A couple of cute pictures

Okay, so I have been very busy! It was finals week this week - which was both exciting because it was the last week of school and stressful because there was so much to do. Consequently, I have been very negligent of my blogging duties. As we are off to North Carolina this weekend for our friends' wedding, I don't have time now to update as I would like. I will update much more when we get back and have more time! In the meantime, Steve and I are going to enjoy our little trip. We are not bringing Benjamin - though we will miss him dearly, I am actually pretty okay with going this time around (as opposed to Spring Break). My Mom came in to town to help take care of him while we are gone - thanks Mom!

Here are a couple of cute pictures:

10 Month Pictures

We took advantage of the 'Craftsman' theme day at our local photo studio and got Benjamin's 10 month pictures. They turned out really cute! He only tried to crawl away a few times, so overall he was very cooperative. We had many pictures of him smiling, but I also included a couple where he had some funny expressions. I especially enjoy the one of Benjamin with his bear in his lap. Benjamin loves his bear, but for some reason he would not allow it in either his dumptruck (which is Benjamin's that we brought it) or on top of the red block. The one picture is of Benjamin pulling the bear out of the dumptruck and then in the other picture the bear had to be in front of the block because Benjamin kept throwing it off the top.

10 Months Old!!

Okay, time is going by way too quickly now! I can't believe he is 10 months old now - double digits and only two months before he is one. This past week has been amazing for him in terms of mobility - he started crawling, climbing up the steps (which I still haven't seen, by the way!), and pulling himself to standing all the time. He is also showing much more independence. For example, I could tell today that he really wanted to go outside! Also, he will not stay in his nursery now! It is no longer easy for me to change his bed sheets, put away his laundry, etc., as he is crawling through the door aiming for the staircase. When I close the door, he gets frustrated that he can't get out, so I have just been keeping an eye on him while we are in the nursery (plus gates should be coming soon). I'm also amazed at how he heads towards the stairs without any concern in the world! If I were to let him continue his path, he would just head right down the stairs. Today he was a little cranky all day, but he such a sweet and happy baby. We are so lucky to have such a happy and healthy baby!

Recent Activities:
-While feeding, he likes to touch the mole on my neck. He will first turn my head away so that he can have a better look at it. How odd!
-He is sleeping very consistently from 7:30 pm until 6:15 am. Naps are pretty good - he always takes a morning nap but sometimes the afternoon nap doesn't quite work. -He says 'dada' not only to Steve, but to most objects! He will also say Mama a lot, too.
-His stranger anxiety seems to be getting better. On Mother's Day, we took him to a BBQ that one of the Classics professors (Traill, mother of Benjamin primus from whom our Benjamin has received many items) was having and Benjamin received a lot of attention. He took it all very well, except if they tried to hold their hands out to hold him. Then he would turn away and fuss a little. He really enjoyed a game that he and one of the Classics students were playing - she played tug-of-war with Benjamin with his frog. He giggled a lot about this - it was quite cute.
-Eating is going well. I nurse him when I am home, but otherwise he receives formula. We haven't been too adventurous with solid foods yet, but I suspect we will soon! Especially since in two months he will need three meals of it every day!!

Heading towards the stairs Our happy boy! Heading towards the stairs, again! Playing with his bear Climbing his Bumbo seat Enjoying the flowers he found in the grass Watching the cars go by The first video is of Benjamin repeating sounds after me. The second video is of him pulling himself to standing on the Bumbo.

Mother's Day

We had a wonderful Mother's Day, which involved me receiving beautiful purple flowers (my favorite color!) and a new vacuum cleaner (I begged Steve for this, as he was reluctant to buy me a practical gift that would involve me doing work - I understand, but I'm excited to have a new vacuum cleaner whose motor isn't so high-pitched that it terrifies Benjamin (and me, for that matter)). We also spent some time going to a park for a picnic and to play on the equipment and try out the swings. I'm such a lucky Mommy to have such a wonderful son and husband! The weather was cool, but still quite a pleasant day. Trying out the slide - I don't Benjamin was too sure about it. This picture and the next three are cute because you can obviously tell Benjamin is enjoying his first ride in a swing. We also had Shelley come down with Colin and Lexi so that they could celebrate Vicki for Mother's Day. It was hard to get them all in one picture! In this picture, they are all eating oatmeal on Sunday morning. The following videos were taken during our trip to the park:

Stair Master

Benjamin started crawling a bit this past Monday and by today, Wednesday, has become very mobile. He crawls everywhere! No more army crawl - well almost none, he does sometimes do an army crawl when he gets close to his destination. He is also pulling himself up on everything and prefers to be standing rather than sitting. He has even climbed two steps on the staircase - time to do some more baby proofing! Actually, I have yet to witness this, but he has done it for Steve and Grandma Zusman. We tried to have him do it with me home and he has gotten close, but he always turns around and wants me to hold him. I have, however, witnessed him pulling himself up on everything. Unfortunately, he hit his mouth pretty hard one time while holding on to the bottom shelf of his changing table, but after some comforting and cuddling, he was not deterred from continuing his explorations.


Look at those legs!!


Taking a bath for the second time in the bath seat. Although I love his inflatable duck tub, I figure he needs more space now.


A good action shot of Benjamin ringing his doorbell.

9 Month Pictures

Yesterday we got Benjamin's 9 month pictures taken (I guess he is still 9 months old, even though for only six more days!).

The tux was from one of the One Week Boutique mega consignment sales. He looks quite cute in it.

This is the first time that Benjamin would move around after he was placed for the picture. However, he was quite a happy guy during it.

An experiment, Steak n Shake, and Crawling!

Today we took Benjamin in to the Infant Cognition Lab through the Psychology department at the University of Illinois. They conduct very interesting experiments on little babies starting at 2 months old until around 3 years old. Their studies change periodically, so we can keep going back around once a month, if we would like (and it is $10 per session!). Today, Benjamin participated in two experiments. In the first experiment, they had him (while sitting in my lap) watch a series of events involving two experimenters placing a lizard in a box. They first had him watch the experimenters move the lizard over two boxes of equal length, to show Benjamin that they are the same length. This was the 'control' portion. Then, during the 'experiment' portion, they had me close my eyes (so Benjamin couldn't look at me for my reaction to things) while they moved the lizard over a box with the appropriate length and a shorter box. The idea is that if Benjamin didn't think the short box was a reasonable place for the lizard, he would stare at it longer wondering what was going on. And this seemed to be the case for Benjamin, he stared at them when they were putting the lizard over the shorter box, but didn't look nearly as long at the right length box. The second experiment involved penguins (Benjamin was sooo excited about them)! They first had him watch two puppet penguins do a synchronized dance (to show that they are the same). I got to watch this part. Then they had me close my eyes while Benjamin watched the penguins dance, and then the experimenters brought in a whole pizza pie, said "I have food. Yea! Yea!" and gave one piece to one penguin and three pieces to the other. Then they did it again with a cake. I guess the idea is to see if Benjamin can sense if this is fair or not, but we weren't too sure about this one. At the end, Benjamin received a "B.B.S." - a Bachelor of Baby Science. I will have to add that to the blog later! Also, yesterday we went to Steak and Shake with Grandma Zusman. His first visit to one of his Daddy's favorite places! Finally, and probably most exciting, is that Benjamin started crawling today! He has been slowly working on, with a few steps here and there before today. He is still slow, but he was making steady progress! Check out the video of him crawling. The other video is of him talking to me, where you can see his two little teeth. As a funny side note, when he watched this video of himself, he repeated what he said on the video!