A First and Some Fun Photo Comparisons

Ben sat by himself, while I got up and signed for a package at the door on Friday. A few days later, he is sitting wonderfully by himself today at a playdate. I try to stay close because he does take a tumble every once in awhile, but he is officially sitting and I for one am relieved and ecstatic. I also gave him the opportunity to gum my sandwich today and regretted it because he wanted the whole thing and got mad when I ran out of things to share with him! Looks like we will have to add in a lunchtime of solids now, too, which is going to really mess with playdates and Mommy class. Maybe I will arrange for it to be after one...

We had a great weekend! We spent time with Scott's aunts, uncles and cousins and everyone got to see what a big boy Ben is becoming. He was a little clingy with me during this trip, which he has been doing at class and playdates a little bit here and there. We all suffered, as Grandma and Grandpa had to remain near me when holding Ben, and I couldn't really sleep or leave the room unless Scott was with him. Even then, sometimes Daddy wasn't enough if he was really feeling nervous and I had to scoop him up and get him calmed down. But as long as he was sitting with us, he was very social, talking and playing with everyone, and his aunts and even both Great Grandmas got a chance to hold him!  At one point after a "I want Mama" breakdown, we napped together on Aunt Sherri's couch in their front room- it was raining outside and we were right next to the heater, with laughter and happiness echoing from the family room. Cozy and cuddled, we slept for an hour and a half. I think I will remember it forever, it was that good!

It was very fortunate that I got that nap in, because that evening we had Kelly's 30th birthday party out at a restaurant in Danville. We did the nighttime routine with Ben and he went down to sleep and then we headed out for a night of pretending we were young and wild. Well, at least Scott took care of the wild part. I squeezed my tummy into some tight slacks and pretended to be young and carefree! Haha! Kidding aside, we felt like college kids, huddled around joking with friends and whooping in celebration for Kelly and Alan- getting a year older and spending another great year together. After the crowd thinned out, the restaurant emptied, a mysterious round of drinks appeared, and then out came a surprise bottle of champagne, courtesy of my wild and crazy husband. I finally led him out to the car and batted his hands away from the wipers, lights and radio buttons and drove us home. We were both in high spirits and felt reconnected with our pre-parent selves.

The next day we had a delicious catered lunch with Scott's maternal side of the family, who got Ben some surprise gifts! I am already behind on thank you notes and need to get caught up, this reminds me.. but he has been loving them. And the most adorable set of overalls I can't wait to get him into. We are all battling a cold this morning,  and Scott stayed home from work and slept in.

Check out some photo comparisons I have been looking forward to:

We decided Ben definitely got my chubby cheeks and a rounder head. But he sure is his father's son!

Ben Has Arrived and Taken His Seat... Now Where's the Show???

Ben seems to have his Dad's temperament so far. He likes to be around other people, and now more often than not, expects a lot of activity and entertainment for him to watch quietly. He will play very well independently for a time, but a whole day at home does not bode well for Mama. Yesterday we went down to Santa Maria for a play date with a very sweet family, new friends for us! They have three kids, the youngest is brand new. So its a house full of constant activity, and he was loving it! He yelled at me when I didn't hold him in the right spot for a clear view. He was very interested in all the commotion- running, jumping, drawing, racing cars. I kept telling him that if he wanted to get closer he should just get up and walk over there and play with the other kids. He didn't think my attempt at humor was amusing at all. Another thing he has in common with Dad, haha!

It took about a month but he has officially learned how to jump in his jumpers. And I am also convinced that he knows what I mean when I say "jumpa-jumpa buddy!" because he breaks out a smile and goes to town. Another favorite activity is noise-making. The top two are blowing raspberries (a very nice fart sound that he interjects into conversation at appropriate times) and screeching as loud and as long as he can. I prefer the fart sound. He likes it when I make different noises, too, or copy his noises. He also loves when we sing to him. Every night nowadays we sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" when he goes to bed, and his daytime favorites are the ABCs and "The Wheels on the Bus".

We are practicing sitting up, with mixed results. Sometimes he is all for it and will balance there for a long time, using my legs or a toy as support. Other days he just slumps and falls over and lays there, looking content. I don't think he really sees the point. If he knew it was a gateway to crawling, I think he would be more likely to apply himself. He can balance on my hip much better, which makes a world of difference to me. He has again started trying to roll over. The problem is that when he does roll from side to front, he gets angry that he is on his tummy, so that whole game comes to an end really fast. He most often does it only for the faces book that we borrowed from the Puccinellis. His two favorite faces are the characters I like to call Oscar and Angela (from the Office).

He is eating a lot more now. He likes most baby food (squash, pears, prunes and oatmeal), loves rice cereal, and dislikes applesauce and most of the blended food that I make, which so far is only peas and yams. He did eat some avocado one day and seemed to like it. Tonight he is trying sweet potatoes, baby food style, and soon my blended carrots and bananas. His poops are collosal pasty messes that smell awful. I miss EBF poops. He also throws up everywhere and in huge amounts, as usual. He has started looking around more, however, so the cannon gets pointed at everything. It has hit me on more than one occasion.

We stopped swaddling him at night, and dropped the 4am feeding, and he barely noticed. He wakes up twice so far, at 5 and 6am, and this morning he almost got himself back to sleep entirely on his own. I can hear him talking but I wait until he "calls" me. During the day I only swaddle him if we are around other kids and its loud. I thought he was growing out of his bouncer chair but he loves it more than ever, and naps only in that all day long. If we are out and about, he will sleep in his carseat, on my chest, wherever.

Hip Hold

Two of a Kind

This is new- he will sit here and watch me work in the kitchen. SO helpful!

Dad's home!!

More often he wants to try feeding himself. Sigh....

Watch out, you could be next

Scott is amazing with him. He comes home every night and plays with him, feeds him, gives him a nap and a bath. On the weekends he is a very good partner. We take shifts if we need to get things done, but we also take family walks, and go to the store together. Ben absolutely adores him. When he comes home from work and picks him up, Ben gets the biggest eyes and just studies Dad's face. Yesterday while we were in Santa Maria, we dropped by Scott's work to show him off. Ben was great, smiling at Scott's coworkers. He fell asleep on Scotts shoulder and I could see his Daddy heart just melt. "Wow, he hasn't fallen asleep on me in a long time", he said. So sweet.

Ben- Not a Foodie But He Loves Food!

So, Day 5 of solids! He took to the rice cereal like he had been waiting for it all along. I thickened it more with every feeding, and he just ate and ate and ate! At one point I ran out of milk and mushed up some peas for him... Aaaaand that pretty much ended the feeding. After only a few days I added in a dinner feeding, too. His appetite seems to grow exponentially with every meal I add on. I attempted peas again tonight, and while he is incredibly polite about it, he wasn't into it at all. One more attempt and I will move on to something else- squash or carrots or something. It's a joy to feed him. He clasps his hands together and "dances" in his seat, kind of quivering, eyes locked on the spoon until he almost goes cross-eyed. It's adorable.