I have a very good excuse for not writing on your 22nd month birthday: We were in France. You were with us. We were busy. And we frequently did not have internet access.



See, told you it was a good excuse!



I'm happy to report that you were an excellent traveler! I was more than a little concerned that you'd be so totally off schedule and out of sorts that the whole trip would, well, completely stressful. But that wasn't the case at all. You adjusted your schedule on the first day and besides some normal toddler tantrums here and there, we all had a great time.



I have noticed, since we returned, that you seem to have...matured some since we left for France. Your level of understanding has increased, as has your ability to communicate verbally in response. I thought maybe it was just my perception after spending 16 uninterrupted days together, but Papa says he's noticed it, as well, and since he spends every day with you I feel he's a good judge of these things. I guess this shouldn't be too surprising--you are almost two-years old--but I think it's interesting that there was a perceptible change.



So besides taking a 16-day vacation in Europe (most of the time in France, but we also visited Switzerland and Italy), you spent your 22nd month adding more words to your vocabulary, being incredibly silly, and getting cuter everyday. Now you're almost done with your 23rd month and I've already begun planning your second birthday party. Wow. Just...wow.

Wow, 21 months already!

Time is just wooshing by!

*Woosh*

Sigh.

New things:

"Rock-rock." This is what we do at night before you go to bed. It's also what you ask for now when you've hurt yourself. Sometimes you want to do this after you wake up in the a.m. It consists of the two of us (or you and Papa) sitting in the glider in your room and rocking. Generally you have your head on my (or Papa's, whichever the case may be) shoulder and you suck your thumb while we rock.

"Nobody home." This is what you say when you and Papa check the bluebird houses in the back yard. There was somebody home for awhile. A house sparrow used one of the boxes for a nest and got to watch three baby sparrows grow up and leave home this past month.

Anything else in particular? I'm sure there is...but once again Papa almost has dinner done and I have to run. Suffice it to say that you're adding new words everyday and watching you grow and learn remains a treat. You're so darned cute! I love you so much.

Oh...and you weren't afraid of the 4th of July fireworks. You enjoyed them! You also enjoyed the bag of cotton candy we bought for you.

Well, it finally happened. Mommy became such a blog slacker that she absolutely forgot all about posting on (or around) your 20 month "birthday."

Bad, bad Mommy!

I'm sorry! I really am. I have just been a bit overwhelmed lately. I'll do better next time!

So because I'm limited even now on time and attention (Papa just came home from work and I want to go spend some time with him), I'll try to just hit on the highlights of the previous month:

Your language skills improve everyday. Really, they do. Everyday you say a new word or phrase.

In fact, that's probably the biggest "milestone" event--phrases. You no longer just say "vroom-vroom" when you see my car, you now say "Mommy vroom-vroom." Some other phrases you're using are: "Mommy hold!" (you also say "Papa hold!" but Papa hadn't heard this until today), "No more monkeys" (from the song "Five Little Monkeys"), "Tree broke!" (we had a tree fall in the back yard), "Tree gone" (we hired a company to clean it up and haul it away), and "See birds!" (another recent addition as we had, just in the past day or two, a nest of sparrow eggs hatch in one of the bluebird houses). And these are just a few examples. You can pretty much communicate anything you need to now using two word "sentences." It's so exciting!

So what else?

You're still fascinated with trashcans.

And door knobs.

If there's a trashcan or door knob at an event, playground, museum, etc. we can pretty much give up trying to interest you in anything else going on.

You have a fantastic sense of humor. Did I already mention the "hibou/cat" game in my previous post? I'll have to go check and, if not, explain it when I come back.

Your motor skils, both gross and fine, are progressing normally. You have no troubles scaling stairs and we've been drilling into your head that you must turn around and climb down backwards. You can pick up the tiniest piece of dirt. No problems putting your chunky puzzle pieces in their places. That sort of thing.

Off to go be with Papa now (Mommy loves being with you, but she also enjoys when you're sleeping and she and Papa can just sit and relax a bit). :-)

Love you!!

Mommy

I've done it again! Your "birthday" has come and gone and I've failed to update your blog. Sigh.

Well, again, mommy apologizes for being a slacker.

So now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about your 18th month. What all happened? Hmmmm, let's see. . . Papa built you a sandbox and last weekend we filled it with sand that Aunt Lizzie was kind enough to pick up for us in her truck. I love it. You could take it or leave it. You'd much rather wander the yard picking up gum balls and leaves and looking in the blue bird houses. But I'm hopeful that as you get older you're going to enjoy it more and more.

The weather has gotten warm enough that we filled up your wading pool a few weekends ago and we put it and your sand/water table in the driveway for you to play with. You enjoyed that for the short time that your attention span held out (roughly ten minutes, max, at any one activity).

Otherwise, it's been a fairly quiet month in terms of family activities. In terms of your development, though, I've seen quite a bit of change. You are acquiring new verbal skills on a daily basis. You can put more than two words together (as I think I reported last month) on a consistent basis. And you even put three words together at least once this month when you told us to "Turn roundiround off!" (Translation: Turn the ceiling fan off!) Honestly, everyday you say a new word. Some of the "better" ones (don't get me wrong, they're all great, just some are more...interesting than others) are: cucumber; ravioli; tushy; chicka; and macaroni.

