Milestones pile on top of one another daily! He's amazing to me and impossible for me to predict. Where do I begin?
The vocal explosion I spoke about a couple months ago is without a doubt still "exploding". New words include: "soos" (shoes), up (while pointing up), dow (while pointing down), dor (door), "burse" or "durse" (for nursie, while pointing at my lady bits), "wuhs dis?" (while pointing or grabbing an object of interest, sometimes just "dis?"). Words that aren't consistent yet include "ear", "juice", "bebe" (baby) and just about every other one syllable word we repeat enough of! He has also picked up a few animal sounds as well, like "woof woof", silly growls, quacking... and he wrroom-wrooms as he plays with his truck, which is very, very cute. He also mimics us when we sneeze and follows with a quick "besyu" (bless you). I should start keeping a notepad handy throughout the day because I admit it's getting harder to keep track of, I'm always left feeling that I've left so much out. It's definitely an "in the moment" kind of recollection.
He's getting better and better every day about identifying things around us when asked, though his favorite remains proudly pointing out his belly button while wiggling his finger (in his "button", hahha) as smiles galore ensue. This months identified words are: his head, up, down, ceiling, floor, shoes, Mr. Monkey (his sock monkey), door, window, wall, baby gate, couch, remote, grass, tree, shirt, pants, diaper (we call them diapies here), wipes, spoon... anything and everything used on a daily basis. Items like shoes, Mr. Monkey, remote, diapy and wipes are sought out and handed to you when asked--this tends to come in handy when Mommy is having a particularly lazy day!
He always shakes his head and smiles when we ask him a question, as if he hasn't quite distinguished yes as it's own response yet. Sometimes his head will start off in a nodding direction but inevitably it veers out to the side in a no-shake. This is expecially funny to us if he ponders a bit beforehand because he just looks so much like a sophisticated little gentleman.
He's finally starting to figure out the mechanics of using a spoon and fork by himself. It must be a thrill when your hand-mouth coordination gets that good! Now if only we could figure out a way to keep him from throwing plates and bowls off the table we'd really be talking business.
Now! Onto some of the things he loves...
He loves... showing affection! He gives the sweetest hugs and kisses and provides an ample amount without even being asked to do so. This also goes for his stuffed animals and other children, which is just about my favorite thing ever to see!
He loves... music! And he absolutely loves to dance. Some of Beni's trademark moves include doing squats, swaying back and forth, shimmying his hips, and, our personal favorite, head-banging! He must get his "groove" from his Daddy... this Momma' is a dancing fool (with extra emphasis on the "fool" part). :)
He loves... shoes! I can't express just how deep this fascination goes! His shoes, Daddy's shoes, my shoes... it doesn't matter, he just loves shoes! Putting them on, taking them off, helping us do the same. It's actually kind of funny to me just how much of our day is spent indulging this obsession. We even picked up a pair of house slippers so he can wear his beloved "shoes" all the time. :)
He loves... talking on the phone, first holding it to his ear and saying "Hello" and then holding it to mine fully expecting me to have a conversation with the "person" on the other end of the line. Sometimes he'll grab the phone back mid-sentence and quickly say "bye bye" while placing the phone back onto the floor. We are still working on his phone manners... :)
Last but certainly not least, Beni loves, loves, loves Yo Gabba Gabba. The mere mention of the show is cause for him to drop everything he's doing and scamper off to the television awaiting nothing more than to hear that catchy theme song. We have a habit of singing tunes from the show all throughout the day; mealtime warrants "There's a Party in my Tummy", and sometimes we just can't resist but to "Get the Sillies Out". Daddy and I have to admit we're pretty fond of the show also. ;)
15 months have gone by in the blink of an eye... our baby is now a full-blown toddler! It is absolutely amazing to watch him grow and learn with every passing day. We are so thankful, so blessed, and so in love with our little munchkin. I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for him--and for us.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Lucky 13! Exploration and joy and excitement and language, oh my!
Wow, this last month has been such a whirlwind of exciting new milestones. I cannot seem to steal enough time away for myself to update, which is why I'm so late on the last month's happenings.
