Building Blocks

During this past weekend, we watched Benjamin work on building towers. He very patiently built up a tower, and then gleefully push it down.

tall...

taller...

Knocking it down!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend! It was our first time hosting it, and it was the first time most of Steve's family saw our new home.

Here are some pics from the weekend:

Our family on Thanksgiving

The cousins playing together. Benjamin loved having them there, especially Lexi.

A pretty nice picture of the cousins!

I like this candid shot of the kids with Grandma Vicki.

Benjamin was really interested in Tessa, wanting to touch her and rock her.

Steve, about to carve our first turkey

Thanksgiving dinner

Of course, there was a lot of football during the weekend.

On Black Friday, we bought this new recliner. We love it!! I'm sitting in it right now.

Benjamin and Shelley played a game where he would touch her hair.

He would touch her hair and then run away smiling.

Blowing Bubbles

After dinner tonight, Benjamin and I were playing with bubbles. After a little bit of time with me blowing bubbles for him, Benjamin wanted to give it a try. I thought it would make a cute picture to see him trying to blow bubbles, so I snapped the picture. However, I didn't realize that he successfully blew bubbles! When I put the camera down after taking the picture, I saw a couple of bubbles floating around. So I looked at the picture that I took and found this great action shot!

Benjamin's New Toothy Smile

Thanks to two new teeth and two more on their way, Benjamin has a new and improved smile. During dinner tonight, I took these pictures of Benjamin hamming it up for the camera.

Visit to the Library

The last two days have been incredibly rainy, so today we took the opportunity to have some fun inside at the library. At first, the other kids in the play area were a bit older than Benjamin, but he still loved hanging out with them. Just imagine how thrilled he was when two little ones like Benjamin came by. At first, Benjamin just followed this little Sophia (19 months) around for a long time. Then they started playing with building blocks, with Sophia occasionally sharing her blocks with Benjamin. Also, Benjamin discovered drinking fountains for the first time. He drank the water with such enthusiasm and kept going back for more throughout our visit.


In this picture, Sophia had been walking down the aisle towards Benjamin and he had met her halfway. Once he caught up with her, he turned around to walk back with her.

Future Sledding Hill

Today was another beautiful November day (very much unlike the miserable month of October that we had), so I took Benjamin out to explore our park in progress. We are so excited for it! It is only three blocks from our house! This past week, they have put in trees and started setting up the playground equipment. They also have a great hill that should be pretty nice for sledding! Benjamin and I went up to the top of the hill and looked out over our development. It was such a nice spot with a wonderful breeze.





Also, here is a picture of Benjamin with his two new teeth! An additional third is coming in on the right, too. I think this is the cause of some of Benjamin's recent irritability.

Trains

This afternoon, Benjamin and I spent some time playing in the kids area at Barnes and Noble where they have a little train table that Benjamin loves. It is usually pretty quiet, but today there were a couple other little boys, which thrilled Benjamin. It is so fun to watch him move the trains along the tracks, I'm endlessly impressed at how quickly Benjamin picks up on things.

A Little Artist

Yesterday, while Benjamin was having dinner, I was creating a grocery list. Soon, however, Benjamin started pointing to and asking for the pen so that he could do some drawing as well. He started out using his right hand, but then changed to his left. He worked for quite a bit of time on his project and it now has been put on the fridge. The first of many to come, I am sure!

My 30th Birthday

A quick post to say that I had a great day!! After a nice day at work where my Mom and Benjamin visited me for lunch, I got to hang out with Benjamin, Steve, and my Mom.

Two Weeks at Our Home

In the midst of buying our first house and now looking for a new car, a lot has been going on with Benjamin too! He is so amazing to watch - he is doing something new everyday! We are so happy that he is adjusting so well to his new home. I was a little nervous at first, and after a couple of rough days of not wanting to go to bed, he has become much more comfortable and he even loves to explore.

Here are some pictures of him from the last couple of weeks.


Here we are in front of our house, next to our beautiful little boulevard tree. Benjamin loves these leaves, which are still hanging on despite all the other trees having lost theirs.


Watching Daddy put in our ceiling fan light fixture. Benjamin has become quite the climber. He climbs onto the back of his high chair, the step-ladder in the kitchen, on my back, and his toys too of course.


His eyes are still an indeterminate color. I think they are a hazel-y color. Most say hazel, though sometimes some say gray.


With Grandma on a walk in our neighborhood.


He is an excellent eater; some of his favorite foods are fruit (bananas, strawberries, grapes), deli meat, morning star veggie burgers, cheese, bread, waffles, raisin bread, and hot dogs. Pretty soon he will be able to eat these foods much easier, as he is getting three to four more teeth on top. It has been awhile since he has gotten any teeth!


Doing 'so big'


Touching his ear. When asked, he can touch his ear, mouth, and hair. We are still working on him touching his nose and eyes, but he loves to touch ours.


He really really loves his bath. He will start walking to the bathroom saying 'bath' over and over and then tries to get in the tub, too excited to wait. Grandma Patty gave him some bath letters that he really loves, so I think that helps. Bath time is always a good night time ritual, but how can I resist when he actually asks for a bath at 4 pm in the afternoon??


Throwing his ball around:



Other recent activities:

-He is walking so well now! Not quite as confident as his little play group buddies, but impressive nevertheless. I love how proud he looks when he is walking around.

-He says the following things: brea for bread, at for cat, ball, woof when he sees a puppy dog, out to go outside, bea for bear, eye, bath, hot (for his veggie burgers, waffle, and when he touches something warm) and then blows and not necessarily on the warm item.

-It has been awhile, but I stopped nursing him at the end of September

-If he wants help with something, he will take your hand and pull it towards what he wants done.

-Blows kisses, gives kisses (which he does with his mouth wide open)

-Stacks his blocks on top of each other

-Loves to read

-Loves Sesame Street and Baby Einstein, though we are trying to keep that to a minimum.