...And He's off!

Ben started taking a few steps here and there around his birthday. One step turned into five and that five has now turned into 20! He is toddling all around the place in a drucken swagger only adorable in people under 3 feet tall. He is SO proud of himself and we are pretty darn proud with him!

Chatter Box

I enjoy the sounds of my own voice it would seem as my mouth doesn't usually stop moving all day. This has benefitted Ben tremendously as he has begun talking all day. I don't mean "talking" but actually using words. He has in the last week started saying a new word every couple of days. At 13 months for a boy this is pretty advanced (I know...I googled verbal developmental expectations to see). Currently he says:
Uh-oh
mum (me)
mum-mum (different word as this is a food!)
Ya (he says this appropriatly while nodding)
da-da
more
down
apple (or his version of it..."appa" really)
ba (bottle)

He can sign:
more
no
change
milk
all done
water
bye bye
yes
food

he will also growl very loudly when asked what any animal says- the funniest is when we say "Ben what does the chicky say?" and he will give you a fierce growl...we are working on this...

he also waves, claps, dances and blows kisses. Yes he is full of adorable tricks...the catch is he will do none of them on comand. If he wants to he will wait until the person to impress has looked away or left and then do it for me only!

Garbage Pickers

Jon is humiliated that I take people's garbage. We have neighbours that throw away anything. So far I have scrounged a baby bathtub, kitchen booster chair, ball popper toy, slide, blocks and a little pool. These things are hardly garbage, in fact they have been barely used. I think she actually washes them before chucking to the curb as the chair smelled like bleach. Anyhow, I don't actually need all these things, I sell them on Kijiji, the online classified website. I have made about $100.00 on her garbage now. I would give her a cut however I am disappointed that she would rather have the garbage truck crunch usable and wanted items then drive them to the local charity or woman's shelter.
Tonight as we came home from the grocery store I was thrilled to see a beautiful wooden toddler bed with built in drawers...sitting by the curb with garbage bags on it. I begged Jon to help me carry it home. He refused. I begged louder and longer while he gave in despite his mortification. It was heavier then we thought but Jon insisted we run home with it. I reassured him that no one saw us as we would have heard them laughing at us if they did. I may or may not keep this item. I wonder what they will leave out for me next week!

New Job

I started my newest new job today...It is my dream job really but one I wasn't sure I would be able to do so soon. Today was the first day of full time...MOM!

This weekend Jon and I decided that the place that needs me most and where I want to be more then anything is right here at home! I always wanted to devote myself to being the best homemaker ever even if I don't really cook very well, or bake or sew, or scrapbook, or well whatever..the point is I am still a junior homemaker so I have time to learn before I have to darn socks and can the fall harvest. Oh thats right my dream job got a whole lot easier since it is 2008 and you can buy your preserves at the grocery store and throw out holey socks...that means all I have to do is play with little man all day. I think I just won the lottery!

Silly Ben

Ben loves to make people laugh. He gets so excited and silly if he is the center of attention and people are laughing at him. He will ham it up and shout silly noises followed by giggling at his own clever humour that anyone within earshot or eyesight can't help but laugh at the miniature comedian.
Ben has also recently discovered humour in the ridiculous. Particularly in things that don't normally belong (quite an advanced cognitive skill I believe...) For example he will climb in a drawer and think this is outrageously funny...the same goes for Ben in a cupboard. He will put a book on his head and fall once again into hysterics. Oh Ben! What are you going to come up with next??!!!

Sweet Daddy

I was a little nervous before beginning my new position last week. Jon met me at home that evening with dinner on the table, flowers and a card expressing how proud he was of this difficult decision. As one can see in the picture I took of his adorableness he was also pretty darn proud of himself...what a sweetie!

Overnight Guests

We had our first overnight guests recently. Justin and Cheryl with their little girl Ruby and Clarke and Jayne with their little girl Ainsley. Justin and Clarke are optometry students who live here during the year to go to school and then go home to visit family (namely grandparents who haven't seen the babies all year) in the summer. They needed to come back this year earlier then they got their apartment so we took in our homeless friends for a couple of nights. We had a really good time with a house full of babies and we were glad to have had our first grown up sleep over!

Ben and Ruby are a couple of days apart and developmentally then very similar and eerily at times looks wise as well. We had them both in their diapers at the water table and both Cheryl and I mistook one for the other...and we are their mothers!

In the pictures of the water table one can see how the drama played out. Both Ben and Ruby are quite sensitive little people and it does not take much for one of them to get their feelings hurt. One picture shows Ruby getting comforted by her mother and then Ben began to cry because Ruby cried...which was the pattern the entire weekend. Ben couldn't stand for Ruby to be unhappy. If Ruby was crying...Ben was wailing.

The weekend flew by, but we will be happy to do it again next year when they move back into town again.