Beni is now walking at what seems to be light's speed! He took a couple steps here and again before his first birthday, but as of August 24th (the night Beni walked a whopping 5ft across his playpen completely unaided!), he has completely taken off! Over the last couple of weeks it has without a doubt shifted to his primary method of getting around; he seems to only resort to crawling when he's either really exhausted or if we're playing a game that consists of me crawling and he does so only to imitate what I'm doing. He's always been big on imitating us, both physically and vocally, but this month he has also thrived linguistically; his new words are "hello" (as he picks up his toy phone), "bye bye" (sometimes accompanied by a wave), "goobye", "up-down" (he merges them together), "duck" and "quack quack", "Ididit" (he has said this for months now, we just can't place any consistent occurrence, other than the fact that it's always said out of excitement. We get a kick out of the fact that it sounds like he's saying "I did it", and occasionally he'll say it when it completely applies. So funny! The other day he was on a pointing spree in our bedroom and pointed at every individual dresser drawer, and after every drawer I would tell him the contents, like "Daddy's socks", "Mommy's shirts", and when he finally got to my underwear drawer I paused for a second and wondered about being so honest with him about the contents of THAT specific drawer, but then I decided, he's a one year old and it can't possibly hurt, so I said "That's Mommy's underwear drawer", to which he replied "un-drer-ware-dror"! I almost died! It's not to say that I underestimate him at all, but it was just such a shocking and wonderfully strange moment. I'll be the mom with the little boy screaming about the underwear drawer in public, I can just see it now... hahha. Ladies and gentlemen, this is why they say to watch what you say in the presence of tiny ears. :)
Other tricks of the trade consist of dancing (especially when Yo Gabba Gabba is on), trying to mimic the opening tune to Mr. Sandman, "Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh, climbing on top of anything and everything (the futon, the bed, the coffee table, the nursing chair and the ottoman...), as well as climbing back down. He has grown so fond of drinking a smoothie every morning since he began taking a straw, and I've really enjoyed coming up with new delicious AND healthy blends. I've made a habit of adding spinach and pro-biotics to all of them, sneaky me! :)
He's also suddenly become much more adventurous when it comes to food; he gives everything at least a chance (this is very new!) and seems to love just about every fruit (fresh and dried), spinach, avocados, cucumbers, eggs, bread, chicken and pasta, nutrigrains, cheese... the list goes on. I cannot express how fortunate we have been this month as far as food goes, after such a slow start with solids from 7 months on... we were really getting discouraged for awhile there. He's probably still not quite up to par with others his age, but this is such a tremendous step in the right direction and I just pray we continue down this path...
Pointing! He still continues to point at virtually everything in sight! We love it and absolutely encourage it all the time, but I will say it gets exhausting keeping up with him. I feel like if I don't respond to nearly every curiosity point he'll suddenly stop doing it or lose interest in some way, and we can't have that! He has learned so much now that he's actually actively curious about his surroundings. When he's in the mood, he can identify facial features (eyes, nose, mouth, lips, ears), body parts (feet, toes, legs, knees, thighs, belly, belly button, hands), Cookie, Daddy, Mommy, Grandpa, Grandma, nursie (my chest is considered nursie, hahha), smoothie, snack, cheerios, the ceiling, walls, TV, computer, table, light, door, monkey, cup, water bottle, tree, grass, pool, gazebo (hahha), balloon (if there's not one in sight, he searches all over for one... thankfully we still have a few semi-deflated ones from his birthday party)... he also understands the implication behind words like "nursie", "sleepy-sleepy", "dinner", "good-morning", "no", "come here", "outside", "dance"... wow, this could go on for hours... essentially, he understands and recognizes tenfold what he can actually vocalize, and it actually really hit us this month how much that really is. The whole progression of learning just utterly amazes me. What a very exciting and eventful age!
What have I missed? Hm... he finally started clapping this month also! I'm convinced he picked that up from Caelan, as we've worked with him for months on it and suddenly he sees Caelan clapping and voila! What a great influence! He also likes to stand on the welcome mat by the front door and spin around in circles until he gets so dizzy that he eventually just plops his butt onto the floor, laughing in complete hysteria. This is so, so amusing, we finally managed to catch a clip on camera today! What else? A new tooth also sprouted on Wednesday, September 24th (right lateral incisor), this following the left lateral incisor that sprouted sometime around August 22nd... surprisingly enough he handled both really well, no out of the ordinary fussiness to speak of. :)
Beni has also been spending some time with a new friend, Caelan, and this is probably silly to say, but they actually really complement one another well! They both have kind of similar happy-go-lucky, blissfully loving personalities, so watching them interact is double the joy! We are so grateful to have met another family who share some of the same beliefs we do about nurturing children and just about life in general... given that we're so far from mainstream parenting, it's just such a relief and a delight to have finally met others who understand that there is indeed a method to our (co-sleeping, breastfeeding, anti-vaccination, instinctively parenting) madness. ;-)
I think this will have to do for the 13 month update, though I'm sure I'm leaving a great deal out... hey, it happens! Mommy duty calls and there's always next month's recap to add to!
