BENJAMIN STEVEN: 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: