Belated 16 and 17 Month Updates (Including 1st Vacation!)

Yikes... again, I'm behind on my monthly updating! Although I think a family vacation is a pretty reasonable excuse! :) We had our first official family vacation as "five" (the three of us plus my parents) to Granite City, IL for two weeks to visit my mother's side of the family for the holidays (December 23rd - January 6th). Highlights of our trip include going to City Museam, the St. Louis Zoo, the "Loop", the Science Center and of course Beni having the opportunity to finally bond with his Great-Grandpa, Great-Aunts and Uncle that he hasn't seen since he was only two weeks old, and Second-Cousins he has only just met on this trip. All in all, we left we a multitude of wonderful memories and photographs and a newfound appreciation for warm Florida weather! Also, Beni did awesome on the plane rides (sleeping most of the time!), which is something I was extremely paranoid about when we started planning the trip... he was awake through the final landing in Florida and actually had his face glued to the window in amazement. Fun times, indeed!

Now onto the new and exciting things in Beni's world (and thus, ours too!) Where in the world do I begin?! It seems everything has occurred in the last couple of months... my goodness. Okay, deep breath... the most prominent update is probably that Beni understands just about everything we say to him at this point, and this doesn't just apply to words, but actions and commands as well. When we ask him to put his books/toys away or place a certain object on the table, or find and hand something to Mommy or Daddy, he does so and then nods his head in satisfaction when he's done. This is probably one of my favorite new quirks, his quick and sort of exaggerated little head nod... as if to say, "I got this!". I've also noticed his likes and dislikes really coming in to play these past few months... he loves going through his books and identifying everything there is to be identified (he grins from ear to ear when he see balls, balloons, trains, firetrucks, ducks, dogs, cats, "Taz", and anything Yo Gabba Gabba related), he's a big showoff when it comes to dancing and has acquired some new moves thanks to the movie "Happy Feet" ("happy feet" to Beni means it's time to shuffle his feet as fast as humanely possible while moving in circles across the floor), he loves being a "BOY" and living up to the title of a pint-sized perpetual-motion machine... dancing or darting through the house like a bullet, chasing poor Cookie (our 9-year old Chihuahua), climbing onto couches and tables like Mount Everest, overpowering baby gates, rearranging furniture... What is it about toddlers that keeps them going, and going, and going, and…? Ohhhhh dear. Alongside high physical energy, he also loves to "talk"! So, essentially we have ourselves a half-crazed super motion machine, spitting long-winded mostly unintelligible conversation at us daily... that, of course, we have grown to know and always love! No one ever said parenting was for the weak. :)

New words in the last two months include Grandpa, guitar, baby (previously "be-be"), glasses (sometimes just "asses", hahha), book, most of his features (eyes, nose, ears, "mouw"/mouth), "tank you"/thank you, "toobrush"/toothbrush, "sampoo"/shampoo, "kitcha"/kitchen, "light swit"/switch, trash, trashcan, diaper, truck, train, airplane, grass, tree, "kitit"/kitty-cat... speaking of cats, he's just about purr-fected his "meows" and "mows" if he either hears the word cat or sees a picture of a cat, out comes "meow, mow, meooow!" Other animal sounds include "bok bok" for chickens, , "hoo hoo" for owls, "mm mm" for cows, and he growls when he sees a lion, tiger and oddly enough, also an alligator. :) Barking and quaking have been in the works for several months now... but they are no less cute these days! Another one of my many favorite Beni moments...

Other miscellaneous updates... Beni recognizes the difference between right and left (when we ask him for a specific hand or foot), up/down, in front/behind, and in/out. He also knows to blow on his food when we serve him (just in case it's hot...) and how to almost properly use eating utensils. ;) He's now tall enough to open and close doors, and has a tendency to ensure all doors are shut wherever we may be. He has 7 teeth (four on the top, three on bottom...) and is a little under 30" tall. He is still and always will be the most adorably adoring little boy on the face of this planet... whom we adore to pieces!

Forever blessed!

I know I'm terribly behind on monthly updates.... but, I just wanted to take a little moment to say, simply, my little boy makes me feel like the luckiest Mama' in the entire world.

Highlights of my evening:
Reading TWELVE bedtime stories.
Beni identifying every animal and object in every book (and growling when he sees a lion or tiger, and "choo-choo-ing for trains).
Beni noticing that I forgot to point out a light switch in his "Good Night, Bear" book, to which he points and says "OH! OH! Liiiite swit!"
Him falling asleep giving me the longest hug of my life, and telling me "bye bye" before he closed his eyes.

There are no words that could ever possible explain just how much I love my little boy. Lucky Mommy, I am. :)