Beni is now walking at what seems to be light's speed! He took a couple steps here and again before his first birthday, but as of August 24th (the night Beni walked a whopping 5ft across his playpen completely unaided!), he has completely taken off! Over the last couple of weeks it has without a doubt shifted to his primary method of getting around; he seems to only resort to crawling when he's either really exhausted or if we're playing a game that consists of me crawling and he does so only to imitate what I'm doing. He's always been big on imitating us, both physically and vocally, but this month he has also thrived linguistically; his new words are "hello" (as he picks up his toy phone), "bye bye" (sometimes accompanied by a wave), "goobye", "up-down" (he merges them together), "duck" and "quack quack", "Ididit" (he has said this for months now, we just can't place any consistent occurrence, other than the fact that it's always said out of excitement. We get a kick out of the fact that it sounds like he's saying "I did it", and occasionally he'll say it when it completely applies. So funny! The other day he was on a pointing spree in our bedroom and pointed at every individual dresser drawer, and after every drawer I would tell him the contents, like "Daddy's socks", "Mommy's shirts", and when he finally got to my underwear drawer I paused for a second and wondered about being so honest with him about the contents of THAT specific drawer, but then I decided, he's a one year old and it can't possibly hurt, so I said "That's Mommy's underwear drawer", to which he replied "un-drer-ware-dror"! I almost died! It's not to say that I underestimate him at all, but it was just such a shocking and wonderfully strange moment. I'll be the mom with the little boy screaming about the underwear drawer in public, I can just see it now... hahha. Ladies and gentlemen, this is why they say to watch what you say in the presence of tiny ears. :)
Other tricks of the trade consist of dancing (especially when Yo Gabba Gabba is on), trying to mimic the opening tune to Mr. Sandman, "Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh, climbing on top of anything and everything (the futon, the bed, the coffee table, the nursing chair and the ottoman...), as well as climbing back down. He has grown so fond of drinking a smoothie every morning since he began taking a straw, and I've really enjoyed coming up with new delicious AND healthy blends. I've made a habit of adding spinach and pro-biotics to all of them, sneaky me! :)
He's also suddenly become much more adventurous when it comes to food; he gives everything at least a chance (this is very new!) and seems to love just about every fruit (fresh and dried), spinach, avocados, cucumbers, eggs, bread, chicken and pasta, nutrigrains, cheese... the list goes on. I cannot express how fortunate we have been this month as far as food goes, after such a slow start with solids from 7 months on... we were really getting discouraged for awhile there. He's probably still not quite up to par with others his age, but this is such a tremendous step in the right direction and I just pray we continue down this path...
Pointing! He still continues to point at virtually everything in sight! We love it and absolutely encourage it all the time, but I will say it gets exhausting keeping up with him. I feel like if I don't respond to nearly every curiosity point he'll suddenly stop doing it or lose interest in some way, and we can't have that! He has learned so much now that he's actually actively curious about his surroundings. When he's in the mood, he can identify facial features (eyes, nose, mouth, lips, ears), body parts (feet, toes, legs, knees, thighs, belly, belly button, hands), Cookie, Daddy, Mommy, Grandpa, Grandma, nursie (my chest is considered nursie, hahha), smoothie, snack, cheerios, the ceiling, walls, TV, computer, table, light, door, monkey, cup, water bottle, tree, grass, pool, gazebo (hahha), balloon (if there's not one in sight, he searches all over for one... thankfully we still have a few semi-deflated ones from his birthday party)... he also understands the implication behind words like "nursie", "sleepy-sleepy", "dinner", "good-morning", "no", "come here", "outside", "dance"... wow, this could go on for hours... essentially, he understands and recognizes tenfold what he can actually vocalize, and it actually really hit us this month how much that really is. The whole progression of learning just utterly amazes me. What a very exciting and eventful age!
