Vicarious Living

Jon and I enjoyed watching the Beijing Olympics this year and like everyone else was following closely Micheal Phelps, the swimming star who broke tons of records and won 14 gold medals. I also followed his mother closely in the crowd as she would get so overwhelmed with suspense that she had a little fan and a daughter on each side holding her up. She cried every time he won and I thought "that is one proud mother!" I think that I would like for Ben to win some Olympic gold medals. Jon agreed and we have been discussing at length which sport we should introduce him to in the next couple of months (from what I gather major athletic stars begun training very early). Our criteria is it has to be a safe sport (no diving or gymnastics), preferably a winter and summer trainable sport considering our climate, one we both like watching and one whose equipment and coaching won't require us to remortgage our house every few years, unless of course Ben shows some early natural and astounding ability and we get a NIKE sponsorship before he starts school (he could probably go on Ellen too!). We later read that Micheal Phelps has size 14 feet. Ben's uncle also has size 14 feet and with the way his tootsies won't stop growing (he is in size 5/6 now which most 2 year olds wear- he looks like a hobbit) he is well on his way. We think this is the swimming secret; gigantic hands and feet...they are like flippers. So needless to say I am signing Ben up for swimming lessons in the fall for him and Jon to take together. I think he will enjoy this as he really likes baths and he will stay in his grandparents pool until he is prunier then a prune, his lips are chattering and purple and I have to drag him out crying. Well see how this "living through our child" goes...if nothing else he will be a good swimmer and have fun summer jobs life guarding. If he doesn't win a gold for the best country in the world to dedicate to the best parents in the world it will be okay. I will be fanning myself and crying overwhelmed with pride the first time he rides a two wheeler as well.

Little Man

Because Ben is one I thought he was old enough for hair product. I gel his hair now in the mornings so it is wild, curly and adorable! His grandparents thought along the same lines that a boy old enough for hair product is old enough for his own lazy boy recliner. I love it because it also looks like it belongs to our living room set! Ben loves it because it is a perfect bottle drinking chair!

The Highchair Struggle Continues

Ben does not like to sit still in anything, including strollers, carts, the bath and most of all his highchair. He likes to eat although he prefers to stand up in the chair as he does it and if he gets away with it on top of the kitchen table. I have tried letting him sit on the kitchen floor with his bowl of food but he generally smears it rather then eat it. My mom and I lucked into finding great clip on highchairs that attach to the kitchen table (it supports his weight if it supported Jon hanging off of it when he didn't believe it would). We both got one and Ben will sit in it because his feet can touch the chair below it and thus gives him the thrill of standing at the table. He is for now back to eating well... and I have stopped, for now, pulling my hair out.

12 Facts for 12 Months!

And the grand finally!!!

1- Ben is now I am thrilled to say a GREAT sleeper! We put him in his bed at 7:30 and he wakes up at 7:30 on the other side of the clock! He also naps 2-3 hours every afternoon...it was a long time getting here!

2- Ben has temper tantrums. About 15-20 times a day his world ends. Every time I change his diaper, take him in the house, make him sit in a highchair or end a book in fact it crashes down. Ben would be most happy if he could spend his whole day naked in the backyard...mommy encroaches on his style!

3- He ADORES his grandparents, all of them!

4- He knows when Daddy is suppose to come home. At 5:30 he starts looking towards the door.

5- He will finally hold his own bottle. He always wanted me to do it for him.

6- He still loves apples most of all, although grapes are a close second. If I peel and core one he will eat the whole thing. If I dare cut it in pieces though he will throw it at me.

7- His loves to get into my plastic bag/ cling wrap drawer and take all the sandwich bags out of the box, then puts one on each hand and crawls around with them on his hands.

8- He loves bathtime, but will not sit down!

9-He gives sweet little kisses where he parts his lips and gently puts them on you and smooches his lips around on your cheek until you are appropriately slobbery.

10-When he gives hugs he ends them with 2 pats on the back, as I imagine he is used to getting.

11- He gets very upset when he feels he is being pressured to walk, in his own time he will and not a minute sooner!

12- He is pointing at everything and wants to know the name for everything he touches.

Whew! There is a lot to tell about such a little person! I can't wait to see what he gets up to in the next year!

365 days ago...

365 days ago the sun began to shine a little brighter, our days became longer and laughter louder. Our lives had new purpose, more meaning and our days became more fulfilling. Our love became larger and our bond strengthened. Ice cream got sweeter, flowers more vibrant and the grass grew greener. Moments became magical, time sped up and sleep lost importance. Bubbles were rediscovered and tiny achievements worth celebrating. 365 days ago you were born.

Happy Birthday our beautiful boy...we couldn't love you more.

Mommy and Daddy

Ben's 1st birthday party!