And you understand so much now, it's amazing. Over the past two or three months you've really begun transitioning from baby to little boy. Which, of course, is bittersweet for a mom.

So in other news (I was thinking today that I should be sure to include some current events in these posts so you won't think that our lives revolve solely around you, although they really kinda do...), the economy is still the hot topic. The housing market has crashed, the stock market crashed a while ago and remains crashed for the most part, unemployment is at an all time high, and the government is deficit spending. Fun times. I cannot fathom how or when we'll pull out of this, but certainly something has to give.

As far as our contribution, I continue to work, Papa continues to keep the store going, and we're planning a trip to France this summer that we really can't afford but which I feel strongly we need to take anyway (not just because we need to do our part to stimulate the global economy, but because Papa needs to go see his friends and show you off). I've never traveled on a plane with a child your age and quite honestly I'm imaging it's going to be hellish, but I do hope we can pull it off and that it will be mostly enjoyable for all concerned.

That's all for now!

See you in a month!

Love and kisses,

Mommy

I'm technically late. Again. But it's been an extremely busy weekend, between going to Greensboro to visit Alex & Nikki and celebrating Easter/William's birthday. In fact, if it weren't for my insomnia, I'd be much later than I am posting. Not sure if this thing says or not, I can't remember, but the time is now 1:42 a.m. Naturally I have to work tomorrow.

So I won't stay here long because I really really need to sleep.

Happy 18 months!!

Everyday you add a new word to your vocabulary. You can say so many things now, I couldn't possibly count them. You've even, technically, said your first sentence (Bye-bye Papa/Mama/Doggy/Froggy, etc.) Your gross motor skills continue to advance (e.g. you're practicing going down steps, you can climb into your push car, you can run now). And obviously everything else you do is more advanced than what it was a month ago. You're simply growing by leaps and bounds and, truly, every day there's some new progress being made.

You're just so much fun to be with--even when you're being pushy and difficult, because along with all these advanced skills comes an advanced awareness of yourself and a desire to have things completely your way (otherwise known as the Terrible Twos! :-) ). Everyday it's still a joy to see your smiling face in the morning as you go through your wake up routine of throwing everything out of your crib! And every night it's still a joy to hold you and rock you and put you to bed (placing all the objects you've tossed out earlier around you just so, like you like them).

I love you madly! And now I'm going to try to sleep again.

Yesterday you were 17 months old.

And I bet you're curious to know what a typical day in your life is like these days, aren't you?

Generally you awake anywhere between 6:00 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. (Normally you reserve the earlier wakings for the weekends, for some reason!) You drink a sippy cup of diluted juice--apple, orange, or pineapple usually--and after Papa has made our coffee, you eat breakfast. Breakfast could consist of eggs and cheese, or oatmeal (though you don't like the steel cut stuff we've been buying), or cold cereal, or if you're really lucky, Papa's French toast. After breakfast you play. (Hopefully soon you'll start going with Papa to the gym nursery, but for now you guys have just been hanging out at the house.) During the weekdays Papa tries to get some chores done while you play, but here lately you've been a little crabby and haven't wanted to entertain yourself so Papa has had to entertain you. On the weekends we'll take turns playing with you or, if you're in a good mood, reading the paper while you play.

A month or so ago you started moving to one nap a day, which meant that you were up all a.m. and through lunch, but lately you've gone back to taking a morning nap. So depending upon your mood and sleep needs, you'll either stay awake all morning and have a snack around 9:30 or you'll go down for a nap around that time. Either way, lunch is around 11:30 and, if you haven't taken a a.m. nap you'll go down for your daily nap directly after lunch. Nap or not, you have a snack around 2:30-3:00 and then dinner is between 6:00 and 6:30. Bath time is 7:00 and your bedtime routine--PJs and a book, followed by rocking and singing--is directly thereafter.

You go to bed easily these days and for the most part stay asleep all night. Lately you've woken up during the night screaming for some unknown reason, but even when you have those kinds of episodes you end up going back to sleep.

So anyway, that's a day in the life of YOU!

You keep us busy, but we're enjoying every minute.

Everyday it seems you're adding a new word to your vocabulary and a new skill to your repetoire of them. You can ride your ride-on bumble bee (I'l'l have to be sure to take a picture of it because I could you scratching your head over this) all by yourself. You can walk, run, squat, and stand on your tiptoes. And you completely understand what we're saying most of the time, even though you don't always have the words to respond.

As far as big events that happened this past month, the two things that come to mind are Papa's birthday and Alex's wedding. Papa turned 64 (remind me, one of these days I want to be sure to talk to you about Papa's age) and we celebrated by having family and friends over. Alex married his finance Nikki at a church in N. Wilkesboro. Lizzie and William were in the wedding and we spent from Thursday through Sunday in a cabin in the mountain. Peepa and Aunt Liz went with us and Aunt Liz helped watch you. It was a little stressful because you get out of sorts in a new environment, but overall it was not too painful. And of course the most important part is that Alex and Nikki had the wedding they wanted...or at least that Nikki wanted, which is all that counts.