What have I missed? Hm... he finally started clapping this month also! I'm convinced he picked that up from Caelan, as we've worked with him for months on it and suddenly he sees Caelan clapping and voila! What a great influence! He also likes to stand on the welcome mat by the front door and spin around in circles until he gets so dizzy that he eventually just plops his butt onto the floor, laughing in complete hysteria. This is so, so amusing, we finally managed to catch a clip on camera today! What else? A new tooth also sprouted on Wednesday, September 24th (right lateral incisor), this following the left lateral incisor that sprouted sometime around August 22nd... surprisingly enough he handled both really well, no out of the ordinary fussiness to speak of. :)
Beni has also been spending some time with a new friend, Caelan, and this is probably silly to say, but they actually really complement one another well! They both have kind of similar happy-go-lucky, blissfully loving personalities, so watching them interact is double the joy! We are so grateful to have met another family who share some of the same beliefs we do about nurturing children and just about life in general... given that we're so far from mainstream parenting, it's just such a relief and a delight to have finally met others who understand that there is indeed a method to our (co-sleeping, breastfeeding, anti-vaccination, instinctively parenting) madness. ;-)
I think this will have to do for the 13 month update, though I'm sure I'm leaving a great deal out... hey, it happens! Mommy duty calls and there's always next month's recap to add to!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Letter to my one year old...
Dear Beni,
Happy Birthday, sweetheart!! Today is your very first birthday. One year ago today at 4:53pm I was holding you in my arms for the first time.
At one year, you weigh around 20lbs and are 29 inches tall. In the past month you have grown and changed so much! You started pointing at anything and everything in sight on July 28th, and smile in such delight when your Daddy and I "name" the object or person of your fascination. You also gave me a big surprise when you waved bye-bye to everyone as we were leaving the playdate at Julie's this week. You have waved a few times before, but this was the first time you initiated it all on your own! I am so proud of you! Oh, and probably my favorite thing that has happened this month is your newfound interest in playing games with us. You have always loved when we play peek-a-boo with you, but you now have a new angle on it as you are the one playing with us! One evening you were eating your dinner as you usually do, then you suddenly grabbed the lid to your bowl, hid behind it, and after a few seconds of your Dad and I asking where on earth you had gone, you lifted the lid and laughed hysterically as if to say "Silly parents, I was here the whole time!" You have mastered this routine and have played with us several times a day since, with blankets, towels, books and whatever else you discover you can "hide" behind... and now you wait to reveal yourself until I ask, "Where are you? Where's Beni?", then you come out of hiding, giggling wildly, and hide again when I say, "I can still see you!" You have even managed to say peek-a-boo a couple times yourself, although it sounds more like "tee-a-hoo" now that I think about it! A few weeks later, you started taking a straw in the same sudden way; your Dad and I picked up a couple smoothies at Tropical Smoothie, and I gave you a taste of mine by letting you put the top of the straw in your mouth (as I've done a million times before) and to my surprise you took a very enthusiastic sip of your own! Speaking of food, in addition to last month's diet, you are now eating pasta and drinking juice! You are also still nursing all the time. We have been nursing for a whole year!! Such a huge milestone for us both. As far as walking goes, you are still cruising on everything, and when distracted you have occasionally ventured out to take a couple steps on your own, but you seem to let your mind get the best of you when you realize that you're not holding onto anything and promptly plop your butt to the floor! You have stood on your own for at least a minute on many occasions, and we realize how fun this is for you because you always do so with a smile, I think you are almost as proud of yourself as we are! Almost! :)
And so, big boy, you are 1! You are learning so many things in the blink of an eye, and also exploring your personality and sense of humor. You find so much delight in the simple things and I must say, I am also learning from you! You have opened my eyes to things that really matter in life. You have taught me to slow down, to let it all go and just have fun with you! Getting to know you in this first year has been such a blessed and humbling experience, it has been the greatest year of my life and I wouldn't trade it or change it for the world. We have such a special bond, and your Daddy and I feel so blessed to wake up to your sweet face every morning.
From 6lbs to 20lbs, you have grown leaps and bounds. Mommy and Daddy have grown too; we are much better people because you are in our lives. You are the center of our world, my sweet boy and we will love you for all the years of your life. Nothing will ever replace this first year with you! Thank you for being wonderful YOU.
Love Always,
Mommy
Happy Birthday, sweetheart!! Today is your very first birthday. One year ago today at 4:53pm I was holding you in my arms for the first time.
