Favorite Things

The computer's gone haywire this morning and won't let me upload photos, so this post will be text only. Pictures to come soon!

Since Benjamin has been crawling & exploring the house, he has some things he goes to over and over again. Some are cute, some are frustrating, some are kinda gross. Here are some of his favorite things:
* rubber-backed mat in entry
* wine rack & wine bottles
* vinyl flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms
* wicker chairs (he peels off loose pieces of wicker)
* Daddy's slippers
* Mommy's shoelaces
* Mommy's purse
* lint
* stray Cheerios on the dining room floor
* Calvin
* Calvin's food
* Calvin's sisal scratching post
* Calvin's scratching post with feathers attached by elastic
* Calvin's toy mouse (yuck)
* textured plastic mat in front of the litter box (even yuckier)
* computer hard drive (the "on" button has a pretty blue light)

I can't believe I almost forgot his most favorite thing! The fireplace, of course. There is a mesh metal screen that he has tried to chew on a few times. I had to move the coffee table in front of the fireplace to discourage him from clawing at it, but he tries to go under the table to get to it anyway. Persistent little bugger.

This list is made up of a lot of things that we don't want him getting into and that reminds me of a stage he is in: screaming his head off when a toy (or something he thinks is a toy but is definitely not) is taken away from him. He pulled this stunt in a store parking lot recently, and I was afraid someone was going to call social services on me.

While I'm making lists, here's one of non-toy things he likes to bite and chew on:
* cell phones
* cameras
* plastic cupholder tray in the stroller
* brass knobs on the guest daybed
* painted wooden nesting doll

Since he likes using those chompers so much, I've been letting him try more table foods. He loves taking bites out of slices of banana, but doesn't like little pieces being taken off for him. He can do it himself, thank you very much. He's had potatoes several times, and we've recently been gifted with two different pumpkin breads, which he didn't mind one bit. Now if I could just get him to stop spitting out those little chunks of carrots in his baby food...