World Traveler

This week we went on base to get photos for passports. We weren't so sure how Ben was going to do with having his picture taken; we have never tried taking him to get professional photos done. But he never knew what hit him. Mike & I each held an arm, and this is what the photographer got. It even has Ben's signature raised eyebrows.

Opening his early Easter present from Nana & Grandpap. At first he threw most of the stuff on the floor and just grabbed these socks. He eventually figured out that the books are more fun than socks.

Books (not socks).

Reading one of his new books with Daddy. He has just recently started to let us read to him again. For awhile there he wanted to "read" by himself, which means holding the book upside down and flipping the pages back and forth.

I don't remember the circumstances here, but they involved sweet potatoes.

Enjoying a sunny day outside with Daddy. Mike said he kept going up and down the front step.

Nature boy.

Digging in the dirt.

Earlier this week we took Ben to a speech therapist for an evaluation. It went really well. The therapist assured us that Ben is doing fine overall and that there is no need to bring him to the office for therapy sessions. She gave us some suggestions and exercises to do at home and told us to check in with her in 2-3 months. If he hasn't said any words by then, she'll start seeing him in the office. She said that lots of boys are "late" in their speech development but they try to catch problems early. She said that there are several different parts of communication, and he's within the normal limits for all of them - he understands what is said to him, and he tries to communicate to others. She seemed confident that Ben will be speaking soon. He is continuing to make lots of different consonant sounds, and this week he has been copying our inflection a lot. The speech therapist even said that one of his babbling sounds, "loodle," might be a word to him and we just don't know what he's referring to. I thought the evaluation might be stressful for Ben, but he had a great time playing with new toys and exploring the office.