At one year, you weigh around 20lbs and are 29 inches tall. In the past month you have grown and changed so much! You started pointing at anything and everything in sight on July 28th, and smile in such delight when your Daddy and I "name" the object or person of your fascination. You also gave me a big surprise when you waved bye-bye to everyone as we were leaving the playdate at Julie's this week. You have waved a few times before, but this was the first time you initiated it all on your own! I am so proud of you! Oh, and probably my favorite thing that has happened this month is your newfound interest in playing games with us. You have always loved when we play peek-a-boo with you, but you now have a new angle on it as you are the one playing with us! One evening you were eating your dinner as you usually do, then you suddenly grabbed the lid to your bowl, hid behind it, and after a few seconds of your Dad and I asking where on earth you had gone, you lifted the lid and laughed hysterically as if to say "Silly parents, I was here the whole time!" You have mastered this routine and have played with us several times a day since, with blankets, towels, books and whatever else you discover you can "hide" behind... and now you wait to reveal yourself until I ask, "Where are you? Where's Beni?", then you come out of hiding, giggling wildly, and hide again when I say, "I can still see you!" You have even managed to say peek-a-boo a couple times yourself, although it sounds more like "tee-a-hoo" now that I think about it! A few weeks later, you started taking a straw in the same sudden way; your Dad and I picked up a couple smoothies at Tropical Smoothie, and I gave you a taste of mine by letting you put the top of the straw in your mouth (as I've done a million times before) and to my surprise you took a very enthusiastic sip of your own! Speaking of food, in addition to last month's diet, you are now eating pasta and drinking juice! You are also still nursing all the time. We have been nursing for a whole year!! Such a huge milestone for us both. As far as walking goes, you are still cruising on everything, and when distracted you have occasionally ventured out to take a couple steps on your own, but you seem to let your mind get the best of you when you realize that you're not holding onto anything and promptly plop your butt to the floor! You have stood on your own for at least a minute on many occasions, and we realize how fun this is for you because you always do so with a smile, I think you are almost as proud of yourself as we are! Almost! :)
And so, big boy, you are 1! You are learning so many things in the blink of an eye, and also exploring your personality and sense of humor. You find so much delight in the simple things and I must say, I am also learning from you! You have opened my eyes to things that really matter in life. You have taught me to slow down, to let it all go and just have fun with you! Getting to know you in this first year has been such a blessed and humbling experience, it has been the greatest year of my life and I wouldn't trade it or change it for the world. We have such a special bond, and your Daddy and I feel so blessed to wake up to your sweet face every morning.
From 6lbs to 20lbs, you have grown leaps and bounds. Mommy and Daddy have grown too; we are much better people because you are in our lives. You are the center of our world, my sweet boy and we will love you for all the years of your life. Nothing will ever replace this first year with you! Thank you for being wonderful YOU.
Love Always,
Mommy
Sunday, July 13, 2008
11 months... the countdown is on!
Well, it's officially less than one month away from our sweet baby Beni turning the big O-N-E! Three weeks and five days! Wow. There's a lot to account for in the last month as we've both been little busy bees... me with the planning of his FIRST BIRTHDAY (Baby Einstein themed along with a few appearances of his beloved Moose and Zee from Noggin) and the ever so eventful mission of keeping track of the dates to all the new milestones he keeps achieving! Let's recap... one week ago today on Sunday, July 6th, Beni's third tooth finally sprouted (upper left incisor) and only three days following came his fourth (upper right incisor). Yayyy! He spent much of his days prior being a total crankpot, so we were actually really glad to see the motivation behind that crankiness was teething and not another ear infection! And since then he's retuned to our only 1/3 of time crankpot, 2/3 cuddle-craving, kissing, loving, high-energy little angel! There's a mouthful, right? :) He's even more vocal than he was last month, and in general has a full stream of consonants and vowels pretty much down pat. Unlike other months, I can't even begin to keeptrack as there's just so much that he says... as for specific words, not much change from last month... discriminately: Mama, Dada, up, "Iluhyu" (that we can understand) but he does say consistent things all the time we just can't place meaning to, "boo, blur, moo, bah, duh, woo, wa, kay, hey (might be discriminate, not sure yet), the list could go on forever... He understands a great deal of what we say and reacts accordingly to, "give me hands", "nursey", "boobie", (nursing terms, hahha), "cheerios", "no", "come here", "look at ____" (we use this a lot with the word association cards, like "look at cow" or "look at the star", etc), "where's Cookie?", "feeding Cookie", "dog", "sleep sleep", "sleepy boy", "I love you", "good morning", "hi/hey/hello" "up/down" "dance"... I'm sure I'm leaving several out... it seems he associates a correct meaning with a new word everyday!