I would discuss national and world events...but those are just too depressing right now with the economy and the housing crisis, so I won't go there. All that you need to know is that Papa and I are doing well, all things considered. And we love you and will make sure that you're safe and well taken care of, no matter what.

I love you! Happy 17th month!

Love,
Mommy

I'm late! I'm sory, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Slacker mommy! Baaad slacker mommy!

Forgive me?

I'm only...five days late. Not too bad. Considering everything going on these days, that's actually pretty good, really.

So what happened over the last month? Well, you can put two words together. Not exactly a sentence or anything, but you can say "Bye-bye ball" and "All done!" And of course you're able to say just about anything (one word) we ask you to. For example, you can clearly say "Cheese!" and "Keys!" and "Num-num!" (aka milk, juice, water, etc.). You communicate extremely well, in my opinion, considering you're only 16 months old.

And speaking of...I can't remember if I mentioned this last post or not, but when you are not able to say the word for what you want, you are usually successful at making us understand by grabbing us by our hands and leading us to the desired object or task.

You have four more teeth working their way in (finally!). Two on the bottom and two on the top. I don't know my teeth IDs well enough to tell you which ones they are exactly, but they're back there near your molars.

You're walking much better nowadays. You have much more stability and speed. You're so fast now, in fact, that I often find myself surprised at how quickly you can move from one place to the other. We have to keep a sharp eye on you all the time lest you disappear and get in trouble.

This weekend we're heading up to Wilkesboro to attend your brother Alex's wedding. Lizzie will be in the wedding (bridesmaid) and your brother William will be, as well (groomsman). You will also be meeting your other brother Ian while we're there (he's a groomsman, too). It should be an...interesting...weekend. We've rented a cabin that has two bedrooms and a pullout sofa and you, Papa, Lizzie, William, Peepa, Aunt Liz, and me will all be staying there together.

Lizzie, who is lying next to me while I type, just asked me a very good question: Have I ever mentioned that Aunt Liz watches you sometimes during the week so Papa can get some work done on the computer. I'm pretty sure that I have, but just in case I haven't, consider it mentioned. :-)

*YAWN*

I'm sleepy. Going to go do something mindless now until your Papa gets home.

I love you sweet boy! Everyday is a wonderful day because you're there!

And I promise I'll do better next month about being on time. ;-)

(Sissy says she loves you, too!)

Today is your 15th month birthday! Happy fifteen months to you!!!

Because I never go back to read what I posted before, I apologize ahead of time if any of this is redundant. As quickly as the time flies by these days, I tend to get a bit mixed up about what happened when.

But...let's see...between Dec. 11 and Jan. 11 what's happened?

Well...xmas happened. It was your second one and Santa Claus was good to you again this year. He brought you a Brio train table with a Brio train set already set up on it! He also brought some big cardboard blocks for you to build with, two puzzles, an inchworm that zooms across the floor when you push down on his middle, a bathtub squirt toy, and a wooden push toy that makes tons of noise. Here's a picture of it all: http://zeppmusi.vshost.com/Family/2008_Christmas/

Then we celebrated New Year's eve. Peepa, Nana, and Aunt Liz came over. You went to bed at your normal time and we all ate dinner and then had foie gras and sauternes and on TV watched the ball drop in Times Square. Wheee!

Then your sister had her 14th birthday. It was relatively low-key this year. No ten girl sleepover or anything. I think she must be growing up! (She really enjoys you, I hope you know. And she's good with you. Appreciate her, 'kay?)

Then you had your first playdate. A friend I met from Triangle Mommies who also happens to work in my building has a little boy, Remy, who was born in December 2007. She and her husband, Jerome, and Remy came over for lunch and play last Saturday. You had a pretty good time--that is, until you started getting sick. Not sure where you picked it up, but suddenly you came down with bacterial conjunctivitis and we ended up spending our Saturday evening in the ER (as that was the only place open). Turns out you had infections in both ears, as well. They gave you drops for your eyes and an oral antibiotic to take for ten days (you finish up day after tomorrow) and you were much better the next day. Your second illness. I blame it on the shopping cart at the North Raleigh Freshmarket. But honestly, who knows where you picked it up. Luckily your little friend didn't catch it. (I was worried!)

In other news, you're getting much better at this whole walking thing. When I chase you around the house you even try to run--although invariably you trip and fall down, giggling the entire time. Yesterday you tried to climb up the slide part of little plastic indoor slide we have. That was a first. You're a tad bit behind (as compared with your brother and sister only) on your motor skills development, but you'll get there.

Your vocabulary increases daily. You can say "All done!" and "Bath!" and "Doggie" and "Bye-bye Papa" and tons of other words. Papa tries to speak to you mostly in French, and you seem to understand a lot of what he's saying, but you're not speaking in French too much. The only exceptions I've seen to this are when you "count" (using that term loosely because you're way to young to actually count, you simply mimic what we do), you will say "un." And then today when I asked you what the baby was holding in one of your books (he was holding an apple) you said "pommes."

