Peanut Butter

Still no walking. A couple of times he has let go of everything around him and stood by himself for a second, but then he plops back down onto his bottom. Maybe the problem is that Ben actually likes to fall on his bottom (he thinks it;'s pretty funny). Dad and I have tried to have him walk back and forth between us, but most of the time he curls up his two legs and won't even straighten them out to take a step. It's almost like he is thinking, "why are you making me do this ridiculous balance thing - I can get along fine without it."I know when he makes those first few steps and starts to get the hang of things he is just going to take off. He always wants to be where Caelan or I am, so it would be a lot easier to be there if he could walk there by himself. I don't think it will be too much longer (maybe). He had a few sick days - yesterday and the day before. He had a pretty high temperature (102-103 for most of the day), but that was the ONLY symptom he had (minus the fact the he just wanted to lay around and he was grumpier than his usual self), but no cold symptoms or flu-like symptoms. Dad gave him a blessing last night (Caelan actually put her hands on his head and started talking like she was the one doing it when we mentioned that maybe that';s something we should do - it was cute), and he is doing much, much better today. I'm glad because his Grandpa and Grandma Dick are coming to visit. This Dude loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He is also a serious fan of water. When we get to the dinner table he wants to just drink and drink and drink - he gets a little upset when we take a break so that we can actually get in a few bites of our food. He is getting better about the water in the swimming pool. He doesn't like getting all the way in yet, but he loves putting his little feet in and kicking them around. All we have to do is open the front or back door and Ben starts giggling in delight. What an outdoors boy! Too bad it is starting to get Las Vegas hot here now that we are almost into June. There will be a lot of swimming in the pool for the next few months, I can tell you that.

Playing with Caelan

Caelan

loves to play with Ben. She helps him in so many ways. She also knows that she is bigger than he is, and sometimes she takes advantage of that fact (taking toys away, etc), but he will catch up to her eventually and then she will probably change some of her ways. It's pretty fun to watch them play together in their room (the best way to have fun apparently is to take out every toy and book in the whole room -at least Caelan is pretty good about putting things back and cleaning up her messes).

Falling

I took Dude to the doctor last week for his 12 month appointment. He was 24 lbs (75th percentile for his age) and 32 inches long (off the charts again for his height). He is healthy and growing fine, the doctor said. We already knew that. He is getting quite the personality. It's fun to watch him interact with Caelan and Dad and me. Since he started crawling about a month ago, he has really taken off in the movement department. He gets around quite readily on all fours, but he also pulls himself up onto things and walks along them a little bit. We have found him sitting on top of the fireplace hearth a couple of times now, and sometimes when we go into his room in the morning he will be standing up at the edge of his crib. He has learned about pushing buttons, and one of his favorite buttons to play with is the on/off button for the TV. When we go to the Armantrout's he is in high heaven because they have all their electronic devices right down at his level, so he pushes every button the the DVD player and the DVDR and TiVo. He thinks it is hilarious too. Another one of his funny games these days is crawling away when we try to change his diaper., He thinks he is so clever and he is getting pretty quick too, so when it's time to hold him down to actually get the changing done, he usually isn't too pleased with me. This boy is a vegetable LOVER. It is awesome. A couple times we have been eating dinner and he will still have several things on his plate yet he fusses and points to the table for something else. Sometimes I think he wants water (which is also a serious favorite of his) but he just keeps fussing. I try to get him to eat his meat and rice or pasta or whatever is still on his plate, but he is adamant about getting something else. I have finally realized that what he want sis more vegetables; beans, corn, spinach, peppers, carrots, peas, broccoli, etc. I guess that is a good sign, right? Today he had one of his first big crashes. Caelan was playing with him and trying to carry him around a little bit. He was having tons of fun with the whole things until I heard a loud crash and found him laying face down on the carpet right next to the couch. I picked him up and quickly realized he must have just bumped his head right into the edge of the couch before he fell because he had quite the bump on his head to prove it. He cried for a minute and then wa

s okay...until I had to put frozen corn on it to reduce the swelling - he wasn't very fond of that at all. Anyway, he is a cute little Dude. He is getting so big and growing so much - it's crazy.

Standing Up

Still no sign of walking....but Ben has started climbing up on the furniture and standing next to it. He can pull himself up and loves to stand. Sometimes he will even walk along it. One of his favorite places to stand up is right next to our entertainment center. I'm sure it won't be long before he figures out that he can pull out all the DVDs (just like Caelan did at that age). He is also currently very fascinated with toothbrushes. He and Caelan always want to bring them into the bath with them. Ben just chews and chews on his. He'll actually find his on other occasions too. Silly boy.