We've realized that he also unquestionably thinks he is a comedian, and we honestly have to agree! Whenever we say "no" to him, he shakes his head and smiles (as if to say, I know you don't want me doing this, but with my cute smile and keen mimicking skills you'll just laugh and forget this whole other matter at hand, right *wink*), also he does this with more emphasis when we say "yes" and nod our heads, as if he gets a kick out of disagreeing! He is absolutely hilarious, and there's no doubt in my mind he knows this! Other mimicking "skills" include sticking his tongue out (after you've done so) and even adding a little blow to it and of course showering us in baby drool (gotta' love it!), "snapping his lips" along with you, blowing raspberries, kissing and other miscellaneous noises and grunts we make (he especially likes mimicking Daddy's strange noises, hahha)... he's such a goon!
He cruises alongside EVERYTHING with barely a hand holding on and is getting even better at it everyday. Yesterday and today he's managed to stand on by himself completely unaided for a good minute at a time. Walking is soon to follow, we're sure!
He has also become very technical in his maneuvers... a couple weeks ago he spotted a toy on the coffee table he was deadest on getting his hands on, but he couldn't quite reach... after a few seconds of examining the room around him, he pushed his infant bath tub to the side of the table (which was at the other side of the living room), climbed in and stood on the highest part of the tub, grabbed the toy and climbed back out as if nothing had happened. Angelo and I just sat there both shocked and amazed. How unbelievably calculated! He's that way with a lot of things it seems... at Trace's house when I put him in the automated swing, he sits and examines the gears without much care for what else is going on around him, it's as if he is trying to figure out "how" it works. He's a strange one, that Beni! And we couldn't love him more for it! He's just utterly amazing and now that he's almost ONE YEAR old I can't wait to see so much more from him. We are so unbelievably thankful for him, our little crankpotty but lovable (hahha!), mimicking, comedic wonder child!
Three weeks and five days away... oh boy! Are we ready?!
We've realized that he also unquestionably thinks he is a comedian, and we honestly have to agree! Whenever we say "no" to him, he shakes his head and smiles (as if to say, I know you don't want me doing this, but with my cute smile and keen mimicking skills you'll just laugh and forget this whole other matter at hand, right *wink*), also he does this with more emphasis when we say "yes" and nod our heads, as if he gets a kick out of disagreeing! He is absolutely hilarious, and there's no doubt in my mind he knows this! Other mimicking "skills" include sticking his tongue out (after you've done so) and even adding a little blow to it and of course showering us in baby drool (gotta' love it!), "snapping his lips" along with you, blowing raspberries, kissing and other miscellaneous noises and grunts we make (he especially likes mimicking Daddy's strange noises, hahha)... he's such a goon!
He cruises alongside EVERYTHING with barely a hand holding on and is getting even better at it everyday. Yesterday and today he's managed to stand on by himself completely unaided for a good minute at a time. Walking is soon to follow, we're sure!
He has also become very technical in his maneuvers... a couple weeks ago he spotted a toy on the coffee table he was deadest on getting his hands on, but he couldn't quite reach... after a few seconds of examining the room around him, he pushed his infant bath tub to the side of the table (which was at the other side of the living room), climbed in and stood on the highest part of the tub, grabbed the toy and climbed back out as if nothing had happened. Angelo and I just sat there both shocked and amazed. How unbelievably calculated! He's that way with a lot of things it seems... at Trace's house when I put him in the automated swing, he sits and examines the gears without much care for what else is going on around him, it's as if he is trying to figure out "how" it works. He's a strange one, that Beni! And we couldn't love him more for it! He's just utterly amazing and now that he's almost ONE YEAR old I can't wait to see so much more from him. We are so unbelievably thankful for him, our little crankpotty but lovable (hahha!), mimicking, comedic wonder child!
Three weeks and five days away... oh boy! Are we ready?!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
In the double digits now... 10 months!
Our little man is 10 months old (tear, tear)... make that 10 1/2 months, because it's taken me forever and a day to finally steal a moment to write an update! I've become such a broken record lately telling anyone any everyone who will listen how bittersweet it is watching your little one grow up so fast... I can hardly believe we will be celebrating his 1st birthday in less than 2 months! August 8th, 2008. Wow. It still amazes me how much can change in the blink of an eye. Beni says "Mama", "Dada" and "up" (for "wake up" in the morning), all discriminately. He can stand on his own for several seconds and cruises on anything he can grab hold of. He's eating finger foods, like Cheerios, carrots, apples, pears, bananas, apple wagon wheels, sweet potato puffs, organic cheese crackers, and on a few occasions we've shared what we're eating with him. He gives me sweet, slobbery kisses through the links on his baby gate. (Yes, he has a gate now! Couldn't live without one at this point, as he gets into everything... and he is SUCH a rampant little climber!) He is extraordinarily attached to us still, and goes beyond stressing his disapproval when I leave the room at any given moment (Mommy needs bathroom breaks, too, baby boy!) We play all kinds of games, snuggle games and peek-a-boo games and kissing games and clapping games and "mimic me" games... or my personal favorite; when I gallop and dance around the house with him in my arms and sing while he laughs hysterically in delight!
