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.