Routines

We've gotten into an afternoon/early evening routine, just like most mom's and baby's that includes cooking dinner, feeding Ben dinner and bath time (see earlier post). While I cook dinner, or any time he's let loose in the kitchen, Ben likes to explore (destroy) the lower cabinets. While not yet baby-proofed in the traditional sense, all kitchen equipment in them are harmless to Ben and not breakable. He's especially developed a fondness for wooden spoons and my pasta pot.

Prince Benjamin

A few weeks ago we went to my cousin's daughter's 3rd birthday and Ben had a lavendar princess crown on his head within minutes of walking in the door (courtesy of the birthday girl's mom, Ashley pictured here with Ben). We know it won't be long that we can dress him any way we like and he won't care. He wore the crown for more than an hour before ripping it off when I laid him down to change a diaper.

He also got to enjoy a Thomas the Tank Engine ride, led by Nana.

Bath time

Bath time has become fun for us, and a little challenging as Ben wants to stand as much as possible. He also likes to pull out the drain stopper and play with it, making it difficult to take a bath with no water in the tub! He really likes the water, even having water poured over his head. We're looking forward to joining the Park District kiddie pool 2 blocks from us this summer.

Here he is doing one of his other favorite activities, standing outside the bathtub, walking back and forth and exploring the bathroom.

Coble University

William's brother George and his wife Debby sent us "Coble University" adult sweatshirts and baby onesie for Christmas and here's Ben showing off his new attire. We know Grandpa Coble would have been tickled!

Standing

Ben surprised us all by learning how to stand last Saturday. We went into his room to get him up from a nap and there he was, standing in his crib.

Now, instead of going to sleep when he's supposed to, he prefers to stand and he's really quite proud of himself. We think it looks like he's composing the next great political speech, and only waiting for the ability to communicate it.

It makes getting him to sleep rather difficult!

Rockin' Rudolph

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

William and Ben have developed a routine where William sings a rock beat and Ben dances. This is how we started Christmas morning - with a rockin' Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer.




A few minutes later he got his first present from Santa - a green wooden worm.

And later in the day, we learned that Ben knows how to open presents... since he's meticulous about studying the details of most objects, we're not surprised!

And the man behind the best pictures we have...Grandpa Bruce caught waiting for a picture.

Crawling OR He Has a Mind of His Own

Ben has begun demonstrating his independence! He started crawling last week, a few days shy of his 8-month birthday. Although he's been up in the crawl position for 2 months, he never quite got the hang of forward motion. Early last week, he started crawling, but with his belly still on the ground. He looks like he's swimming. He moves his arms and legs in the right sequence, just not in the typical crawl position. And, he moves fast and has an interest in going places independently... the bathroom to play with his bathtub, to follow me to let the dog out, his favorite un-babyproofed location (the phone jack in his room), to play with our feet when we're standing near by.

Here's a shaky video for your viewing pleasure:



And another video where I'm hoping he'll demonstrate his newfound crawling, but does a lot of spinning on his stomach.