21 months already!

Two very exciting months have passed in the blink of an eye and I'm guilty of falling behind on my updates again, though I don't come short on words! My once pint-sized, babbling, Buddha-bellied little boy just over a year ago is now a highly active, rough and tumble, mostly well-mannered, affectionate, smart, talkative little toddle-man.

His vocabulary has grown to the extent that I don't think I could even begin to account here... he is now voicing so many of his wants and needs, from what he wants to eat, what he wants to play with, where he wants to go, who he wants to see, what just occurred, etc... he recognizes at least 12 letters of the alphabet, and can vocalize every letter when prompted. He gets the concept of counting, but as with a few letters, he relies heavily on being prompted, say, if I'm counting in sequence, I'll say "one", he'll follow with "two", I'll say "three", he'll say "four" and so on. Every now and again he'll surprise us, though, like last month for instance: typical day, we're driving around and I hear indistinct chatter in the backseat. I turned down the music and looked in the rear-view mirror to find my little boy happily counting away at his little piggy fingers and toes, as if it were just second nature to him. I was floored, because it was the first time that I'd seen him initiate it entirely on his own. He continues to amaze me in ways like this every day, from the way he randomly shows affection, to new food fixations, new words, new sentences or phrases he picks up from Daddy and I that we say and we've never really taken much notice to until it low and behold it comes from his mouth, my favorite! Some new phrases include "ohh, WOW!" when he sees something he deems exciting, "oh, no..." for little slip-ups and boo-boos along the way, "oh, man" (just like Swiper the Fox from Dora), he does this one pretty randomly, I'd guess he does it just to round up a few laughs on our end, which of course never fails! Then, we have those moments where nodding and sound effects do enough justice on their own, like in the last two posts... :) As far as his signing goes, he still uses his 'old trusties' pretty regularly, like "nursie", "eat", "drink", "more", and "all done"... many of the others he used months back have since been replaced with the word for it, but I think think the first five were instilled there pretty deep, so he still prefers signing for them, but he almost always couples the word with the sign... I don't quite know why he doesn't do the same with the others... que cera! All I do know is that I could not be any more proud of him than I am already... I can't imagine a greater grace in my life than seeing him love and learn everyday. Color me one terribly grateful little Mommy.

Now onto the official stats: At 21 months, Beni is 33" tall and weighs 28lbs. Seems like he is growing like a weed lately... he is certainly packing on the pounds!

A few random tidbits...
He is out-and-out fanatical about trains these days, more specifically, Thomas the Tank Engine... toys, books, bed sheets, you name it! This boy simply cannot resist! He's also a sucker for firetrucks, cars in general, balls, drums, and BOOKS, happily. :) Such a boy...

Some of his many pastime playtime favorites include: romping around the backyard, hiding and seeking under blankets, playing peek-a-boo (mind you, hiding behind your hands alone is still quite effective! :)), climbing in boxes, chasing each other around the house, shimmying and shaking his little hips around in circles when he's ecstatic, or sometimes even when he's proud of himself, though usually coupled with clapping in that case. ;-)

Manners, manners, everywhere... Beni is certainly not bashful about minding his P's and Q's. In fact, I'd vouch that there are times he probably reminds us! Whenever we hand something to Beni, he never fails to slip out a cute and genuine "tank you, Mama/Dada!" Funny enough, he also occasionally says it when he hands something to us, but more recently he has upgraded to an equally adroable "your weltome!" What a gentleman...

Although he is my favorite little charmer, there is also a side to our dearest one that is quite the bossy little tyrant... this is materializing rapidly as we draw closer to the dreaded Terrible Twos! I am thankful that when we let him know he's acting out of sorts now, he'll usually respond with a look of guilt and quickly run to give us a hug and a kiss... his idea of an apology, I take it. :)

We've had quite an eventful past month in particular because we've been on the hunt for a new home! We've realized for quite sometime that we have outgrown our "home" here, at 904sqft, 2br/1b, that's not too hard to do... we have been TTC for a few months now, and with Angelo working from home requiring an office, Beni's bedroom, and our bedroom... as you can see we're already a bedroom short with just one little rugrat running around, though I admit it's never been a huge issue since Beni is still co-sleeping, and Angelo has made-do working in the living room for the time being. Nevertheless, it's been a long time coming, and I'm so happy to announce that we found a home we thoroughly love, and we are set to close on July 6th!! It has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, just shy of 2100sqft and in northwest Palm Bay.


