Ben is the best kind of handful. He is sweet, funny, super busy, determined, friendly and we just adore him. Here are a few things I want to remember for where he is in life right now.
- He is super outgoing with strangers and says hey or bye multiple times to folks in the grocery store, at the park, at church, everywhere we go. He puts a smile on people's faces and they adore him. I hope he always keeps this trait and makes a point to speak and be friendly to others. He is persistent too and will say hey until they look up and acknowledge him. This has been a really good thing for MB and it has helped her to be more friendly too.
- He loves his blue blanket and his paci. He calls both of them nah-nah which, amazingly enough, is exactly what MB called her paci. We think it has something to do with them associating it with night night. When he gets tired, he starts asking for nah-nah and that's how we know he is ready for bed. He is super easy to put to bed and he likes to snuggle and put his head on our shoulders when we are putting him down. He sleeps for 11-12 hours at night and normally takes 3-4 hours of naps during the day. Sometimes he takes two naps and sometimes he takes one. He only wants his blanket in bed with him. If there is any other stuffed animal or toy left in his crib, he chunks them across the room before he goes to sleep.
- He is active beyond words. I hear other people say that their children are busy and then they are in the same room as Ben and look like they are in slow motion. He runs super fast although he keeps his upper body still while running. His legs are going wide open and then he is super calm on the top half. He likes to do front rolls and is just starting to jump. When Dan lifts him up to the pull up bar, he can pull up his feet to the bar and hang
- He gets offended really easy. If you cut up food in front of him, he will fall apart and then refuse to eat it. If there is something that I want to cut into smaller bites, I have to hide it from him or otherwise he will melt down.
- Since his tubes surgery in June, we had really hoped for his speech to improve. It is getting a little better but not quite picking up as much as we had hoped. The good news is that his hearing has improved greatly, according to the tests they ran. We are hoping that once he starts talking more and can communicate with us better, he will be less frustrated.
- His favorite (and most often used) words are duck, yeah, puppy, baby, bubbles, mine, eat, diaper, cheese, snack, poopie, pee pee, potty, out, off, deer, pool, night night. He also knows how to say please, thank you, yes, boo boo, ow, two, house, big, little and help. The family names he can say are mama, dada, ya ya, mimi, papa, G and Maw Maw. When he needs something from me he calls me mum, otherwise, I am mama. He calls Dan dada unless he is saying hey or bye and he says Hey D, Bye D. He just started saying Ben but it sounds more like B. MB really wants him to say her name but it's a tough one. He can point to all of his body parts and can say are teeth, mouth, eyes and ears. He is just starting to put two words together and says hold me often with his arms stretched up.
- He can recognize cars and remember who they belong to. His favorite car is a BEEP (jeep) and he points them out every time he sees one and he can spot them from a mile away. He yells DADA at any white truck and MIMI at any while car. Any tractor, lawn mower, four wheeler, boat or any construction vehicle is PAPA. He will continue yelling the names until you acknowledge what he is saying. You never know how many white vehicles are out there until you have taken a drive with Ben.
- He loves to play and be outside. He gets little beads of sweat on his nose and the reddest cheeks you've ever seen. Speaking of cheeks, I love how his jiggle a little bit when he walks. He is getting pretty brave at the pool and will jump off the side with a little help and then paddle over to the steps. He is bad about swimming with his mouth open though and he often gets choked and throws up in the pool. Ew!
- Eating with Ben continues to be not for anyone with a weak stomach. He is so messy and crams his mouth full. He has gotten so good at cramming his mouth that he knows how to pack it in his cheeks and the roof of his mouth so that when I ask him to show me his mouth, it looks empty! I feel like I need to sweep all the time and the floor just stays yucky. I can't even deal. He still prefers to eat with his hands and he will only use a fork/spoon when we load it up for him. He refuses to scoop it himself. Dude is messy, period.
- His favorite food used to be bananas but I think he got burned out on them because he hardly eats them now. He loves cheese, cheese pizza, snacks of any kind, peas, butter beans, mac and cheese, cereal, rice, french fries, fruit (especially blue berries) any kind of dessert and basically anything that is on your plate that looks better than his. He doesn't love meat but is starting to like CFA chicken nuggets as his meat of choice.
- He can pitch a fit with the best of them (read sister) and runs as fast as possible in the opposite direction and flings himself onto something soft (he is smart). He stomps and kicks and has good ole fashion meltdowns that often leave us flustered. Both of our kids are passionate, independent, determined little things and there are worse traits to have I suppose. :-)
- He is smitten with MB and watches and imitates her every move. It can be super fun to watch them grab each others hands as they go upstairs to her room to play. It can be just as frustrating when MB starts a melt down and Ben decides to follow suit. He looks up to her so much and she always is able to get him to laugh a good belly laugh.
- I'm in love with his curls and chipped tooth smile. He melts my heart with his sweet grins, kisses and hugs. He is super loving and we could just eat him right up.
Here is his birthday video. I love how shocked he was when he blew out the candles. Priceless!
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