Fallen Star

The talent agency that held the screen tests last Thursday called me yesterday. They would LOVE to work with Ben. I was excited for about 2 minutes and then decided against pursuing it any further. The owner of the agency had called and was shocked at my answer. He only currently represents 2 other babies so to accept Ben is a big deal. My refusal was a bit of a slap in the face evidently. He would not accept my answer and was telling me about all the money he could make with various work. I immediately moved out of star struck mode into protective mother mode and thought of the environment that Ben would be exposed to from my experience( my small brush with celebrity happened on the set of a large shoot for a boxing movie with Meg Ryan called Against the Ropes that I was an extra in). It is loud, chaotic and demanding. Time is money as they say and they will do just about anything to get the children to do what they need for any given shot ( I wittnessed that just at the screen tests). I also don't think that I would handle rejection with him very well at all. I would like to think that if it stopped being fun we would just stop however I think you get into that "big break" mentality and think after the next one we'll stop... 2 words- Britney Spears.

When Ben was a few weeks old Jon asked when he could get a job... I am pretty sure he was kidding. Ben won't be working for sometime, in or out of the limelight. I am sorry If I have shattered all hopes of his fame and fortune but I think that his time can better be devoted to things like banging blocks, mastering the crawl and trying green beans.

Family Room Reno

The family room after lots our (Jon's...) hardwork is finally complete! It is a great room over the garage and we spend most of our time up here. Jon ripped up the blue carpets, put down lamanate and we hired painters over Christmas. I am very happy with the results, especially after looking at the before pictures....how soon we forget, blech!

Dancing Feet

Ben loves his bare feet. I have kept socks and shoes on him most of his life and now as spring begins they are free again! I LOVE the baby feet!!!

And Even MORE Easter!

The Easter Bunny did come to our house as well and brought Ben a bath ring so he can have baths in the regular tub now, a book and a teething toy.

Thanks Easter Bunny :)

...More Easter

Ben's gramma sent home an easter basket with Jon today and it too was filled with lots of great presents (he was again enthralled mostly with the tags, packaging and basket). He got a toy that barks, pajamas, and egg snow globe with pictures in it and a book. Thanks Gramma!

More Easter for Ben...

Ben's Grammie came over to drop off some easter baskets today. Ben got a beautiful summer Mexx baseball hat. It is SO cute and I can only hope he agrees enough to keep on his head! He also got a bottle holder (so he can succeed in holding it himself!). He got a garden blower (this tied for favorite as well as the plastic wrapping that came in the bottom of his basket!). J and I also got an easter basket which was nice since we didn't do any for each other. I got a gift certificate for Canadian tire for a storage unit I wanted (the easter bunny must have told her). Jon got a gift card for Athlete's world for new shoes that he desperatly needs! Thanks Grammie and Grandad!

Stage Mom

I have heard a few times that Ben could/should be a model. He LOVES the camera and the reason so many of his pictures are smiling ones is because he starts smiling on cue when he sees the red light for the flash come on! I mentioned this to my mom and she gave me an ad from the newspaper advertising for screen tests to be done on babies and children for a talent agency in Toronto. (I looked into the agency, not only are they legitimate but quite big- they do the casting for many movies filmed in Toronto). I thought this could be a fun experience. I didn't really know what to expect but Ben seemed in a good mood that evening so we went for it. I was amazed at the stereotypes that we encountered. There were parents there who were true stage parents- coaching thier children with a kind of desperation that cannot be healthy! I really didn't care either way if Ben got accepted or not however I did talk to the agency owner while people where coming in and found out he is specifically looking for children under 14 months. Ben was grinning at him the whole time. After the owner talked a little while about the industry he conducted screen tests. The older children had memorized commerial lines " All the screen test consisted of for Ben was we stood on the "mark" (industry talk for a big X on the floor in front of a camera) and I said his name, age, hair and eye colour and reason for wanting to break into the biz. He clapped his hands really loudly and talked loudly, I am guessing to see if he startled and cried easily (he did not). They will call on Tuesday to tell me if Ben was what they were looking for. I was glad we went for the experiance but I'm not sure it's really the people or environment I want Ben in!

