go to bestshotphotos.net, click the "Clients" tab, and enter our password: jrlightle.  I think they'll be up for two weeks.  You'll see Ben's grandparents in some of the pictures, too; Ben had a great time playing and cuddling with them that weekend.  Here are some pictures, courtesy of Grammy Sue:

Ben's personality, as ever, is evolving quickly.  Here are some new quirks:

He only wants to eat things that he can eat himself.  Even if he normally likes a food, he'll get very upset if you don't let him hold it and put it in his own mouth.  We've had to start filling spoons, then putting them on his tray to pick up on his own.  Needless to say, it makes every mealtime a whole lot messier.  Here is a video of what happened when I just thought "screw it" and let him have at some yogurt:

He's kind of a little drama king recently!  If you try to tell him no, or if he's generally not getting what he wants, he throws a big, loud whining fit, collapses on the floor, and his face looks like you've seriously injured him.  It sounds annoying, but it's really hard not to laugh at least a little bit.  (I try not to do it out loud... I don't want to damage his psyche.)  It's always just so much drama about something pretty minor.  But I guess to a 12-month-old, small things aren't so small.

He's very sure about what he wants, and often what he wants is to go somewhere or grab something (and then put it in his mouth).  So he's a little hard to control these days.  I like to take him places where he can just GO and tire himself out, which he does pretty quickly.  One minute, there's nothing more important to him than getting where he's going, and then just 15 minutes or so later he's cuddled up in my arms because he's all worn out.  :)

He LOVES to be chased and tickled.  I think he's about a year ahead of Sophie in understanding what chasing even is.  Can't run yet, though, so it's super funny to see him walking as fast as he can, trying to get away.

He has a real need to conquer challenges.  When he finds something he can't do very well or that is a little scary, he does it over and over again until he's got it.  And he doesn't want help.  I love that about him.  Part of it is laziness because it can be exhausting to have to help your kid do every little thing, but mostly I'm just proud of him, and I love to see him learning that practice makes perfect!  Here is Ben on the wobbly bridge at the playground, which he crossed over and over until it wasn't hard anymore:

This past weekend we went to the pumpkin patch:

And the beach:

Next post will probably be after Halloween.  I think we may actually attempt trick-or-treating this year!

My Baby Boy Is Turning One

Ben was just born a couple of months ago.  Right?  It definitely has not been more than, like, 6 months...

It probably gets boring for you readers to see every post these days begin like that, but seriously!  I can still hear myself screaming in the bedroom while he was on his way out.  I'm really not sure how it's possible he's going to have a birthday this month.

And once again, I apologize for not keeping up with posting.  It's been alternately boring -- in that we've just stayed around the house most days to beat the heat -- and busy, since I've been working on various personal things in my free time, most recently my law school application materials.  I think I'm going next year!  That means I get one more year at home with my babies before they are off to spend their days at school.  I want to make it count.

So what's been new with Ben for the past month or so?  For starters, here is a good video of him walking, for those who haven't seen it yet:



He is a champion walker now.  And he skipped that whole phase where you have to walk around with them, hunched over and holding their hands.  He decided he wasn't going to wait for me to help him out.  We've ventured out on some walks around our neighborhood, but it can be difficult because Ben needs a lot of corralling to keep him out of the street, or wherever else he has decided he really wants to go that is not forward on the sidewalk with the rest of us.

