Ready for school?!

At playgroup today Ben sat in a chair and drew with the magnadoodle for about 5 minutes. He looked like such a big boy! And if we didn't have enough proof that Ben listens to EVERYTHING we say, I was on the phone with Josh telling him how playgroup went while Ben ate lunch. I was telling Josh about another little boy who was throwing his snack on the floor today and Ben immediately started throwing his lunch on the floor!

New pics

Starting with Grammy's visit a few weeks ago and ending with pictures from Grandma's birthday this weekend, here's what Ben's been up to...

Bye bye crazy baby hair!

Ben got his first real haircut today and he did better than we expected. He didn't mind the haircut so much as long as he got to watch Mickey on Daddy's phone. He looks like such a big boy now!

Ben's Creations

Changes

Josh and I have both noticed that Ben has been changing a lot lately. They are all positive changes and very exciting for us to see.

• He doesn't have any new words really (although he does say "Yeah" correctly sometimes), but he is babbling a lot more and clearly trying to say more things. Sometimes he sounds like he's getting close to the right word. He also clearly understands most of what we say and is getting better at following directions.
  

• He learned to drink out of a straw this week! This is huge because I've been trying to get him to use a straw and he just didn't "get it" and would get really frustrated. We had a big breakthrough when I put milk in the cup (Ben does love his milk...) and he was motivated enough to figure it out. We've been told it will help strengthen his mouth muscles and it also makes it a lot easier to eat out. No more fear of dropping the only clean sippy cup on the floor in restaurants!

• Ben loves to play a game with his flashcards where I set a few out and when I name the objects he points to the correct card. I recently bought a new set of flashcards that have an animal for each letter of the alphabet. Some of them are not at all easy (yak, newt) but Ben learned them all in about 2 days! He even sets them out for me and waits for me to quiz him.

• We went to a new playgroup this week and the kids had snacktime in a classroom with little tables and chairs. If you know Ben, you know that he doesn't sit still for very long at all. I was very skeptical about him sitting with the other kids and eating his snack. To my complete surprise, he sat for a good 15 minutes eating goldfish with the other kids. I could not believe it!
  

• Ben is really into lining things up and sorting things these days. I have a series of pictures I'll post later of some of his accomplishments. He usually does it when I'm not around and I always laugh when I see the creative things he does.

• Ben is more interested than ever in playing with us rather than next to us. He is starting to bring me books and toys. And he loves to wrestle with Josh and will pull on his back to get him to wrestle some more.
  

We are so proud of our little boy and all his accomplishments!

18 Months!

Ben turned 18 months old on Tuesday (which was also his cousin Gabriel's 5th birthday!). I can't believe Ben is a year and a half old already! We've been very lucky to be mostly healthy this Winter, but Ben and I got hit the past 2 weeks by a stomach flu, cold and then ear infections. I *think* Ben is feeling better (hopefully I didn't just jinx us). It's been a long couple weeks, especially since Ben dropped his morning nap right when all the sickness started.

He had his 18 month check-up on Tuesday and he is 34 inches tall and 26lbs8oz (still 60% for weight and 90% for height). We knew he was getting taller because he can now reach the top of our kitchen counters and actually pulled an empty coffee cup off the counter and broke it last week.

Here's his 18 month update:

Sleeping - Other than the past couple weeks, Ben is a great sleeper! He's been waking between 6 and 7, goes down for his nap around 11 and sleeps until 1 or 1:30. Bedtime is 8 and he usually falls asleep immediately.

Eating - Ben is still a good eater, but he's getting a little picky. He current favorites are cheesy rice, corn, turkey dogs, sweet potato fries, ham and eggs, oranges, peaches and of course cantaloupe. He LOVES his milk and would gladly drink it all day but we limit it to first thing in the morning, before his nap, and before his bath. Otherwise he drinks water. He's getting better at feeding himself with a spoon (if I load it up with food).

Behavior/Playtime - Ben is generally a good-natured boy, but he definitely has his toddler moments and went through a phase of tantrum -throwing at 16 months. That has gotten better but we've been dealing with some food-throwing (this started when he was recovering from his stomach virus). Ben thinks it's HILARIOUS when we "yell" at him so that makes it a challenge to get him to stop. Ben loves playing with toys, especially his singing duck, singing Donald (yes, he has 2 different singing ducks!), blocks, farm, and books. He loves to chase us and be chased and we play hide and seek often. He loves to play outside and tries to open the sliding door by himself. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can play outside more. Ben makes us laugh all the time with the funny things he does. Tonight at dinner I asked him if he liked the song that was on the radio. He was putting food in his mouth with one hand so he did a half-clap. I could not stop laughing!

SteveSongs

Ben went to his first concert today! We went to see SteveSongs with Mr. Steve. I bought tickets back in October and we had front row seats. We were a little nervous how it would go since the concert fell right in the middle of Ben's normal afternoon nap time so it was going to be a one-nap day. We got there shortly before the concert started and Ben had fun running down the long hallways at the auditorium. We got to our seats a couple minutes before the concert started and Ben was a little antsy, but as soon as Mr. Steve came out he sat perfectly still on my lap and was totally mesmerized by the show! The kids in the audience were invited to dance in front of the stage (so right in front of us) and it was very amusing for all of us.

Other than the occasional clapping, Ben hardly moved at all during the show. He definitely recognized the songs from the CDs we have and would smile at random moments. At the very end he got down off my lap and tried to make his way through the "kid mosh pit" (as Josh called it). All in all it was a very fun day and we're hoping we'll be able to see Mr. Steve again when he returns to the area.