Babysitters are Back

Jon's parents use to come over one evening a week to watch Ben while Jon and I got out alone together to do things. This was on hiatus while Ben stopped taking a bottle and was going to bed very early. He has pushed his bedtime back again and is interested in his bottle which makes leaving him possible. I am glad because I think he missed this time with them.

Foody

Ben is a foody.He laughs hysterically and wiggles exitedly whenever I put him in his high chair now He will eat EVERYTHING! He will keep eating avacodo even though he is visably hating every bite. The problem we are having now however is that he will keep eating indefinatly. I gave him a couple cubes (I freeze the food I make in ice cube trays so they are in cubes) of apple and pear and he continued to keep his mouth open for more. I gave him another after another until he finally seemed satisfied. He took one look at me, grinned and threw it all up. Now I limit his meals to cereal and 2 cubes only! I also bought him this mesh eating tool I can put whole peices of fruit in it and he will chew on it to get the fruit out, but obviously it has to be squeezed through the mesh first so he can't choke. This tool has bought me a lot of time to get things done that I have put off for six months. This is the first thing so far that will keep him occupied for more then a few minutes!

Happy Easter

Ben had his first Easter with Jon's family yesturday. Gramma included a treat for Ben (puffed rice cereal) among the treats which was very cute! Ben as usual loved the attention and was happy to meet his second cousin who is 2 months younger then him. It is funny to think that last Easter neither of them were here and next Easter they will be running around together!

7 facts for 7 months

Ben is seven months old today! Here are some facts about our little man:

1- Ben always wakes up happy.
2- He loves music- his favorite songs are insy winsy spider,twinkle twinkle little star and if your happy and you know it.
3- The only food he does not like is avacodo.
4- he makes a strange monkey/dolphin sound when he is happy.
5- Bayley has not currently let Ben touch him even though Ben wants to so badly.
6- Ben will only nap in his carseat.
7- He loves to be the center of attention.

The Chicken Pot Pie

Presidents choice makes a blue menu chicken pot pie that I love. I have opened this box three times now and put it on a pan. While the oven is heating up someone will call and invite us for dinner. Friday Jon called and said he was bringing home pizza, Saturday my parents took us to dinner and tonight it happened again when Jon put it in the oven and some friends called with a last minute dinner invite. The power of the pie gives new meaning to "convenience food" since we don't have to do anything at all exept heat up the oven. We will try again tommorow- feel free to call us!

Ben's Girlfriend

So Ben is in love...with Ruby. He has seen her a few times now (conveniently their mom's happen to be friends)and he lights up every time. They are so cute together and are very similar in many ways; not only are they both too cute for words, they make very similar noises, like the same toys and are both follicly challenged. Ben is only 4 days older then Ruby and as the older man is teaching her some things like how to get on your knees and rock back and forth, sit unassisted and the joys of the gourmet organic puffed rice cereal, for advanced palates only! Ben is a little forward at times as you can see in the picture where he is trying to hold her hand. Good thing Ruby's daddy wasn't around!

Some New Stats...

Ben had a Dr. appointment yesturday. He is 27.5 inches long and 18.3 pounds. He is growing well and the Dr. said to wait for the warm weather to clear up his eczema...I hope the solution is just that simple!! He is doing well and J said he took his shots like a tough guy... tougher than Mommy for sure since I couldn't even go!

I'm in Love...

With Amy!!! I am officially hanging up my superwoman sash and crown and introducing Amy, my new cleaning lady. Something had to give, and it is, to my delight, the housecleaning. I work full time- being forty hours of paid employment followed by 128additional hours of being full time chef, taxi, grocery shopper, laundrymat, floor washer, dish washer, pot scrubber, song singer, book reader, peek a boo player, dog walker, duster, toilet scrubber, night walker, pacer, rocker, mother and wife. I am thankful for modern sciences that allow me to remouve; sock darner, weed picker, crop havester, canner, chicken feeder, cow milker, scratch baker, wood chopper, slack mender, crocheter, quilter, knitter and diaper washer off my job description!- My ancestors must have had at least 5 extra hours in their day, I am sure!