A new thing you've started this month is grabbing our hands and leading us over to what you want or need. The fact that you can identify something that you want, and then work to physically encourage/manipulate those who can help you fulfill your goal is pretty amazing stuff to me. No need to sit around and cry about something when you can walk over and make the grown ups go see what it is that you want!

Oh, and kissing! You've become quite the kisser lately! You kiss everything. Our toes, your blocks, the trashcan. Name the object, you've kissed it! You blow kisses, too. Sometimes just with one hand but often lately with both, as though you're practicing for your Mr. America acceptance award. It's very sweet and very funny, all at the same time.

As far as your schedule goes, this is your "typical" day:

6-7:30 a.m. Wake up
7-8 a.m. Eat breakfast (Generally one or more of the following: eggs; oatmeal; Cream of Wheat; Wheatabix; yogurt; Cheerios. Plus a cup of juice.)
9-10 a.m. Morning nap
10:30-11 a.m. Snack
12-1:00 p.m. Lunch (Mostly whatever is in the refrigerator. You essentially eat our food now almost exclusively.)
2:00-3:00 p.m. Afternoon nap
4-4:30 p.m. Snack
6-6:30 p.m. Dinner (Same as lunch; although I do still give you chunky fruit bits and Gerber Graduate dinners)
7:00-8 p.m. Bath and bed. You really, really like bathtime! You're also quite fond of your "night-night bed" with Boomer Dog, Fargo Frog, and comfy-cozy blankie. Oh, and your "TV" (i.e. the sights and sounds music thingy).

I know I say this every month...but it's true...I don't know where the time goes. It's so hard to believe that last year at this time I was an absolute basket case about breastfeeding and whether or not to let you try putting yourself to sleep. On the one hand it seems like eons ago and on the other it seems as though it was just yesterday. You're growing so fast! Keep it up...but slow down, would ya?

Until next month!

I remain,

Your number one fan and someone who loves you without end,

Mommy

Hi Punky,


It's your 14th month birthday today.


Fourteen months. Wow. Hard to believe. I've spent most of this evening looking at pictures of you over these past 14 months and on the one hand it seems like it was forever ago already that you were a little baby, but on the other hand...it was just yesterday. Funny how time works.


You started walking-walking (that is, "really" walking) this past month. After what? a month of faking us out, November 20th you just sort of took off walking. You're little drunken wobble is so cute! I refer to you as Babe-zilla, for obvious reasons.

What else has gone on?

Well, for one, we (the American voting citizens) have elected the first black president. Barack Obama. (I hope I'm spelling his name correctly--I'm not checking right now.) We'd actually already done that when I wrote last time, I just failed to report it somehow. It's pretty big stuff, really. Historic. And you can say you were there.

Your vocabulary continues to increase. You mimic a lot of words now. Some recent additions include "the end", "peekaboo", "growl!", "light", "push", "juice", "milk", "papa", and there are others that I just can't think of right now.

You had your first real cold this past month. You were sick on Thanksgiving. Bad cough, low-grade fever, snotty nose. Your nose was so stopped up that you couldn't suck your thumb. Doc said you had an ear infection and gave you some antibiotics. Two weeks later and you're finally, completely, over it. I guess I should feel lucky that it took you 13 months to really get sick at all, but I felt so badly for you...I don't want you to ever have to be sick.

Papa is talking to me right now and I can't concentrate on this, so I'll say TTFN for now. See you next month!!

I love you.

Yours,
Mommy

Dear Benjamin,

You're 13 months old today!

You're still working at walking. You can walk. Short distances. One to eight steps, max. But you can't walk-walk, yet. I am trying not to be concerned. William and Lizzie walked early (between eight and ten months), so naturally I assumed you'd be walking within that same period, but that's what Mom gets for assuming. You obviously have your own schedule that has nothing to do with your brother's or sister's, and I simply need to learn to accept it. I'm working on acceptance. You're working on walking. I'm guessing that we'll each find ourselves wondering what all the hoopla was about soon enough.

I don't think I told you last time all the funny and wonderful things you've been doing between your 11th month and now, so I'll do so now: You love lights. Love them. You love to stare at them. To turn them. Turn them off. Turn them off and on and off and on. You simply adore lights. Lamps. Ceiling lights. Yard lights. Decorative lights. Doesn't matter to you. If it glows, you like it. I'm not sure if this means anything at all, but I have to wonder if you're going to grow up to be an electrician, or maybe a roadie. Are pyrotechnics in your future? I can't wait to find out! In the meantime, everytime you turn on or off a light in the house, the grin you grin could rival the power of the Hoover Dam. I love watching you.

You also love vroom-vrooms. Cars, trains, tractors, planes. Anything that might potentially make a "vroom-vroom" sound is great to you. You love to "vroom-vroom" your toy vehicles around the house. And you especially like to ride in the Radio Flyer car we bought you for your birthday. Oh, and Papa took you to the airport one day while I was at work so that you could watch the planes take off. As I understand it, you laughed heartily when the planes ascended into the sky. While I may never appreciate the male fascination with all things fast and furious, I do understand that this is the way it works sometimes and that you, my boy, have such a fascination and I thoroughly enjoy seeing you enjoy all your vroom-vrooms.

