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.