First Haircut

Today Benjamin had his first haircut! I was very sad to say goodbye to his curls, but they were getting a little unruly and his bangs were down to his lips! So, we headed to Normal, IL (an hour away) to go to Cookie Cutters so that we could try to give Benjamin a good experience. Well, he cried for a good portion of it, but being able to sit in a fun car and watch Tigger and Pooh helped. There was even a play area that Benjamin loved afterwards.

Pre-haircut

Well, at least he's staying put in his cool red car!

He especially didn't like having his hair around his ears cut.

Tigger & Pooh!

A cookie as a reward

Aren't they cute??

Butterflies and Stickers

As Benjamin is getting older, he is getting better and better at his fine motor skills. He loves to stack things on top of each other, put things in containers, scribble on paper, and play with stickers. He has such patience and determination, but of course he has moments where he gets frustrated.

Putting butterflies in a Christmas container.

Putting stickers on the a Christmas card, both of which were sent from Grandma Patty

Doing such a good job!

In terms of verbal skills, Benjamin is communicating pretty well using a combination of single words, gestures, and some signing (primarily the sign for 'more' and 'all done'). He says 'ball', 'hat', 'bath', 'num', 'no' (although only occasionally so far, thank goodness!), and has even said 'Hi Dada'. What is amazing is how much we can tell he understands. If I ask him if he wants milk, his eyes will light up and and he will walk over to the fridge to await me getting the milk out. I can ask him if he wants to go out, and he will walk to the front door.

He also responds a lot to the TV shows he watches. Though I know he shouldn't watch too much TV, he absolutely adores Tigger and Pooh and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It is so cute to see him dance around to his favorite songs and to point to his head when the 'Think, Think, Think' song is on.

Benjamin's First Owie

Last Saturday, Benjamin got his first significant owie. Poor Benjamin, while walking down our driveway, fell and couldn't brace himself quick enough and his face rubbed against the cement. Fortunately, he fell pretty gently, so some cement burns are all that he received. Right after, Benjamin was in so much pain that he was stomping the ground with his feet. But soon after that, he was back to being happy little Benjamin, just with an injured nose and forehead.

Day of injury

Day Two

Day 5

Day 7 - looking better! However, he is miserable with a runny nose.

Santa Baby

With the Winter holidays upon us, I wanted to post some pictures of our little Benjamin enjoying the season. He loves our decorations, especially the tree, and he is so good about not pulling on it! I can't wait to watch him open gifts, as I suspect he will enjoy it much more this year!

He is so cute walking around with his Santa hat.

Ho, ho, ho!

Examining the lights

Hmm.. what will Santa get me this year?

Hurray for the Christmas tree!

What nice ornaments!

Skype

To help make up for the distance between our home here in Champaign and Minnesota, we do a lot of Skype phone calls. After putting the Skype program on my school-issued laptop, we tested it out by calling my Mom while Benjamin was taking a bath. During the call, my Mom took these pictures.

Bad Santa

We made a trip to the local mall to visit Santa this past weekend with Auntie Shelley and Grandma Vicki. I wasn't too sure how Benjamin would react. Last year, he loved both Santa and the Easter Bunny. However, once we started getting closer to Santa this year, I could feel Benjamin starting to get more and more nervous. When it came time to put Benjamin on Santa's lap, he broke out in a full cry. He continued to cry when we tried to all pose with Santa. And then he continued to cry when we tried putting him on Santa's chair by himself. Oh well, maybe next year will better, especially when Benjamin starts to realize that Santa is a very very good thing!