Well, it's late and I'm sleepy, so I'm going to wrap this up for now. I'd love to be able to find the time to tell you what's going on with you on a daily basis. I think about doing so often...only life gets in the way. You keep me busy. Work keeps me busy. Your sister and brother keep me busy. I'll try to do better.

In the meantime, please know that I'm having the time of my life watching you grow. You fascinate me. I love you completely.

Yours forever!
Mommy

Dear Benjamin,

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is THE day! Your first birthday! Yay!

You started the day by waking around...6? 6:30? You played in your crib until roughly 7:15. Because today is daddy's sleep-in day (Technically it's his day...depending upon my Friday, sometimes it's my day), I got you out of bed myself. (Generally, your wake up routine involves both of us, because neither of us can stand not being there, but on weekends, when we're both completely hungover from a week of sleep-deprivation, we're willing to forego a wakening in exchange for a few extra hours in bed.)

I came into your room singing "Happy Birthday," which of course you didn't recognize because it's never been sung to you before, so you merely greeted the day the same way you always do, which is by holding onto the rails of your crib and bouncing. You're such a morning baby! You obviously take after your father this way.

Anyway. . .

After a lot of bouncing and opening of blinds and saying good morning to the front yard, and to the neighborhood, I changed your diaper. (It was messy.) Then we headed to the kitchen for breakfast. You ate oatmeal and pears in a jar, some chopped banana (your favorite!), and then washed it all down with a sippy cup of milk.

Then we played in your room. You squeaked your crocodile at me (actually, I think it's an alligator, but because of the comic, Pearls Before Swine, all green, dragon-like animals will forever be referred to as crocodiles), we vroom-vroomed some cars, you toppled several of my towers, and we counted ladybugs. Ad nauseum. (Not that I'm complaining, mind you.)

Around 8:30? 9:00? we made our way out to the kitchen because I was in desperate need of coffee. Papa woke up about that time and came out to join us.

Between that time and...say...noon-thirty everything is a blur. I left you with papa at some point so that your Sissy and I could go pick up your cake and run by the grocery store for other things that I needed for your party. I returned home around. . .12:30-ish, I guess. I fed you lunch. I put you to bed for a nap. You didn't nap. Brother William showed up. Guests were due to arrive. I decided you should be gotten up. William and Lizzie got you out of bed.

Aunt Liz arrived.

Brother Alex and his fiance, Nikki, showed up.

From that point, people continued to arrive. Eventually we had in attendance (in addition to the people already named), Peepa, Nana, Grandma Lovick, Aldert, Rayna, Dennis, Lance, Gavin, Willa, Shaile, Morgan, Shanan, Amy, and Nathan.

We sang you happy birthday. You had your very own cake, which at first you were reluctant to even touch, but once you stuck a finger into the sugar-laden icing and tasted it, you were hooked! You smeared it everywear! You were on a veritable sugar high by the time I rescued you and dunked you into the bathtub.

After your bath, we opened presents. You received a ton (at least!) of them! Mainly toys. Of course, you were much more interested in the tissue paper than the actual toy contained therein.

Eventually, the crowd subsided and you readily--gladly--went down for a nap in the cool comfort of your crib.

When you awoke, we dressed you and hauled you out to the car so that you could attend your second birthday party of the day--the one you shared with your great-grandmother at Robinwood (in Wendell).

Aunt Liz gave you three more presents there. One of which was a Jack in the Box, with which Mommy managed to scare the bejeezus out of you. (I'm sorry!)

Because it was late by the time we got there (6 p.m.), we didn't stay long after the present opening ceremony (Grandma's, not yours). We ran by the grocery store (a.k.a. the banana shop) on the way home so that we had something to eat in the house besides cake. By the time we got to the house it was 8:30 p.m. You were exhausted. I put you in your PJs and read you a book and put you to bed.

What a day!

What a wonderful, wonderful day!

Your first birthday!

My how the time does fly. . .

I love you. So much. I love you sooooooooo much. I love you!

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

It's September 11th.

HAPPY ELEVEN MONTHS OLD!!!

This past month you've:

Begun to communicate. Banana remains a favorite word. We've decided it means both "I would like something to eat" and "Gimme BANANA!" The word "no" also remains a favorite. Everything is "no."

Benajmin, would you like to play in your room? No! Benjamin, would you like to go for a walk? No! Benjamin, do you think the price of oil is too high? No!

We've decided that you belong to the order of the Babies Who Say "No!" (It's a Monty Python thing, we'll explain it to you later.)

You can show us your ears and your fingers and your teeth. And if asked what the sheep says you will respond with "baa." Of course, this is also what the cat and the dog says.

You like baths and, as with the sheep, will say "baa" when brought into the bathroom.

You say "mama" when you see me. Of course, you sometimes say "mama" when you see your sister or your aunt. But you're consistent when it comes to me. (Or at least I like to think so.)

We took you to Pullen Park for the first time this past month. You enjoyed the swing, as well as feeding the ducks. We also took you to Hillridge Farm in Youngsville, where you got to see goats, a sheep, some chickens, ducks, the giant catfish, and a turtle.

