like father, like son

It has come to my attention that Ben's biggest fans are still checking in here periodically! I had no idea anyone still read this, so I kind of...stopped posting, obviously. I know I say this every time, but I really will try to get better! I will show you momentarily what has been keeping me away, but I have to share a funny little thing first...


Ben is REALLY into playing with his trains. He loves to hook them all together, build towers on them, and drive them all over the place. This is all ordinary boy stuff, I think. Except...well, except for this!


That is ALLLLL Jon's influence. I didn't even help him do that, he just figured it out on his own. Anything that can be made into a "trailer", gets made into one. I want to get him a Cozy Coupe car, but I'm almost afraid to for fear of him creating some kind of "hitch" and hooking up his wagon! He really would do such a thing, with a little assistance from his daddy, of course!

We got a new camper this weekend, and Ben is in LOVE with it. He calls it his camper and he can't wait to get out in it. He is going to be quite the happy camper this summer - he can't get enough of the great outdoors.

AND, he has started taking on a truly 2 year old attitude. His favorite word is NO!, it would seem. Sometimes it's really adorable, but I am really trying to put a stop to it before it becomes a huge problem.

So, I just figured I would show a few examples of my scrapping "hobby" (read: addiction) to show why I've been away from this blog...






And just for those who are curious about the whole digital scrapbooking thing, this is a preview for a "kit" you can purchase...the elements and papers are all separate files and you simply put them together in Photoshop:



And with that, I will call this post complete!

busy busy busy

It seems like that is the word of choice when I am asked to describe Ben's personality. And I'm not lying, he is soooo busy! During his waking hours, he is playing non-stop. Occasionally, something on TV will grab his attention for a minute or two (if there's music involved or Elmo!), but normally he just is always tinkering with something, trying to figure out how something works, reading a book, or generally making a mess. His newest favorite thing is to say "nigh nigh" and lay down on the nearest pillow/blanket/etc...he even did that this morning when I went to get him up for the day! He's still totally hooked on his paci for naps and nighttime, so there is generally a small battle to pry the paci from each of his hands when he gets up in the morning. He knows better, but that doesn't mean he doesn't try his hardest to sneak a paci or two past me in the morning!

He has started a few not so pleasant things as well - like yelling "MINE!", pushing, saying "NO!" and generally not understanding sharing (which, yes, he is 19 months old, so of course this concept is foreign to him). We are just doing our best to encourage good manners (he usually says please and thank you without needing prompting anymore!) and redirect him when he starts to get a little rough. Sometimes it's a little challenging to ignore his tantrums, but he gives up pretty quickly when he sees he's not getting his way.

He has also just very recently started putting a couple words together - he started with "Please mommy" and "please daddy" (or "Please pappy!" haha), but has since evolved to "daddy trailer" and he likes to read this puppy book and say "biiiiiiig puppy"! He has so many words now I have lost count, and it's so fun to listen to him talk.

He had a birthday party a couple weekends ago for Kael (son of some friends of ours), he enjoyed himself but didn't really understand that the toys were not all for him!




Sharing? Not really!



I believe at this moment, he was saying "MINE!"



So not into sharing...


Grandma Julie thought he looked a little shaggy, so he has since had a haircut:


Apologize for the weirdness of this photo, Ben is so not into looking at me anytime I am holding a camera these days!

eighteen kids and counting...

err...months, that is! I will NOT be having 18 kids, unless my next pregnancy yields 17 babies! (Which I really hope it doesn't!)

So, little man is officially 18 months now. I seriously cannot believe 18 months have passed since that day I gave birth to him! It really is a trip to go back and read those first blog posts after he was born, and see how little he was! He's come a long way!

We had his 18 month check up today and he did ... well, just okay. He screamed for all the measuring parts, and he hasn't grown since his last appointment, but he was REALLY wiggly and mad today, so I'm not sure it was accurate. They weighed him at 24 pounds. Not sure on the length, will have to take him into work and check that. From the little questionnaire that I filled out before the appointment, he is doing most things on a 21 month level (I'm not sure how they come up with that number, it seems a bit random to me!) - and the doctor is very pleased with his language development - even though he wasn't his usual chatty self in the office, he mostly just cuddled with his blankie (which, thank goodness, I had the good sense to bring with!)

He is such a polite little boy, not that I give him much of a chance to be otherwise. He still whines, of course, but usually all it takes is me asking him "Is that how nice boys ask for things?" before he grins and says "PEEEEEAAAASEEE??" We're still working on thank-you as well, but I'll take what I can get!

I have an alarming amount of photos, and I am weird about editing them first, so I only have 2 for now...because I am not in the mood to go through them ALL right now!





He loooooves to read, and often will pull out a book and look through it. Sometimes he even "reads" it, but usually he just looks through it. Especially in the car, he has an Elmo book that gets a lot of his attention!

by popular demand...

