Christmas, Part 2

Here are some gifts that Benjamin "opened," with some help, on Christmas morning. This is his OWN (toy) cell phone so he can stop using my cell to call people on my speed dial.

Reading a new book. He loves turning pages.

He's tried to steal Daddy's beer...now he's trying to steal Grandpap's coffee.

Doing a puzzle with Nana. It's a little early for him to be able to fit puzzle pieces where they should be, but he likes to take to pieces out. And chew them, of course.

Nana & Grandpap found this neat sound & light thingie that's not even a kids' toy but should be. He was mesmerized by this, and a few times it helped get him to sleep for his naps, which is never an easy task when we're away from home.

Playing with Pap's face with one hand, his necklace with the other.

Hiding in his new play tent. He sits in here and giggles until someone "finds" him.

This face cracks me up. We had a picture like this where he was smiling, but he was staring at the Santa Claus that I'm holding instead of looking at the camera.

Going for a walk with Nana. I thought he was going to wear a path in the carpet from walking around the house. Oh, for those who don't know, he does NOT walk unassisted yet, but he loves hanging on to our fingers, furniture, or the walls to help balance himself.

Looking cute in his Christmas sweater from Nana.

Walking up the basement stairs with help from Aunt Kate. Since we don't have stairs in our house, this was quite the adventure for him. He went up several times.

Our friends Jolene & Alex got married in Hershey two days after Christmas. That's not far from my folks, so they offered to babysit while we went to the wedding. It was a lovely service, and the reception had some fantastic food and desserts...it was in Hershey, so there was lots of chocolate! Jolene will be moving to Germany a few months before we do...I'm grateful that we'll know at least one person over there.

At the end of our visit in Pennsylvania, a bit of a bug started circulating among the family. On the day we left, Benjamin was feeling pretty bad and had a nasty cough. But he was drowsy enough that he took some decent naps in the car early in the trip. By evening, he was fed up with his car seat and put up quite a fuss. Plus we hit two big areas of traffic that slowed us down substantially. I was starting to think we'd never get home...then when we got in around midnight, Benjamin didn't want to be in his crib. Poor Mike, who was already hopped up on late-night coffee, stayed up with him. The good news is that Ben has been sleeping through the night since we got back (knock on wood) but his naps have been short or nonexistent. He's obviously still sick, but his cough seems to be easing up. Although when Mike and I cough, he now does a fake cough! He has his 12-month well baby appointment on Tuesday. I'm really hoping the pediatrician tells us he can stop eating formula and drink milk instead.