You've become extremely adept at pulling up. And you've stood on your own a few times, though not for too long. No signs of walking yet, but you do cruise when you have an opportunity. And truth be told I'm in no hurry for you to walk. I am happy for you to remain a baby as long as you want to or need to.

It's hard to believe that soon we'll be celebrating your first year. It's trite, I know, but honestly, it does seem like just yesterday you were born, and here we are already, a year down the road.

I enjoy every moment of time I have with you, and every little milestone you reach fascinates and amazes me.

I love you.

I promise to try and post more here this next month.

Much love and kisses and hugs and giggles and tickles, etc.,

Mommy

Sweetie Boy!


Guess what? You're 10 months old!!!

As of yesterday.


Mom's really sorry, she feels so badly about not updating the blog on the actual date of your 'birthday.' But I remembered after I was in bed last night and although I was going to get up and do it then, I was ever so tired. So Papa convinced me that you'd forgive me, and I stayed in bed.


But I'm updating now, and oh boy, do I have some updates!


This past month you:

• Started pulling up on things. You can now pull yourself up on anything stationary, without any help at all.
• Started growing a new tooth on top--the one to the left (your left) of your top front two teeth.
• Began saying "ball" and "mama" and "dog" and "no" and "dada" to mean those specific things.
• You're beginning to identify things in your books, as well as in your room. (E.g. if we ask you to find the ball, you go get the ball. Or when I ask you "Where's the mouse" in your bedtime book [which is Goodnight Moon], you point to the mouse.)
• You went on your first road trip and your first camping trip. You spent nearly six hours in the van on the way to Clifftop, WV, where you camped with us at a music festival where Papa vends each year. You did so well! Much better than Mom ever expected. In fact, had the camper not broken down, Mom probably would have had nothing at all to complain about the entire trip. But, as luck would have it, the camper did break down, and Mom had tons to gripe about the entire trip.
• You had your first playground experience. Just yesterday Sissy and I took you to the Wendell park to swing on the swings, slide down the slide, and play in the sand. You had a great time. You ate sand! You loved it!
• You have switched from formula to something known as "Next Step," which is, essentially, formula, but with a few minor changes (e.g. more protein). You've also pretty much given up your two bottles. You still take one in the a.m. and one at night, but you've gone from 8 ounces each time to maybe five, mostly four.
• You can easily use a pincher grasp to pick food up and put it in your mouth. No more mashing things across your face, hoping that they will make their way, somehow, into your open maw.

I'm sure that there's tons I'm forgetting, but those are the highlights.

What else is going on?

Well, your Big Brother William is getting ready to start college. He heads off to UNC-Wilmington this coming weekend. This is brand new territory for mom, so stay tuned for updates on how this unfolds. Meanwhile, Sissy gets ready for eighth grade. Again, totally new territory. She's the big kid on campus now...but that status is fleeting, as next year she begins high school at the bottom of the totem pool. Meanwhile, Big Brother Alex is preparing to get married. Nikki is his betrothed. They are planning a February wedding. We're trying to convince them to elope and save the money, but I'm not realistically hedging my bets on that happening. Again, stay tuned.

Oh, and I had already started stressing out about your Halloween costume (being the offspring of two dyed-in-the-wool Pastafarians, you're doomed to off-the-wall Halloween get ups), but as fate would have it, I fortunately, (for you?), happened upon, just this past weekend, a $10 frog costume, you will, as of this moment in time, be a frog for Halloween. Happy Frogging! :-)

All my love, forever and always,

times infinity,

whole bunnies,

Mom

Hi Baby Boy,
Mommy is blogging, so what does that mean? Yep! You guessed it! You've had a "monthly birthday." Mommy is sooo predictable, isn't she?

Silly boy! Silly Mommy!

So, yeah, OK, what a month we've had. You now have FOUR, yes, count 'em, FOUR teeth! Two on bottom, two on top. Mommy's little Rat-boy!

And on the day that you turned eight months old, although I never did update the blog to reflect as much, you started getting yourself from a crawling position back to a sitting position. No mean feat for a new crawler! You also began this month feeding yourself finger foods (although it's not an especially graceful maneuver, what with the whole grab-it-in-the-palm-shove-it-towards-the-mouth-and-hope-it-falls-in approach, it works nonetheless). And you started trying to pull up. Granted the 'pull ups' have only been while you had the help and support of an animate object, such as Dad or me...no, wait, I take it back...Daddy says that you once pulled up on your keyboard thingy, but is was just the once, otherwise it's been while one of us helped you along. Still and all... It's a start. And it's certainly an indication of things to come from this point forward.

While I love watching you learn and grow (I had this dream last night that you could type on complete sentences on the computer, even though you couldn't verbally communicate what you were typing yet!), it's all so bittersweet because no more will you be my little baby. I've seen it happen to your brother and your sister and I know all too well now how quickly it all goes by and I just want to savor it and revel in it, but I can't stop you from growing (even if I could, I couldn't), and I already have a fuzzy memory of your being a newborn and that was just a few months ago...

I'll stop now. I always get all mushy in these posts, don't I?

Suffice it to say, I love you. And while I miss the little baby you were, I'm having great fun watching you grow into the big boy you are now!

