Seven Months

Happy 7 Months Ben!!! Our little guy continues to grow and learn and thrive everyday. He is wearing size 9-12mo cloths and is in a size 3 diaper! I think he had a growth spurt just after 6 mos, and he's now 18.5 lbs! His eyes are a really beautiful blueish-hazel. We are seeing more and more blond hairs lately, but still overall seems like his hair is a light brown with blond highlights.

He is doing lots of fun new things lately. He seems on the verge of crawling. He is scooting backwards on his tummy, and rolling across the floor to get to things he wants. He tries to pull himself up into a sitting position, although it will likely be a while before he is able to do it by himself. For now though he is working on some rock-hard abs ;) He is showing definite preference for certain books, and his favorite is still I Love You Through and Through. He turns all the pages, and when we get to the end, he closes the book and turns it back over to the front, and we begin again! He usually wants to read it through 3 or 4 times, and then starts looking around for "what's next" - haha.

His spitting up has almost completely stopped. We no longer have to cover ourselves in burp cloths all the time - yay! A couple times he has cried out when I leave the room, and he is calmed when I go back to his crib and give him a kiss and some kind words. So far, this is the only sign of "separation anxiety" we have seen, and it is very minimal. He is enjoying snuggle-time before naps and bed. I sit with him in the rocking chair and sing and hold him close. He runs his fingers through my hair or touches the soft fabric on the chair cushions. It is sooooo sweet, and I am cherishing every moment because I know he won't want these moments forever.

Ben LOVES the water spray from the shower, and squeals with delight when it sprays on him. He reaches his hands out to touch it, and tries to grab the shower head and pull it towards him. He is making lots of noises, like ba, ah goo, and tries to mimic us when we say "mama" or "dada" by saying "ah ah". He looks around the room to find us, and gets a satisfied look when he sees we are there. He loves Kodi, and has definitely been making moves to try and get to him. He loves Patty Cake and the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and he especially loves when we move his arms and legs like he's doing a triathlon (this is for our own posterity ... others may not want to read this part!) "Put your swim cap on, put your goggles on, dive into the water, swim swim swim swim swim, get out of the water, dry yourself off, take your goggles off, take your swim cap off, put your bike shoes on, get on your bike, pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal, get off the bike, take your bike shoes off, put your running shoes on, run run run run run run, cross the finish line, jump for joy jump for joy, receive your medal, yay Benjamin!" His favorite part is running. Laughs every time.

Way to go Ben! Mommy and Daddy love you buddy!!!!

A Big Day!

So today two big things happened with Ben. For the first time, I think Ben purposely did something I told him not to do ... not maliciously, but definitely to test my reaction. I was feeding him lunch, and one time after I gave him a spoonful of food, he blew a raspberry so his mouthful of food went flying all over him and me. I put my finger to his mouth and said in a serious voice, "No Benjamin, we don't do that while we're eating." He stared at me for a long time with his eyes wide, and I could see the wheels turning since I was talking to him in a serious way. I gave him another bite and said "Keep your food in your mouth" in a serious tone. He ate that bite just fine, staring at me the whole time. Then I gave him another bite, and staring right at me he splattered it all out of his mouth again! It really seemed as though he was testing his boundaries and seeing if I would react in that strong, serious way again. What little stinker!

Later in the day, I left him on his tummy on a blanket in the middle of the floor for a minute to start a load of laundry. When I came back, he was across the floor, about 10 feet from where I had left him! When I first walked back into the room, all I saw was the empty blanket in the middle of the floor - my stomach sank, then as I fully turned the corner and got closer, I saw where Ben had ended up. He rolled his way across the floor. This marks a new era - we can no longer assume baby will stay where we put him! His whole life, he was always exactly where we left him - but no longer :)

A Visit from Nana & Grandpa

We had a FUN visit with Nana & Grandpa, who came up to spend time together as a family and to watch Ben while Jeff and I went out for a date night! We picked them up from Meachum regional airport and went to Coal Vines for pizza and wine :)

 Ben always surprises us with his resilience and ability to hang in there when he is off his "schedule" ... he usually goes to bed around 6:30 or 7pm, and we were at the restaurant til close to 9 that night. He did great, and even read his very first menu!

 Here's one of many of what I call "mini-me" pictures - I think they look so much alike!

 Nana and Grandpa brought lots of fun gifts for Ben, and he loves them all! Books in the shape of cars and trucks, cute swim gear, a ball, a cup and thermos with his name on it, and a really cool CD with songs that all say "Benjamin" in them :)

It was hot all weekend, so we hung out in the pool on Saturday. We set up the baggo to play it in the pool! Ben had his first taste of popsicle too ... I have a feeling this will become a favorite treat by next summer.

Then on Sunday, Nana and Grandpa were kind enough to babysit Ben so Jeff and I could head out for a date night. We were going out to dinner and then the Michael Buble concert. We realized that the timing would work out so we could actually have dinner at this movie theater that serves dinner while you watch a movie, so we made it our own "double" date and saw the movie Inception before the concert. We felt very fortunate to get out for some quality time together and know Ben was in such good hands at home.

Babbling

Overnight, Ben started babbling a LOT more than he ever had before. For the past couple months, he would typically have 1 or 2 "talkative" periods per day, usually in the afternoon/early evening. But the other day, he woke up and was clearly making more concerted efforts to form sounds all day long. That has continued the past two days. Way to go Ben! You'll be talking before we know it :)

Thhhhh Bbbb Wwww from Katy on Vimeo.

Cici & Gpa come to visit!

My parents came to town for a family friend's wedding. It was beautiful, and we all had lots of fun. Jeff and I left Ben with a babysitter for the first time! We had been easing into it, first with family and friends watching him (thank you Moms and Dads and Sarah!!!), and then recently we left him with babysitters while we went into the next room to have dinner - at a work function for Jeff and at the club in our neighborhood. It felt really different this time though - driving away from the house I felt sad, but also confident that everything would go smoothly. After all, it would only be about an hour before he went to sleep for the night anyway. Sure enough, it was great. Ben went to sleep without a fuss and slept soundly til we got home :)

The rest of the holiday weekend, we had a blast - we spent lots of time in the pool, the most we ever have and it was awesome. We played Marco Polo and volleyball in the water, and cooked out. I also took my parents to the Feedstore BBQ, a local place that is soooo yummy! It was the quarterfinals of the World Cup, so there were some good games we got to watch too.

 Dad had to head back to work, but Mom stayed for the rest of the week. We spent lots of good quality time with Little Mitter and we also shopped, dined and checked out some neighboring cities (just in case they ever want to move down here - hehe!)

Ben's new highchair arrived, so Mom and I put that together for him. I think he likes it! He gets to sit at the table and eat with us :)

Splish Splash

First Splashes! from Katy on Vimeo.