It couldn't be more perfect of a fit for us, and an added bonus is that we'll be a little more centralized to our favorite frequents, Paradise and Target. :) Now if only we could muster the energy to fill out the 38 pages of mortgage contract then we'd truly be in business. Any takers? ;-)

Til' next month...

Our sweet, well-mannered little gentleman!

Me: "Would you like some pancakes for breakfast?"
Beni: "Mmhmmm!" *big cheesey grin* "Pease!"
(Minutes pass and I return with a plate of pancakes...)
Me: "Here you go, peanut... eat up!"
Beni: "Tank you!" *return of the big cheesey grin*
Beni: *gobbles first bite* "Mmmm! Pancake!! Mmm-mmm!"

Hahhahhahha. He is truly the light of my life. Me = one happy Mama.

Laziness... is cleanliness?

As I'm brushing my teeth this morning, Beni invades the bathroom mimicking me by 'pretending' to brush his own teeth... our conversation goes as follows:

Me: Beni, do you want to brush your teeth?
Beni: *nods yes*
Me: Do you want to get your toothbrush from the kitchen?"
Beni: *shakes no*
Me: Do you want me to get your toothbrush?
Beni: *nods yes enthusiastically with the sliest grin I've seen in my life*

Oh my, our lazy little man! We are undoubtedly in trouble!

A year and a half and then some!

Oh my! It can't be so... our munchkin can't possibly already be over a year and a half old! It's so surreal to me that in just five short months he'll be two years old... on the other hand, at times I feel like I can't even recall what life was like before him... he has brought so much meaning and light to our lives. He's such an exceptional little boy and surprises us with new tricks and feats every single day. Family life is the greatest blessing of all, by far.

Beni now has 11 teeth, with the 12th quickly approaching (stubborn final first year molar)... he is approximately 26lbs and 2ft 8" (or 32") currently, which is at the 66th percentile for weight and 44th percentile for height! Not too shabby for a pipsqueak (affectionately stated!) born at 17.5" and 6lbs. :)

Vocally, things have shifted a bit in the last couple of months. While he does use at LEAST 10 consistent words on a daily basis, he largely relies sign language or furious pointing to get his point across. The thing is, we know he's aware of the appropriate words as he uses them intermittently, but it seems like there's less reliance on them when it's just much quicker and easier to point and grunt. What tends to ease my concern a bit is that he still constantly reminds us that he does indeed understand everything we're saying... sometimes even much to our dismay, like when I give Daddy the heads up that we need to brush Beni's teeth, Beni will book it 100mph in the opposite direction to escape this dreaded chore. Even more complex statements, for example, like asking Daddy if I should just throw something into the oven real quick, Beni will sign the word "eat". He seems to be really good with comprehending verbal context.

He signs, "milk" (for "nursie"), "eat", "drink", "more", "all done", "gentle", "book", "boat"... I'm pretty sure his range of signing is a little broader, but those are the ones he gets the most use out of it seems...

Words/phrases used most frequently these days: Mama, Dada, Grandpa (or Papa), hi, bye-bye, nursie, banana, cheese, water, more, up, down, hot, bottle, hat, shoe, glasses, ball, balloon, car, truck, tractor, boat, choo-choo train, door, outside, moon, diapy, "pee-pee" & "poo-poo", "I did it", "That one", "This one", "Right there", "Thank you", "I love you", "One, two..." A, B, C, E, M, O... and of course just about every animal sound on the face of this planet! He generally calls an animal by its sound, a dog is a "woof woof", and a duck is "quack quack", cats, monkeys, lions, owls, bears, alligators, sheep, chickens, frogs... you name it, it's always the sound it makes rather than the actual animal name. Nevertheless, this is one of the many things I love about him. :)

Naps are few and far this month, it seems he will resist at all odds his dreaded afternoon nap... his stall tactics consist of bringing multiple books to Mommy to read (he thinks surely I can't resist something instructive!!), playing hide-and -go-seek, food/drink requests (after he just ate...), asking to use the potty (after he just went...), etc.

