The days of Ben's life...: 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!