Benjaminese

Around the time that Ben had tubes put in his ears, he started chattering a lot more.  Some of that chatter turned into words we could understand.  I had been keeping track of the words he used regularly on a memo board on our fridge.  It was slow-going for a long time.  Then it exploded.  Most of the words on it were written by Mike while I was in the states.  We stopped writing on it last week because we ran out of room and we can't really keep up with all the new words anyway.  He is continuing to see a speech therapist who is happy with his progress.  He is getting better at using his words to communicate instead of pulling on us, grunting, or pointing.  Some of his words are a little mixed up; he either leaves off the last sound of a word altogether ("all done" comes out "all duh") or he puts that last sound at the beginning of a word ("eat" comes out "tea").  The speech therapist said this isn't uncommon and gave us some strategies for dealing with it.  He is really trying.  For example, when he sees a dog, he says "gaw".  Then I say "duh, duh, dog".  Then he says "duh, duh, gaw".  So close.  We are so happy that he is talking more, even when we can't understand what he's saying.  Oh, and as far as we can tell he's had no problems since his surgery.  It was a really fast recovery.

He had been sucking on his thumb (a rare sight) and when I went to get the camera he shoved all his fingers in there.  Then he got distracted by his video...

and started saying the names of letters on the screen.  This picture makes me giggle.

Action shot of Ben and Monkey.  This is the monkey that's a backpack with a leash.  Ben still asks to wear it on his back sometimes.

Remember that big block he ran into in last week's post?  They met again.

P.S. Laurie, sorry it took so long for an update on the surgery!

Home

I recently spent a week in the states visiting my sister, brother-in-law & their newborn daughter.  I got back last Sunday.  Mike brought Ben to the airport to pick me up.  When I finally got through all the lines and baggage claim, this was the face I saw.  Mike somehow took that picture while holding both Ben and the camera.  Ben is rarely this happy to see me.

And he NEVER holds my hand voluntarily.

On the way home, we stopped on base for lunch.  Getting Ben to leave was a challenge.  First he wanted to play with the video games.  Then he found these poles to hide behind.

On the way out he followed that stone line until it ran right into this concrete block.  Mike had to pick him up to get him to keep going to the car.

Just the Boys, part 2

I thought I'd make one more boys post before Sarah returns tomorrow.  We've had an eventful week.  Ben is doing very well today.  We saw the surgeon this morning and is healing normally.  He's almost all the way back to his usual fun self already.  Here are some pictures from earlier in the week.  You'll notice that I really kept him moving so that he didn't have the opportunity to focus on missing his mommy. 

 Benjamin needed some blood tests in preparation for his surgery.  He had a 1:30 blood appointment and a 2:00 pre-op with the surgeon.  This meant no nap.  Predictably, he completely flipped out when they took his blood.  When it was time to go home Ben fought hard to avoid getting in his car seat.  It was a beautiful day and he wanted his stroller so I loaded him in and walked the 20 minutes into the town of Landstuhl where we found an ice cream shop.  You wouldn't know it from this picture but he was thrilled to be in his stroller.  He didn't know what to make of the giant ice cream cone though.

We had chocolate, vanilla and banana ice cream.  Ben ate them all but he especially liked the banana.

As soon as he finished he made the hand sign for more.  Somehow, I summoned the strength to resist giving in to this face.

He stayed awake for the stroller ride back to the car and the first 20 minutes of the drive home.  He finally gave in about 10 minutes before we got home.  That's his barnyard animal sounds toy that he's clutching.

One of Benjamin's favorite places to go is the post office.  Here he is reading the address to me, one letter at a time.

 

 He likes to try to open the mailboxes.  Note the look of concentration.

 The post office has 3 hallways like this with mailboxes, perfect for chasing, hiding and running!  We go at night after everyone has already picked up their mail so that Ben can have his run of the place.

 He flies around the corners so fast that I have a hard time getting a good picture.

 Ben and I spent a lot of time outside this week as the weather has been beautiful.  This is the park on base.  Ben hasn't met a jungle gym that he won't climb.  I don't get very many pictures of him climbing though because I'm the spotter.