All my love, hugs, and kisses, forever until eternity!

Mommy

These are the words to the song that your father and I decided upon as "our song" for the purpose of our wedding, etc. (I'm publishing them here because tonight, when I did a search for them, I couldn't find them. Fortunately, your father had saved them from when they were available.) The artist's name is Si Kahn.

No fancy gowns no high class towns to promise
I'm plain as rain and that's just not my style
And I've never been a none to ask for favors
But I hope you plan to stay with me a while
You're comfortable as a quiet conversation
Among good friends who've shared the time to eat
Like good meat loves salt that's how I love you

It's common now to say that times are changing
But that's not true, it's only people change
My patterns like your plants hung in my windows
Were worth the time it took to rearrange
I don't ask for anything that you don't offer
Like butter loves bread that's how I love you

I never was a person to get lonely
I was satisfied to stay here by myself
And it's not that I could be here with you only
It's just better than with anybody else

I can't promise that I'll go and leave you never
You know that something always could go wrong
And I can't say that I'll love you 'till forever
'Cause I don't expect to stay here quite that long
I'll just say that I'm prepared to stay here with you
As long as you're content to stay with me
Like the river loves the sea that's how I love you
Flow into me.

Dear Benjamin,

Your Uncle Jack died today.

http://thecapistranodispatch.com/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=461&cntnt01dateformat=%25B%20%25d%2C%20%25Y&cntnt01returnid=15

(I don't know how long that link will be valid, but should it expire I'm sure you can find something if you Google [will Google still be around when you're older?] the words "zepp ultralight.")

Papa is extremely sad about your uncle's death. Though they were brothers, they had not really been particularly close until recently. And this recent closeness makes it that much more hard to deal with for your Papa.

You've met Uncle Jack.

He made a special point of coming by to meet you directly after you were born.

He's been here twice, actually, since your birth. Although they had been in contact prior to your birth, you were actually sort of the catalyst for this whole fraternal reconciliation that he and your Papa went through, truth be known.

But because there are so many years between you and Papa and, thus, between you and your Uncle Jack and his and Papa's parents, I fear that you may grow up feeling completely out of touch with that whole side of your family. But I hope not.

I hope that one day you will appreciate and embrace these people--both your Uncle Jack and your grandparents--for who they were in their lives, and for the love that they would have had for you had they been able to be here and be a part of your life.

Does that make sense?

I hope so.

I'm afraid that I'm feeling rather raw emotionally, so I hope that I'm not being too macabre. I just want you to know that those from whom you are descended were fantastic people, and it's just a shame that they aren't able to be there for you, because I know that they would have truly loved to have been a part of your life.

If I were a religious person I would say that one day you will meet them. But I don't believe that.

I do, however, believe that they are a part of you. And you a part of them. And forever down the line this connection will remain.

Rest in peace Uncle Jack.

Happy eighth month birthday, Benjamin!!!!

What an month it's been, too! I mean, besides everything going on with Daddy, you've been super busy growing and learning.

You started crawling this month. It's still not a particularly graceful process, but you can get yourself across a room using this knee/belly combination of movements. What you do is get up on your knees, move forward a bit, flop down on your belly, and then repeat. Here lately you've started getting frustrated with how much effort this takes and how slowly you go and you've begun doing this 'push up' thing where you get up not on your knees but your toes and stick your fanny in the air. Eventually I think that all of this will result in a more efficient crawling motion, but again, you are still able to get yourself around doing what you're doing. And it's ever so much fun to watch you!

At the end of your sixth month you'd begun getting a bottom tooth. Well, now you have both bottom teeth. The one poked through all alone, but it was joined almost immediately by the other one. And based on the puffiness of your upper gums, as well as your desire to chomp things, I'm guessing that your top teeth will be in by the end of this month.

In light of your new teeth we've begun giving you the stage 3 baby foods, as well as some finger foods such as cheerios and tiny pieces of whatever we're eating. You can use a pincher grasp, but you still need a lot of practice perfecting it. Generally you can pick up the cheerios (or other foods), but keeping the food in your fingers while you get it to your mouth is still a challenge. I'm sure by the end of this month that will no longer be the case.

You've been drinking out of sippy cups and taking sips of water out of our glasses, but we've had to hold the container for you. Just yesterday, though, I gave you some formula in a cup that has handles and you picked up the cup and drank all by yourself!!

Your brother and sister have also reached some pretty important milestones this past month: Lizzie finished up seventh grade yesterday and this past Monday William completed his last high school course and he will graduate tonight. (Your Aunt Pat and Nana Carol are coming over this evening to watch you so that Aunt Lizzie, Daddy (hopefully), Lizzie, and I can attend graduation.)

Yep, it's been a wild month. You've been busy growing and developing and doing your wonderful baby things, Daddy's had major surgery, your sister has finished her next-to-the-last year of middle school, and your brother is graduating and getting ready to leave the house to head for college.

Whew!

Mommy's tired!

But it's a good tired. :-)

You all--Daddy, brother, sister, and you--are what's it all about.

Love you!

Happy Birthday!!!