Speaking of the potty... a very new and important update is that Beni is now officially in the POTTY TRAINING stage! Oddly enough, this is something he initiated entirely on his own after weeks of telling us when he did his business in his diaper and trying to change it all by himself. (Quite a sight, by the way.) We finally decided to invest in a potty last Wednesday to "test the waters" so to say... much to our surprise he's doing exceptionally well! He uses it when he wakes up in the morning, and once or twice in the afternoon... we sometimes have to remind him by asking "Do you want to go potty?" and he'll generally pretty eagerly stop what he's doing and walk to the bathroom. I think from his standpoint it must be pretty exciting to finally be using the potty like Mommy and Daddy, I just hope he holds onto that enthusiasm a few weeks/months from now...

We all went to Puerto Rico for Daddy's and my Five Year Anniversary... it was my first visit to the island and naturally Beni's also. Sadly, it turned out to be a bit of a bust because Daddy Angelo became very ill on our third day in Puerto Rico, and Beni the following day with a 104 degree fever and horrible, unrelenting vomiting, chills and lethargy that had us in such a panic that we admitted both of them to the hospital on our actual anniversary. :( All that aside, we did manage to enjoy our first two days there. The beaches in Puerto Rico are just gorgeous beyond my means of explaining, mountains and tropical trees, pristine aqua water... beautiful! Beni LOVED driving up and down the mountains and would swings his hands up in the air as if he was riding a rollercoaster, laughing like a loon! I believe we caught that on film, actually! :) On our last day, we did manage to check out Fort San Felipe del Morro "El Morro", which was an awesome experience, but we ended up leaving after maybe a half an hour because we just were not feeling up to being out, and by that point even I started feeling a little "off".

It was during that trip that we discovered Beni's unrelenting love of the ocean! We have gone to the beach once since returning home (on my birthday actually) and Beni had a BLAST splashing in the waves and picking up seashells for Daddy. Now that Summer is quickly approaching I see us going much more frequently now that he's older. (As opposed to last Summer where he was still just my itty, bitty bundle of love.)

Some of his latest endearing quirks include:
Blowing on his food when it's too warm, while saying, "Hot! Hot!".

His recent obsession with locating hats in books, or if the word comes up randomly in conversation, he'll say "Hat! Hat!" while furiously pointing to his head. (Other items he loves locating in books include balls, balloons and trains and other vehicles...)

When I ask him, "Where's my favorite baby?", he very proudly points to himself. When I ask him "Where's YOUR favorite baby?" he points to me! What's amusing to me is that he fully understands what a baby is, as he tells us constantly when he spots them in books or in public... but apparently, in his mind, I am a baby, too!

I may have mentioned this in his 17 month update, but he still bows and claps fanatically when we praise him for doing something well. Sometimes he'll add a little wiggle-dance to the mix, which makes Mommy and Daddy laugh our butts off. Grandpa, too!

Sometimes when he tells us he has peed, he'll give his diaper a quick grope and pat for added emphasis. I want so badly to catch this on camera because to me it looks so Michael Jackson-esque! I would also love to capture his one-manned diaper changing move that, while never quite being as successful as he'd like, is nevertheless HILARIOUS to witness.

He is growing up fast and becoming more and more a little man with each passing day. We couldn't be more proud of him.

Appearance of first molars...

And boy does it ever bite! After a few restless nights and unexplained crankiness, I went dental diving in Beni's mouth while brushing his teeth the other night. Much to my dismay, Beni has been (not so very) graced by the emergence of his two 'first molars', on the top left and bottom right. Our poor little boy. :(

Edit: I feel just awful! I just took a second glance/feel into Beni's mouth and found that his left lateral incisor has also made it's way through. Our little trooper is teething threefold!

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. :)