 Here's our big boy swinging all by himself!  Germany doesn't seem to have any toddler swings.  Often he'll sit on my lap but sometimes he likes to do it himself (with me pushing, ready to catch him if he falls of course.)  This picture was taken with an extended arm as I stood beside him.

With the onset of spring this week Ben discovered a love of flowers.

Ben held this flower all the way home.  He also said "Flowah" about 50 times.

 Here's Ben at kindergarten.  He was playing on the slide with the other kids until he spotted me talking with his teacher and ran over.

At the duck pond in our town.  This duck came right up to the edge of the water. Ben kept pointing and saying "duck", thereby ensuring that I too would bear witness to this momentous occasion.

Excited to play in his room.

Taking a week off from work and spending all of my time with Benjamin has caused me to reflect on how fortunate we are to have this beautiful little boy in our lives.  When I thought about what it would be like to be a dad, this is what I pictured.  This stage, right now.  Except I really had no idea just how much we'd love him.  Parenthood is awesome.

Safe travels Sarah.  We'll see you tomorrow!

Mike

Surgery

Another Mike post.  This morning Benjamin had surgery to remove his adenoids and insert tubes in his ears.  His hearing has been limited by frequent fluid in his ears and the tubes should help flush them out properly.  His adenoids (enlarged lymphoid tissue in the upper throat) frequently swell, impeding speech while causing further congestion.  The surgery went well.  Both of these procedures are common for young children, but it was still scary.  He had to be put under for the operation and the breathing mask scared him. He was also frightened to wake up after the surgery w/the mask on, a tube in his mouth, and an IV in his arm.  He really is a trooper though and he calmed down pretty quickly.  He is currently taking nap #2 of the day b/c we started at 5am this morning and he was drugged up so he's extremely tired.  He's predictably cranky and sore, but other than that he's OK.

Here he is looking pretty miserable post surgery.  I'm letting him do whatever he wants today.  Here he wanted to watch TV.  He hasn't smiled post-surgery yet, but he's eating well and speaking frequently.  He grimaces when he swallows.  We're sticking with soft foods, which happen to be many of his favorites anyway. He doesn't want to be put down much, so I've spent most of the afternoon holding him.  Its another beautiful day in Germany, so I think I'll take him out for a walk in the stroller when he wakes up.  He normally enjoys that.  We go back to see the doctor again tomorrow morning for a check up, but so far it seems that he's doing just fine.

Mike

Just the Boys - Easter

Sarah went back to the states this week to be with her sister Katie, her brother in law Brian, and their new baby Sophie.  That means you get a rare Mike post!

Thought I'd start with a few pictures of Benjamin eating at the table.  He's getting too big for his high chair, though we still put him in there for especially messy foods like cereal.  The smile in the first picture is b/c he's proud of himself for pouring water from the measuring cup into the mug and drinking it.

Evidently Benjamin was repairing something when I called him to the dining room table on Sunday.  He is laying his eyes on his very own Easter Basket for the first time.

Face it, you'd smile too.

He's eating a german kinderegg.  It's a chocolate egg with a plastic yolk w/toy inside.

Plastic yolk, Ben.

Here's the toy.  It's a little bunny with string for arms.  You can pull his hands away from his body a few inches on each side.  Ben loves it.

Later we went to a party.  There was an easter egg hunt.  Ben enjoyed carrying his basket around but didn't want to put the eggs in there.  Once he had two, one for each hand, that ended the egg hunt for him.  He spent the next several minutes shaking the two eggs.

An attempt at a picture of the two of us.  Obviously the chocolate from the plastic egg is much more interesting than the camera.

 

 When we got home we played one of Ben's favorite games.  He watches through the kitchen door while I walk around the house calling his name, because clearly,I have no idea where he is.

 At just the right moment he spring out and scares his daddy, much to everyone's delight.

      

Its been 3 days without Sarah here now and so far its going about as well as I thought it would.  For the most part we're having a great time but it's clear Ben misses her.  He was very grumpy this morning but came around this afternoon.  I'm developing an even deeper appreciation for all the stay-at-home moms out there.  How do you get anything done?  This is intense!

Mike