A quick update (I just got out of the shower and have got to go get ready to run to the grocery store and take Daddy to the eye doctor):

We came home Sunday.

I'm absolutely thrilled to have both of you in the same place!

Even though Aunt Liz is still coming everyday to help with you, I took off of work again this week so I could be around to help Daddy (and spend some time with you).

Daddy continues to improve. He has ups and downs all throughout the day, which is completely normal. He's progressing right along.

Tomorrow is your eighth month birthday. I'll be sure to post again then.

Love you!
Mommy

It's 9 p.m.

This is the first time I've taken the opportunity all day to just sit and play on the computer.

It's been an...interesting day.

I spent the night in the hospital. As you might can imagine (Or maybe you can't? I always envision myself talking to grown up Benjamin when I type here, but maybe I'm talking to 10-year-old Benjamin, who has no idea what being in a hospital is like?), one doesn't get a lot of sleep in a hospital. Every time you nod off someone comes in the room to rudely awaken the patient and poke or prod some part of him. The result is that the next day you find yourself feeling like you haven't slept at all. Which is how I've felt all day.

And then, of course, as soon as my day started I had to scheme and plot to figure out how I would logistically get everything done and be everywhere I needed to be. Lizzie needed to be taken to school by 7:30. And then her awards ceremony began at 8:30. And then Liz needed to go home to feed her cats and take care of things at her house. And I needed to take a shower and change clothes. And I wanted to take you to see your father. And then I needed to go to the grocery store to buy some baby food because you're out of fruit. And the van was out of gas, so I needed to stop and fill it up. And then I had to get back to the hospital. And, oh yeah, I wanted (needed) someone to stay with Donald while I did all that.

It took a LOT of help from everyone, but somehow or another I managed to get all that done!

Yay! for mommy!

And Yay! for everyone who's helped/helping mommy!

As far as events here at the hospital, your father has done well today. He got his catheter out early in the day and then his chest tubes out in the afternoon, so now the only thing he has attached or tethered to him is the external pacemaker. He's walked twice in the hallway (the first time was rough on him, he got very dizzy and nearly fell down, but the second time he didn't have any problems) and is generally doing extremely well still.

He is experiencing one small adverse surgical 'side-effect' and that is some occasional vision loss in his left eye. According to a ophthalmologist who came around to check him out, it's a condition known as nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAIOC). Essentially it's where he had, basically, a stroke, or loss of blood flow, in an optic artery. Hopefully it'll remedy itself. But we'll have him thoroughly checked out by his own doctor once he's home.

OK, kid, I'm afraid I'm getting really tired now, so I think I'll go lie down and try to get some sleep before someone comes in to poke and prod your father and wakes me up.

I love you so much sweet baby boy. I'm sorry that I can't be there with you right now. I miss you terribly. But you seem to be weathering all of this extremely well, and hopefully soon it'll all be over and both Mommy and Daddy will be there with you again and you'll never remember anything any differently.

Hugs and kisses, Funny Benjamin Bunny!

Love,

Mommy

I'm extremely tired, so I won't write much. Just wanted to note that I'd left the hospital around 5:00 to run Lizzie and Alex home (Alex had to go back to Wilkesboro tonight) and spend some time with you before putting you to bed.

But now I'm back.

Thank goodness, too. Daddy's nurse tonight is a bit of a...not sure what's a good word for it... Seems to me that perhaps she didn't actually pass her nursing certifications.

Daddy had to go to the bathroom, so she got him in there and then left. Told me to ring if I needed her help to get him out. (If?!?! What do I look like, a nurse!? Not to mention he's not even supposed to be going to the bathroom--I mean, that's the whole reason for the Foley!)

Anyway, she never came back around, and when I looked out the door for her before going in for Daddy she wasn't around, so I attempted to help him myself. Big mistake. Oh, we were fine going from the bathroom to the bed, that wasn't a big deal. Getting him in the bed, along with his myriad and sundry wires and tubes was, however, quite the ordeal, and I like to have killed him in the process.

I feel so badly! I mean, it seemed like it ought to be a simple enough process, putting someone in the bed. But when they have tubes dangling from their chest, as well as from other, sensitive parts of their body, it's just not that easy. And, again, I'm not a nurse, so whadda I know about these things to begin with.

But even when Nurse Know-Nothing came in to help, she didn't do a much better job than I'd been doing. She was jostling him around and yanking on the catheter, bouncing his bed around, depending on me to help pull him up (not that I mind at all helping her help him, it's just I have to wonder how would she have done it if I weren't here?).

Poor, poor Daddy. Like I said, we nearly killed him, I think. He was in a lot of pain from the whole ordeal.

But now he's had another pain pill and the lights are all out in the room and he's resting. Comfortably, I hope.

I have a chair/bed thing pulled out and am all ready for bed myself (thank goodness I thought to bring a pillow from home 'cause the pillows here aren't hitting on much).

I'm sorry I haven't been there a lot for you these past few days. I feel so terribly torn between wanting to be here with Daddy and wanting to be there with you. I'll be so happy when I can have you both in the same place and I don't have to keep trying to shuttle back and forth.

I love you. Good night sweetie boy.