I work at home with the sole goal of having more time with Ben. I found though that he was being put second at times as a result of the sheer magnitude of things that needed to be done that I am not able to during the day when I am working. Since I am devoting the time I would be house cleaning to my additional job some of the funds earned in this time could justifiably go towards some help. This is one of the best descisions I have ever made. Amy came yesturday and cleaned my bathrooms, dusted, vacumed, hand washed the floors, and scrubbed the stove and oven while I happily played with Ben the whole morning not caring when he napped since I had nothing to worry about doing but ...dare I say... RELAXING!!! I was so overjoyed with this prospect that I got carried away with my excitment and paid her double what she charges (she did walk to my house in a blizzard...). This is the first Sunday evening in about 6 months that I feel as though I actually had a weekend... THANK YOU AMY!!!

CRAWLING!!! (sort of)

Ben is up and rocking on all fours. He gets his feet up and then hops forward in a sort of crawl/squirm. I would think in the next couple weeks he will be a pro! Thus begins a whole new phase...parenting the mobile child, our number one goal now being getting him safetly through the next half of his first year!

Just a cute Picture...

MMMM Applesauce

Our new food this week is apple. Ben loves his steamed, pureed, organic applesauce! I mix kiddie acidopholis and fish oil in it as well and he still doesn't seem to mind. According to the "books" you should feed the baby all the vegetables first so they get used to them before fruit which they are more likely to like. I am not following this obviously, I think that is silly. He will like what he likes and so far he is 2 for 2 !!

This is NOT Spring!

We recieved an early Easter gift yesturday... 30 inches of white, fluffy, miserable snow! Jon's car is almost totally burried and fortunatly we have neighbours and parents who are generous with their snow blowers or we wouldn't be out of our driveway until next week! This is the most snow we have had in southern ontario since 1938. If we get 17 more centemeters this year we will have the all time record. I would prefer if we let those who suffered in 1938 retain their record!

Take us to Florida Daddy!

Ben and I are staging our own protest against the winter that won't end. It included getting dressed in summer clothes and trying to persuade Daddy to take us to the airport!!!

Play Group

Ben loves to go to the playgroup. We go every morning because my daycare kids love it and I would go nuts in the house all day with 3 one year olds! Until a couple months ago Ben would sleep the whole time we were there. Now he lights up as soon as we pull into the parking lot and grins when "Ms. Allison" comes to get him. The Ontario Early Years program was started about 5 years ago in order to suport early learning. Our facility has been converted from an elementry school. It has a classroom set up for each age group from newborn (Ben has been going since he was 10 days old!) to age six. During the daily two hour preschool program the children have craft (starting at age one obviously), free play, snack and circle time. Ben's room has lots of bubbles and music. He loves it! I ususally stay and play with Ben for the first half hour or so and feed him. I can then go to a parent chat meeting, a guest speaker, coffee club or eat breakfast in the kitchen. All the teachers are ECE trained and are wonderful! I can watch Ben from the hallway from one way windows. I can see him but he can't see me.

The Happiest Baby on the Block

Ben is just about the happiest baby I have ever met. How lucky I am then to live with him! It takes absolutly no effort at all to have this kid lauphing so hard he can't breath. He will laugh at a blank wall and has a smile for anyone who looks at him.

I took him to a Dr. appt today (our new hobby it seems lately!) and when he was finished his appt The Dr. asked if I wanted to give him to his secretaries while I had my appt afterwards. I came out to see Ben in the middle of a crowd of people in the waiting room laughing hysterically as everyone was doing their best to keep him going. These complete strangers to myself and each other were acting like fools trying to make this chubby cheeked little boy let out another belly lauph. The little flirt was also kissing the secretary who was holding him to the consistant reponse of an "AWWWWWWWWW" in unison. I was on the other end the most UNPOPULAR person in the room when I took him back and put him in his carseat, when of course he burst into loud sobs with fat tears as his fanclub glared at me!