Some new adventures that have taken place... we all went to Animal Kingdom for the first time together on Valentine's Day, SeaWorld on Mother's Day, and finally after constantly talking about it, we went to Sebastian Beach Inlet with my parents on Father's Day! My surprise to the first time Daddy that I adore! It was Beni's first time actually going into the water and he took to it like such a little fish! Proud Daddy floated him around in the water like a power boat and he just couldn't contain the laughter! It was so very sweet. I wouldn't trade the world for these moments. On Thursday Beni went swimming in a pool for the first time and splish-splashed for hours just loving and taking it all in. There's no doubt we have a water baby on our hands! Thank goodness, because we just splurged and purchased an above ground pool that will hopefully be swim-ready in less than a week. Great times ahead!
Have I mentioned recently how grateful I feel to have been blessed with so many of these wonderful moments? Lately I seem to get caught up in the some of the hardships we've come to face, but with that being said, I really do have such a beautiful life. These hard times will pass in due time and then we have a lifetime of memories to create... of love, of happiness, of beauty... support, warmth, fun... life is what you make of it, after all.
Some new adventures that have taken place... we all went to Animal Kingdom for the first time together on Valentine's Day, SeaWorld on Mother's Day, and finally after constantly talking about it, we went to Sebastian Beach Inlet with my parents on Father's Day! My surprise to the first time Daddy that I adore! It was Beni's first time actually going into the water and he took to it like such a little fish! Proud Daddy floated him around in the water like a power boat and he just couldn't contain the laughter! It was so very sweet. I wouldn't trade the world for these moments. On Thursday Beni went swimming in a pool for the first time and splish-splashed for hours just loving and taking it all in. There's no doubt we have a water baby on our hands! Thank goodness, because we just splurged and purchased an above ground pool that will hopefully be swim-ready in less than a week. Great times ahead!
Have I mentioned recently how grateful I feel to have been blessed with so many of these wonderful moments? Lately I seem to get caught up in the some of the hardships we've come to face, but with that being said, I really do have such a beautiful life. These hard times will pass in due time and then we have a lifetime of memories to create... of love, of happiness, of beauty... support, warmth, fun... life is what you make of it, after all.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
9 months old today, officially!
And, what did our little 9 month old do to celebrate his big morning? He made his first phone call!
So... story is, my father is currently in Russia, and has been away for nearly a month now... well, during a really chaotic diaper change this morning I finally gave in and gave Beni my cell phone to play with. (Cell phones, remotes and water bottles are this child's weakness!) Well, low and behold, he scrolls through my top five and calls none other than his Grandpa! I guess he realizes that it's been awhile since he's has "Grampy bonding" so he decided to call him up to see where the heck he's been! Silly baby, Grandpa cannot receive calls in Russia, but I will definitely shoot him over an e-mail and give him the message.
Beni misses his Gramp-gramp!
So... story is, my father is currently in Russia, and has been away for nearly a month now... well, during a really chaotic diaper change this morning I finally gave in and gave Beni my cell phone to play with. (Cell phones, remotes and water bottles are this child's weakness!) Well, low and behold, he scrolls through my top five and calls none other than his Grandpa! I guess he realizes that it's been awhile since he's has "Grampy bonding" so he decided to call him up to see where the heck he's been! Silly baby, Grandpa cannot receive calls in Russia, but I will definitely shoot him over an e-mail and give him the message.
Beni misses his Gramp-gramp!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Nine months! What an exciting age!
It has been a whirlwind the last few months, he has been growing by leaps and bounds and learning new things much quicker than I can humanely keep track! Most importantly ladies and gentlemen, we have babbling (... again!) and it's back with a vengeance. :)
There is no sweeter sound to my ears. Within the last couple of days, Beni has picked up babbling again since he quit entirely in January. What's even better is how rhythmic he is. "Blahbaba mamam lalada iluhu ahhh..." on and on, loud and clear, like the tune of a song. It's so beautiful and it has brought me endless smiles lately. I could hear that sound for the rest of my life... pure bliss!