And I'm back! We're all still well and good here in Elgin...just got sidetracked again. For an entire month. Again. :)

But, I was reminded today that I need to post here, and post here I shall. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good many pics from Christmas this year. Ben was all over the place - last year he mostly stayed in place! He really enjoyed Christmas although I think he was overwhelmed (and easily distracted by cookies, he probably had about 6 cookies on Christmas eve, if not more!). We celebrated with the Laures's on the 19th, then the Stolp's on Christmas eve...then we did our little family gift opening on Christmas day. This weekend we'll visit the Espy family to celebrate with them! Ben got a lot of goodies, he is most excited about anything Elmo these days - I got him a Sesame Street music video and wow - it actually holds his attention for a few minutes at a time.

He continues to learn new words on a daily basis and is finally starting to pick up on his manners! I try to remind him constantly about asking nicely for things, and it's paying off! Now he will sometimes say please without any prompting from us. He gets so excited about things - especially his snack, and now when he gets excited he says "oh boy!" and it's the cutest thing you've ever seen. He can almost say all of the dogs names, though I haven't heard him say Gracie yet. It is pretty darn funny when he says Oliver though, it sounds like "Ah boo boo". I understand a lot of what he says, but I can see how others wouldn't...I'm just used to it!

Here are some pictures from Christmas...just a few, and then some of when I took him outside the other day - he hated it. I think I need to invest in a sled, I think he'd like being pulled around in the snow!

His Christmas outfit...that I forgot to wash so he didn't actually wear it on Christmas! Oops!


He was pretty excited to rip paper since he's normally not allowed!


The boys with Foster's fire truck. If it looks like they are getting along, don't be fooled. There was lots of fighting over this particular toy!


Opening presents at home - that's the Sesame Street video!


Pound a peg...he doesn't really get it.



engrossed in Elmo's world


We gave him a front-row seat! :)



He looked like the little boy from A Christmas Story...he could hardly move his legs!



Brrr!!

another month passed us by...

I seriously have no idea what happened to November. It seems like it was Halloween, and then I blinked and now Christmas is staring me in the face. This time of year goes way too fast.

Ben has had a verbal explosion over the last month! He chatters ALL the time now (well, he always has!), but now we can actually UNDERSTAND some of his words. Some that I can think of off the top of my head are bye, ball, quack quack, cheese/please (they sound the same), thank you, tractor, apple, tree...I am sure there are many more, but those are ones that are somewhat distinguishable. I think I know now how it feels when other parents have kids that say something, and no one can understand them except the parent! I can definitely see how other people wouldn't understand him!

He is such a fun kid, loves to giggle and be silly. But when it is time for bed, all we have to do is say the words and he runs right into his bedroom and gathers up his blankie for the nightly routine. He's just so darn SMART and we're very proud of him.

Today I shot a few pictures of him for Christmas pictures...he was definitely difficult to keep focused, but I got a few shots anyway.

Here's a few:










And just to prove that the day was not ALL smiles:


Ahhh, the mood swings of a toddler.

what's that?

I am so behind in taking pictures of our crazy little monkey - he is on the go go go these days and doesn't like to sit still for pictures. Actually, he'll sit still ENOUGH, but then he won't look at me. I have resorted to making strange sounds and banging things together to just get him to look up for half a second so I can snap a picture.

This morning we had a little photo session because I was so behind, so I will share some of those, along with a couple cute ones from last night. I have some of Ben with his costume, but I will wait and just do a whole Halloween post. I can't believe it's going to be NOVEMBER! It feels like Ben just had his first Halloween, and now we're already doing his second. It's sad how time flies.

The other big news for Ben right now is that he is saying "What's that?" It's pretty clear, I think. I mean, it doesn't come out the way a normal adult would speak it, but you can clearly hear that's what he's saying. His new game is to point at everything (or sometimes, just one thing over and over again) and say "what's that?" It's really too cute!

Anyway, here are some new Ben pics to tide you over!

My aunt (and Ben's great-aunt) reupholstered (is that the right word?) this chair for Ben and gave it to me for a baby shower. He now LOVES to climb on it and rock away. I know it's a family chair, but I can't remember at this moment who it belonged to originally. Maybe someone will see this who can help me out here!



Being silly with his PJ pants on his head!



My booger boy listening to all of the sounds of the great outdoors today!



Being a boy - he picked up a worm. Ewww!



Back inside we came for a little bit of toy fun!


And then the toy bin became the toy!




Mister serious pants.


That's about it for now! Happy Halloween!!

pumpkin patch

This past weekend, we had a nice visit with Uncle Ryan and his new fiance, Jessica! They spent Friday and Saturday with us, and we ventured out in the cold to the pumpkin patch. We made the mistake of sampling the apples at the orchard first, so Ben was far more interested in eating apples than shopping for a pumpkin, but he did enjoy chasing Ryan and Jessica through the "hay maze" there.

Some pictures:


Oh yeah, we also dogsat Stanley...Ben loved it, and especially Stanley's kennel!



See? He did that himself. He dragged a whole bunch of toys in there, too.



Jessica graciously sharing her apple with little man.



Running to the apple house!



I like this one!



He wasn't so sure about this...but we took a few more for good measure.







the lovebirds. :)



Uncle Ryan picking up an angry little Ben man.


That's all I have for now. I took a ton of pictures at the pumpkin patch, but since Ben never sits still, not a huge amount of them turned out.

I have more pictures, but not more time, so I will have to post them later!