Sitting Up

Benjamin has been sitting up with assistance for awhile, but this week was the first time he stayed upright for several minutes without anyone behind him. He was so proud of himself!
He was shrieking with glee here.

Showing he can still have fun without sitting up. He loves to roll over & play with the happy apple. Hmmm...replace the apple with a dump truck & this would be one very macho picture.

Since he tends to have grabby fingers during bathtime, and the faucet is within reach and oh-so-tempting, we started giving him one bath toy to distract him. Unfortunately for this poor turtle, Benjamin thought he was a pacifier - he stuck the turtle's head into his mouth and kept him there for quite awhile. But his hands stayed off of the faucet (for the most part).

Trying to brush his little bit of hair after the bath. Pictures like this one make me wonder if his hair will turn out just brown or have a reddish tint to it, like Mike's mom had. Benjamin thinks that having his hair brushed is funny, maybe he thinks it's a game. But it always ends with him grabbing the brush & shoving it into his mouth.

A couple of other developments this week...he has figured out that, if he blows hard enough, he can shoot the pacifier out of his mouth instead of taking it out by hand. He thinks this is great fun indeed. In a related story, he has discovered the joy of blowing bubbles while eating strained peas. It's been a messy week.

Peas & Sweet Potatoes

A couple of weeks ago, we tried feeding Benjamin squash; he was not happy about that. So I was surprised when I gave him sweet potatoes last week and he gobbled it up. We used the store-bought kind, but I'm working on making my own.

Yesterday we branched out and gave him peas. He liked them also. Really, this is him eating food that he likes. He makes a different face for each bite.

It took him actually getting teeth to start appreciating his teething rings.

For Calvin, the silver lining with this whole Benjamin fiasco is that he gets more toys & hiding places.

My friend Laurie was kind enough to babysit last Saturday so that Mike & I could have an anniversary dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant. Not surprisingly, Benjamin was great until we got home, at which point he was tired and cranky and not wanting to go to bed. Could have had something to do with him refusing his late-afternoon catnap.

Laurie's daughter, Amanda, tagged along. Benjamin obviously had a good time playing with them...he can't resist the ladies. Oh, those stuffed animals in the background have recently caught his attention. After every diaper change, we have a ritual of going over to talk to all of his friends. Or yell at them, we can't really tell what his intentions are.

More Pics from PA

For one reason or another, these didn't get posted while we were still in Pennsylvania, and I couldn't leave them out...

Little baby, big jug o' water.

Okay, so not ALL the pool time was happy, but most of it was. He took a nap shortly after this was taken.

Grandpap's first time feeding Benjamin cereal. He quickly learned that if he did not shovel it in fast enough, Benjamin would sound the alarm.

In the crib that Nana set up. He always managed to squirm into the corners - we'd move him to the center again, and he would just scoot right back.

Playtime with Nana & Aunt Katie.

Poor Grandpap...he's such a sport. Benjamin can really dig in with those little nails of his!

Benjamin gives a surprised look for the camera a lot, but it looked especially funny when Nana was holding him..."Help me!" Just joshin', Nana.

Kuklish Family Reunion

Last Saturday we had somewhat of a family reunion with my mom's siblings at my folks' house. Not quite everybody could be there, but it was the closest thing we've had to a reunion in a long time.

Uncle Jim meeting Benjamin.

Aunt Becki, who brought every possible item from her local bakery.

Benjamin loves little babies, and Jordan was no exception.

Aunt Janie getting some practice in with Jordan ;)

Bunch of slackers.

My cousin, Mary, taking a break from studying to play a little.

Crummy shot, my bad...you get the idea. Apparently I forgot to take many pictures that day, so I'm using what I got. Sorry to any family members who aren't shown here...and sorry to those who are but didn't want to be!

The bumble bee cake from Bethel Bakery, courtesy of Aunt Becki. Dee-licious. As was the ice cream cake, and the cupcakes from the night before. I still can't believe they successfully carted that stuff all the way from Pittsburgh...that's some serious dedication to desserts.

Seven Months Old

This has been such a delightful time in Benjamin's development. He is so happy, curious, and full of giggles and squeals. The past few weeks were a great time for him to meet so many of his relatives...by the way, a few more pictures from the trip will be posted soon.
Chewing on a piece of his new toy...he liked one of the toys at Nana's house so much that we went out and bought something similar. Just not enough room in the car for everything we wanted to bring back!

I'm not sure if he just loves to dance, or if he's laughing at my singing.

As soon as he saw the red fox at Nana's house, he reached out and grabbed it. It made the cut & came back with us.

This particular smile is so elusive when the camera comes out...got lucky today.

Here are some of the changes we've seen in the past month:
- He cut two teeth...at the same time.
- He has a little more hair, enough to use a brush on.
- He is "talking" even more & using lots more syllables (all random, of course).
- He is trying to crawl, but can't quite get on his hands & knees.
- He rolls and rolls all over the place.
- He is trying to sit up on his own, and he doesn't fall over so easily when sitting up.
- He is very interactive with people, even smiling at strangers when they smile at him.
- He sleeps in all kinds of positions.
- He loves looking out the car window.
- He is eating solid foods; he may not like squash, but sweet potatoes were a hit!