He's also a crawling fool now, too! And I mean full-fledged, traditional crawling, unlike the army crawl he mastered like a champ before. I can hardly keep up; I'm so thankful we put down the flooring in the house... not a day too soon! His newfound "ability" has kept me on my toes like never in my life before... this little 20lb tyke is focused and raring to go. When he sees something that he wants, not even a mountain could hold him back (as his mastered climbing, too!)
Something that has seemingly gone hand in hand with his crawling is his energy level, which has just exploded this month. Diaper changes have turned into wrestling matches, he's flipped his bouncer not once, but three times, he pulls himself up to standing position and cruises along whatever he can get a grip on, and then... he's off! Into one thing and then the next, making a mess of anything and everything he crosses paths with. We cannot seem to keep him in one place for more than a second anymore.
Essentially, he is our lovable and focused little tyrant of a boy.
This last month has also been a very trying month on all of us... Beni, with his two bottom teeth coming in, he also had another ear infection (third so far in his nine months) which completely disrupted his ever improving sleeping routine... Beni has accrued a lot of sleep debt and has not been sleeping through the night for at least a couple of weeks now. His ears were checked yesterday, and he's completely free of any fluid or infection... and yet, he's still not sleeping well. I feel absolutely horrible about that. I'm hoping that it's teething related and will pass soon.
Another new personality trait that appeared this month is stranger anxiety. Our once very welcoming and smiling little social butterfly is now very cautious around new people. It seems to take him an upward of 10 minutes to really feel comfortable in a new atmosphere or around a new person. I suppose it's the same for me too, really... :)
Last but not least, his stats... his official wellness visit is scheduled for the twelfth, but I know that he is 20lbs exactly and approximately 27" long. I'll update with the percentile information as soon as I find out.
P.S. Oh, oh, oh... I did forget to mention that when he wants to be picked up, he extends both arms out high and wide... and once I pick him up he gives the greatest and most loving hug a mom could ask for! We are so, so, so blessed!
There is no sweeter sound to my ears. Within the last couple of days, Beni has picked up babbling again since he quit entirely in January. What's even better is how rhythmic he is. "Blahbaba mamam lalada iluhu ahhh..." on and on, loud and clear, like the tune of a song. It's so beautiful and it has brought me endless smiles lately. I could hear that sound for the rest of my life... pure bliss!
He's also a crawling fool now, too! And I mean full-fledged, traditional crawling, unlike the army crawl he mastered like a champ before. I can hardly keep up; I'm so thankful we put down the flooring in the house... not a day too soon! His newfound "ability" has kept me on my toes like never in my life before... this little 20lb tyke is focused and raring to go. When he sees something that he wants, not even a mountain could hold him back (as his mastered climbing, too!)
Something that has seemingly gone hand in hand with his crawling is his energy level, which has just exploded this month. Diaper changes have turned into wrestling matches, he's flipped his bouncer not once, but three times, he pulls himself up to standing position and cruises along whatever he can get a grip on, and then... he's off! Into one thing and then the next, making a mess of anything and everything he crosses paths with. We cannot seem to keep him in one place for more than a second anymore.
Essentially, he is our lovable and focused little tyrant of a boy.
This last month has also been a very trying month on all of us... Beni, with his two bottom teeth coming in, he also had another ear infection (third so far in his nine months) which completely disrupted his ever improving sleeping routine... Beni has accrued a lot of sleep debt and has not been sleeping through the night for at least a couple of weeks now. His ears were checked yesterday, and he's completely free of any fluid or infection... and yet, he's still not sleeping well. I feel absolutely horrible about that. I'm hoping that it's teething related and will pass soon.
Another new personality trait that appeared this month is stranger anxiety. Our once very welcoming and smiling little social butterfly is now very cautious around new people. It seems to take him an upward of 10 minutes to really feel comfortable in a new atmosphere or around a new person. I suppose it's the same for me too, really... :)
Last but not least, his stats... his official wellness visit is scheduled for the twelfth, but I know that he is 20lbs exactly and approximately 27" long. I'll update with the percentile information as soon as I find out.
P.S. Oh, oh, oh... I did forget to mention that when he wants to be picked up, he extends both arms out high and wide... and once I pick him up he gives the greatest and most loving hug a mom could ask for! We are so, so, so blessed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