Ben celebrated his first birthday today with friends and family. In the future we may celebrate Ben's birthday in September however as we found out this year that most people are away at the end of August...family reunions seem to top the list.
We were glad that many people were able to attend and help us celebrate the big 0-1 with our little boy, including 4 day old Henry!

Eric Traplin, a local children's entertainer preformed and Ben enjoyed the bubble machines he brought with him. Jon wore a rock star wig and was a bass player in the band which I am pretty certain full filled number 106 on his life's "to do" list.

I was so glad that Ben dove right into his cake and ate almost half of it on his own!!! It was a wheat, egg and dairy free cake with apple butter but it was his first taste of sugar and I think he is hooked!

I did not bawl during happy birthday as I anticipated I would as it was not his real birthday...come next week however the waterworks will begin. I am already feeling awfully nostalgic.

I think the party was a success...and we took a lot of pictures since Ben won't remember a thing!

11 Facts for 11 Months

I did not forget, we were still in Nova Scotia when Ben turned 11 months old. Part of being on vacation was being as media free as we could. We did not watch tv or go on the computer ( I only checked my email three-five okay ten times but that was REALLY good for me!!!) so I couldn't blog while we were away.

1- Ben has a full head of hair finally. It is eerily perfect hair. Many babies have hair that grows in randomly or with one long piece that falls in their eyes or sticks straight up. Ben looks like he just came from a barber all the time. Each hair if perfect.

2- Ben has his 4 top teeth now and 2 bottom teeth. He has been a great teether for the most part and woke up only once crying in the night recently with them. After a trip to the dentist he sent me home with Ben's first little baby toothbrush. Very cute.

3- He is becoming a picky eater. Fortunately his diet is pretty healthy so it's not that he will only eat chicken nuggets, fruit punch and cheese slices but it's that he will only eat rice bread with apple butter, cheerios, pears and grapes. Anything else lately he will slap my hand away. I put some vegetables, chicken and rice in the food processor to see if maybe he didn't want more grown up food. One offering of the spoon and a quick splattering of my big boy meal made with love all over me later I had my answer. I guess is could be worse...I will let him have his rice toast and count my blessings.

4- he wears size 18 month clothes.

5- Ben was sitting at the picnic table eating his imitation cheerios (made with potato flour and cost a small fortune). I looked at him and he grinned up at me swinging his legs under the table. Where did my baby go?! He has grown up so quickly I am trying to savour the moments of babyhood that are now so fleeting. He will be running before we know it.

6- I wish Ben would walk! It is not a matter or can, it's will. Ben has been ready to walk for months now but is so busy climbing things that he has not put it on his to do list. I know my job will only get harder as he gets faster and more mobile but he is into everything as it is and if he could walk he could be put down at all the places he squirms to be free in like the park, stores, sidewalks etc that he can't always crawl around on.

7- Ben is extremely busy. From the moment his eyes open his body is moving. There are not many occasions where he will let me just sit and hold him anymore, except at bedtime. Our routine has always been either Daddy or I bath him, sing to him, read 3 books (although lately it's 10!) and say prayers then he gets a bottle and rocked to sleep. I will continue to rock him to sleep as his legs dangle down mine until he will not let me anymore. He relaxes his body so complete and wiggles in as closely as he can while watching me as he drifts of. It is my most treasured time of day and I will make no effort at hiding the tears the day he says "no mommy" to our nightly ritual.

8- Ben LOVES books. He especially loves books with flaps you can lift open and say "peekaboo" to. He will sit on a lap to look at books as long as someone is willing to read them. It is definitely something I am trying to encourage in him and am so pleased he, like his father and I, is a book lover. Recently he has started to take them down off the shelf and look at them himself. He will dare I risk saying it... sit quietly for up to 20 minutes flipping very gently through his books, smiling to himself and occasionally laughing out loud when something strikes him funny!

9- Ben loves to be outdoors, now that we have a fence in our backyard which is wonderful Ben can crawl around freely and he does exploring every inch.

10- Ben is communicating very effectively now. In between his shrieks, grunts and screams of displeasure he is slowly figuring out a more effective way of getting what he wants ( I try to walk away when he screams at me for something...a- because I don't want him to think that is how to get what he wants as he has other means of communicating his wants and b- because I don't want him to see me trying not to laugh...his tantrums are hilarious though! ...I know, mean Mommy!) Yesterday he crawled over to me and sweetly said "mum mum?" and pointed to the cupboard!!!! Oh my goodness what a breakthrough, I felt like Anne Sullivan!

11- Ben's Mommy thinks that she has the cutest, sweetest, smartest and funniest 11 month, soon to be 12 month old there ever was and wonders what on earth she did to deserve such a great little boy!