Break's Over

My explanation for the month-long break, among other things that have fallen by the wayside around here lately, is that the kids are now on different nap schedules.  I put Ben down at noon, and he sleeps until about 2:30 or 3pm; then Sophie goes down.  At times I felt like I was using nap time for "me time" a lot, but I'm realizing that there was actually a lot I was getting done in terms of cleaning, blog updating, etc that's much harder to get done when there's a kid around, even if it's only one.  Anyway, there's my excuse.

The biggest change in Ben's life over the past month is that he has definitely entered the "I-love-Mommy" phase.  He really, really wants to be around me, crawl on me, pull my hair, chew on me, and have me hold him.  I seem to remember this is a 9-18 months thing... fortunately, he doesn't seem reticent to be around others, the way Sophie was; it's just that if he knows I'm there, he just seems to have to come over and try to make himself physically part of me!  Perhaps it's exacerbated or starting early because he's hungry all the time and associates me with food.  He LOVES adult food... can't get enough.  He'll eat Cheerios, but unlike Sophie, he gets tired of them.  Somehow he knows whether he's eating the same thing we are, so I've been trying to grind up at least our dinners in the food mill to get them to baby food consistency.  So he has gotten some interesting purees, such as mango curry with rice, wild rice with lamb and cherries, spaghetti and meatballs, fried rice, and chicken parmesan and pasta.  He has loved every one, and each time it seems like I haven't ground up enough for him.  He makes it VERY clear when he wants more food: he flaps his arms with locked elbows and bangs on his food tray.  Sometimes he also claps for more food.  And of course his face really says it all, too.  Since he has 8 fully-established teeth, there are also a lot of foods that I don't have to grind up as long as I can cut them into very small, chewable pieces.  Last night, he ate 1/4 of a hamburger patty.  And here he is on Fathers' Day eating some baked beans and cornbread with his dad:

At night, Ben has gotten very, very accustomed to his bedtime routine, which unfortunately involves me nursing him.  I'm not sure if there can be any substitute for that yet.  I'm not sure how much longer I can last though... with all those teeth, it can definitely be treacherous for me.  And I don't happen to have any sentimental feelings about nursing, so I'm pretty much counting the weeks until I can wean him.  Some good news is that, once again, we seem to be on a trend of fewer night wakings.  We haven't had any zeroes, but there has only been one during each of the past few nights.  That one may be at 11:15pm, or it may be at 6am.  So nothing regular yet.  I'm trying to be patient as long as I can!

Ben is a pro at crawling, but he definitely seems to have a preference for being upright.  If he can get somewhere by climbing up something and holding on to it while he takes steps, he chooses that.  It seems like he spends most of his waking time climbing whatever is available!  I wonder how long before he walks?  This is another milestone I'm anxious for him to meet... there are lots of activities that Sophie and I do -- like playing outside in the yard or going to the park -- that will be made much easier when Ben can walk.  As it is, I have to hold him the whole time so he doesn't eat things on the ground, and he's so heavy that I really can't hold him for very long.  He has about zero interest in being forced to just sit somewhere (unless perhaps there's food involved), so the bumbo seat and the like aren't getting too much use lately.

We had a great visit from Grandma Corinne and Papa Steve a few weeks ago.  The kids loved them.  Here is a cute picture of Ben with his grandma:

This week we'll leave to spend about a month in Ohio, so I probably won't do blog updates until we get back.  I hope to return with plenty of pictures, and hopefully some good news on at least the nighttime front!