 Ben's personality is in full bloom now.  He likes:

• BOOKS!  Just like his sister before him, he'll spend big chunks of time each day just paging through all of our kids books.  The more familiar he is with them, the more he likes them.  He especially likes the kind that are interactive somehow, such as peekaboo books.
• Taking off on his own two feet to explore new places.
• To run around in circles with Sophie to music, either from Pandora or just one of us playing the piano.
• The outdoors.  He understands the word "outside" and will often go to the door when I say it.
• His mama.  He still thinks of me as the one who fixes his thirst, his hunger, his hurts, and his frights.  Every now and then he likes to come over and give me a hug, just to make sure.  And he hugs with his whole body.
• Cereal, juice, yogurt, applesauce, bananas, Italian food (e.g. with tomato sauce or pesto), quesadillas, peanut butter and jelly, Chinese dumplings, potatoes, nuggets, shrimp, ground beef.  He'll eat more than what I've listed, but those are the things you can pretty much count on him to eat anytime you offer them.  And he'll try anything.
• Eating his food by himself.
• Playing peekaboo.
• Little dogs.  There is a dachshund in our neighborhood, and Ben went right up to him and pet him and laughed when the dog licked him in the face.
• Water.  Anytime, anywhere.
• Kitchen ware, especially relocating it to other parts of the house.
• His stuffed orca whale, who keeps him company in the car.
• Drumsticks.

He doesn't like:

• Loud voices.
• Teeth coming in: he has 13 now and counting, including all four of his first molars.
• Having a new diaper put on.
• Closed doors, especially with me on the other side.

He does A LOT of babbling -- enough that I actually feel like we've had conversations -- but no words yet.  He definitely understands a good amount of what we say, though.  Like I said, he knows the word "outside."  Also "banana," "books," "orca," "come here," and of course his own name (either Baby Ben or Mr. Ben).

He's finished with breastmilk.  Now it's just regular or soy milk, diluted juice, and water to drink.

Next update will probably be after his birthday festivities.  We'll be doing a family celebration, a party with John's colleagues, and a new photo session.

One more picture

I found this one and had to post it:

Walkin' Like A Man

We finally got back from our journey to Ohio last week, and we're full of updates and pictures.

Big news item: Ben is almost a walker!  We've seen him take upwards of ten steps on his own, and he practices more and more every day.  The only reason I say he's only "almost" a walker is that it's definitely not his primary mode of transportation yet.  But that will probably change over the next couple of weeks.  Here is a video of some steps, although it's not one of his more impressive attempts:

We had a great time in Ohio.  Ben spent most of his time charming everyone he met.  Here are some photos of him being adorable:

Our trip wasn't without its challenges.  For the first week, Ben seemed very fussy, and I later noticed that he had a tooth broken through in the back of his mouth.  The second week, while we were at the lake house, Ben got a pretty high fever that lasted for about 24 hours.  It turned into a cold that made him pretty congested and phlegmy for almost two weeks.  Then, on the night before we were going to head back to Florida, Ben swallowed a big chunk of watermelon that got caught somewhere it wasn't supposed to and started gagging up lots of mucus.  He could still breathe, but we decided we had to call 911.  A policeman and some paramedics came to the house and were about to take us to the hospital in the ambulance, when all of a sudden Ben threw up right outside the vehicle and at least one big chunk of watermelon came out.  He immediately looked and sounded better, and started smiling at everyone.  Fortunately, we didn't have to spend our last evening in Ohio in the hospital!  Here are some pics of Ben charming the paramedics after he was feeling better:

Other developments:

Ben is eating lots of big people food.  He likes just about everything, and wants a lot of it!  Right now, he asks for about a third of an adult's portion for dinner, if not more.  But we try to be careful after the ambulance incident, so I spend a lot of mealtime cutting things up into tiny pieces.

Ben takes one nap now, from 1pm to 4pm.  I think he's probably still a little young to have that schedule, but he's been doing really well with it and it makes it so much easier for me when the kids' naps can overlap.  I hope it keeps working.

For two out of the last three nights, Ben has slept 12 hours straight!  Hooray!

Ben loves to go to places where he can see other kids.  He's so social, but he doesn't get much love from his sister at home and sometimes a strange kid will actually engage with him when we're out, which he loves.  On the downside, he thinks it's ok to climb on everybody, so I'm constantly pulling him off of people.  When he's a real walker, I don't think that'll be as much of an issue.