Binghamton

This past Tuesday we hopped in the car again, this time to visit Gram (Mike's maternal grandmother) and stay overnight. It was about a four-hour drive from my parents' house, which wouldn't have been bad except that we forgot the diaper bag that had just about everything we really needed for Benjamin, including food, diapers and clothes. We discovered this blunder at a rest stop somewhere in the mountains as Benjamin was getting hungry, and I nearly had a panic attack (seriously - tears and hyperventilating, I was really freaking out). Turns out we were just a couple of miles from a huge shopping center where we found everything we needed. Mike said that someday we'll look back on it and laugh, though I did NOT see that happening at the time! Everything was fine by the time we got to Gram's house, and we decided we'll have to pack a little differently from now on.

A meal in the backyard. Benjamin isn't Gram's first great-grandchild, but she acts like he's the most special kid on the planet. Gram treated us like gold, too: she served up a delicious homemade casserole and her famous blueberry pie.

Gram loves her some traditional country-Western music, and she got Benjamin hooked. They sat here listening to music for such a long time, and he was so calm just sitting on her lap and staring at her.

Gram must be the original Baby Whisperer. He took a nice long nap in her arms while listening to country music again.
Hanging out in his room at Gram's.

Another bittersweet goodbye, standing in front of the house that Pop built.

Mike was so impressed by Benjamin's reaction to music at Gram's that he was persuaded to play some music in the car on the trip back to Pennsylvania. He popped in The Beatles' Abbey Road, and Benjamin was asleep in minutes.

Yep, that's right...I took a picture of a pizza box and posted it on the blog. Before we got on the highway, we made a quick stop at Nirchi's to pick up a sheet pizza to bring back to my folks' house. I think this is the best pizza in the universe. Mike grew up on this stuff, and we've been meaning to get some for years but it just never worked out. We snacked on it all the way home, then had reheated leftovers for dinner last night. Mmmmm, Nirchi's.

Long Island

Last Wednesday we made the five-hour drive to Long Island from my folks' house. It was smooth sailing until Benjamin cut not one, but two teeth halfway there. The poor little guy was not a happy camper. Towards the end of the trip I attempted to give him Tylenol & ended up spilling most of the bottle on him and the carseat, which is now white, black & orange.

Hanging out with Grampy, Mike's dad.

Grandma (Grampy's wife) and her three grandchilren paying lots of attention to the baby. Not a great picture, but these kids were always in motion...photos were difficult. This was Benjamin's first time at Grampy & Grandma's house, and his first encounter with the kids.

On our last day in New York we stopped by Great Nana's house (Mike's paternal grandmother). Benjamin is her first great-grandchild, and she was thrilled to meet him.

The Richter family get-together. One of Mike's aunts arranged for everyone to meet at a restaurant, assuming that Benjamin would sleep through the meal. When we arrived and explained that that was a pipe dream, she and several other family members took turns pushing him in his stroller in front of a big mirror that he liked to look at. It was so sweet of them to let me and Mike enjoy a meal!

We were fortunate enough to reconnect with Mike's aunt Mary & her son Randy, close friends of the family from way back. Here, Benjamin got hold of Randy's finger and wouldn't let go (this happened more than once). He also won all the staring contests with Randy, which Randy was very impressed by.

The boys with Aunt Mary. It was hard saying goodbye, but we will be sure to visit the next time we are in their neck of the woods.

On the ride back, Benjamin was a little cranky, probably from those two teeth pushing through, but he took two catnaps. He was obviously happy to see Nana & Grandpap when we got to their (very quiet) house. He has been such a trooper with all the different houses and so many different people...we're very happy with how he's handling the trip so far.

Pennsylvania

Nana showing Benjamin a rainshower out the front door.

Back at Terri's for another swim yesterday.

Benjamin playing baseball with Aunt Janie. Nana bought Benjamin's first soft bat & ball set.

Grandpap & Benjamin with his cherished exersaucer, a great find by Nana at a yard sale.

This morning we all went to Aunt Jeanie's to see my cousin Cory & her son Jordan, born just a few weeks ago. He's such a peanut compared to Benjamin! Momma & baby are doing just great - much better than I was at three weeks postpartum, that's for sure.

Nana bought this inflatable kiddie pool to set up on the back porch. Benjamin just loved splashing with his hands & feet. It was a struggle to keep him upright, though, because he kept reaching for floating toys, causing him to tip. Once again, he loved the water.

I can only upload photos from one of our two cameras, so I'll have to wait a couple of weeks to post some cute stuff like Grandpap feeding cereal to Benjamin. We're off to Long Island tomorrow to visit Mike's relatives, and we'll be back this weekend.