15 Months

So as I was getting ready to snap Ben's 15 month picture I had my camera (my brand new expensive camera I might add) and my iPhone sitting on the couch in the playroom I ran into the kitchen to grab something and turned around to find Ben walking into the kitchen with my iPhone in one hand and dragging my camera across the floor in the other. Had I had one of those 2 items I would have grabbed it to take a picture. His face was so cute-he totally thought he was helping me. So this is our life with a 15 month old! Ben is walking, talking, almost running and never stops moving! He has 12 teeth including 4 molars. He's 30 inches tall and still 24 1/2lbs. His new word this week is cookie. Thanks to GG! He has learned sign language and now signs more, all done and please. Each week or so we work on a new word. He totally gets it and it is so cool to watch him be able to communicate with us. He still HATES milk. Ever since we took his morning bottle away he hasn't drank more than 3 oz of milk a day. I have tried every cup on the market, heating it up, serving it cold, putting yogurt in it, putting baby food fruit in it, only serving milk (no water all day). He is so stubborn (and yes... I know where he gets that from). He still loves fruit. He eats more fruit than anything these days. He is not a huge protein fan unless its meatballs, taco meat, sloppy joes or taco soup. He seems to love going to school on Thursdays. But at drop off we always have tears. But his teachers assure me after a few minutes he stops and ends up being his happy little self the rest of the day! My plan is to sign him up for 2 days next school year. The only thing I am not a fan of with Ben going to school is the germs he brings home. He has brought home 2 colds and the nasty stomach bug in the past 4 weeks. The worst of course was the stomach bug. Poor guy threw up in his crib-all over himself and everything in his crib. This moment I have dreaded and had anxiety over since he was born. I hate throwing up, anyone throwing up near me and cleaning up throw up. I could deal with the spit up but real throw up is a whole different beast. Thankfully it only happened once to Ben but then I got it, then my mom, then my dad, then Vince and then one of my brothers. And as soon as we were on the mend we all got colds. We ended up at the doctor a few weeks ago and were told that the first year kids are in school or daycare this is what happens no matter what age. Ben is building his immune system and its just par for the course. I for one am looking very forward to spring! We are still going back and forth on naps. Some days he takes 2 others 1. His favorite things are playing ball, brushing his teeth and his cars right now. He can now get on and off both the couches and we have retired his baby lamb chair. I really thought the kid would be like 5 before he stopped sitting in it! It is so much fun watching him turn into a little boy but kinda sad to say goodbye to our baby.

ELMO

Last Sunday we met up with the Connelly's and went to go see Elmo at the Sprint Center. Ben love love loves Elmo! Ben's face was priceless when he saw all the Sesame Street characters on the stage! Ben & Madelyn had a great time dancing and singing! After Elmo we went to grab dinner in Power & Light. It was a great day hanging out with Connelly's!

BEN

Ben Walking

I finally got a good video of Ben walking today! Just in the past few days he has started walking so much more and he keeps getting faster!

iPhone Picture's

Here are a few pictures from my iPhone from the past month or so...

 I'm not sure how Ben managed to get one arm out of him jammies or how long he had been like that!



Big kid shopping cart at Hen House! 

I swear Ben knows where the video camera is for the monitor. I love when he looks in it and starts "talking" and smiling at me!

January in the park! Happy Boy! 

Ben at Winsteads using ketchup for the 1st time! He loved it!

FaceTime with Elmo!

After swimming with his buddy Ryan! 

S & V at the Catholic Charities Snow Ball

Ben's 1st Day Of School

I finally decided that a Mom's Day Out program would be a good thing for Ben as well as for myself. So after talking to our Parents as Teachers parent educator and a few friends for recommendations I called Hillcrest Church to get some info and the director told me that they actually had an opening in their Thursday 9:30-2:30 class. So we went and toured last week and today was his first day! Ben did great at drop off-no tears. He went right in and started playing! I called at noon to check up on him and his teacher said he was doing great! When I went back to get him they told me how much fun he had! The only negative of the day was that he only slept for 25 minutes so he needed a snoozer when he got home. I hope next Thursday goes as well as today!

14 Months

Well we definitely have a very active 14 month old toddler on our hands! Ben is a little sponge these days-it is so cool watching him learn and do new things. His vocabulary keeps growing and growing. His newest words are Uh-Oh, baby, beep beep and ball. And he actually uses uh-oh in the right context! He still loves saying hello to everyone he runs into! He picks up our phones (and his) and puts it up to his ear and says hello-its so cute. He has also figured out how to turn on our iPhones-not sure if that's a great thing or not!  He loves to sing in the car and now he actually sings/says the right words. His favorite is The Ants Go Marching and he sings the boom boom boom part! If Your Happy and You Know It is also a huge hit with him and he starts clapping! He can walk across the room now but still thinks crawling is the way to go. Ben and Miles are starting to play more and more with each other. Ben loves to pet him all the time! Ben throws his ball and Miles will go get it and bring it back to him. They also love to play tug-of-war with Octi. Ben has found a new love of condiments in the past few weeks. He likes ranch, honey mustard but ketchup is his favorite! He loves to share his food with everyone now which is so nice but sometimes gross! He still has about 10 teeth and is slowly working on a few more. He love love loves brushing his teeth! He thinks he is hot stuff! With the nice weather we have been having we have been able to go to the park a few times and he loves it! He still loves the swing but now climbs on the play equipment and could go up and down the slides all day long! I think Ben's morning nap is on the way out the door. I am not very happy/excited about this. I really liked my free hour in the morning aka shower time but since he doesn't get up until 8:30-9am it seems silly to put him back down at 10 or 10:30am. So I am letting him take the lead and we just go day by day as to whether we have 1 or 2 naps. He is being super great about sitting in his crib with some books and his music playing while I take a shower in the morning so I can't complain. But he has decided that he no longer enjoys being my shopping/errand running partner. I can maybe get through 1/2 a trip to Target of Hen House before he has had enough. I knew this day would come but I thought I would have a little bit more time.