House

I know, it's been over a week since I posted any photos of Ben. I'll be posting more soon. I've been busy getting ready to put the house on the market. We met with the realtor a few days ago and signed the listing contract. We should have an MLS listing by tomorrow. Here are the rooms with the most changes (this is mostly for Nana, sorry if this bores everyone else).

Master bathroom, after I removed the wallpaper & painted.


Master bedroom.

One of the dressers from my grandparents - I painted them and changed the hardware.

Dining room. We had used it as an office/entertainment area/catch-all.

Eat-in area of the kitchen (don't know if I'd call it a breakfast nook). This was the area we had used as the only dining room and it looks so much bigger without the huge table and six chairs.
Our friends lent us this table.

Living room. Notice the absence of toys - I found lots of hiding spaces for them.


Calvin loves the ivy on top of the cabinet.

I know the realtor took lots of pictures that will be under our listing, but I had to take some of my own because it was so awesome to have a neat and organized house for a few hours. It's going to be a challenge to keep it this way.

Sixteen Months

I tried and tried to get a decent picture of him this morning, but he was fidgety and kept trying to grab the camera. This was the best one of the bunch.

But this one is my favorite.

I found this fan among the clutter I was sorting last week and thought Ben might like it.

He did like it...but he kept trying to take it apart.

I have been really tired from all the house projects that need to be done before we list the house next week. One night I got out of making dinner & we splurged on burgers & slushes from Sonic. My drink came with two lime slices. Ben found them and tried to eat one of the slices. This is not the first time he has eaten (or at least sucked on) lemons or limes.

Finally! This is the reaction most people would have when biting into a lime. It took him awhile.

Another trip to the park with Mike.

Check out the dog coming at Ben in the background. Mike said Ben had quite a good time with that dog, but the picture looks scary to me!

Always with at least one stick in his hand. I really need to figure out how to give this kid a haircut.

At the park, there's a hill the Ben likes to run down. He always falls and scrapes his knees and legs. Here's the first set of scrapes.

And here's the second set, from another outing. Mike said, "This is going to be Ben for the next ten years, isn't it?" It sure is.

There's a bunch of stuff I meant to write about, and Mike even reminded me, but I can't remember. Mike is in San Antonio for his job, and he'll get back at the end of the weekend. Ben got me up twice last night, which is pretty unusual these days. I storm came through last night & I think the thunder and lightning bothered him. He gave me a hard time going to bed tonight, too. I'm crossing my fingers & hoping for a better night...maybe I'll remember whatever it was I forgot & post it later.

At the Park

We have had great weather lately for playing outside. We found a local park that has a couple of toddler swings. This was Ben's first experience with swings at a playground. He wasn't so sure about it at first (I'll post a video later), but it only took a minute for him to figure out he liked it.



I think Mike had just as much fun on the playground as Ben did.

I thought Ben might like the big, colorful playground equipment. Not so much. He did find lots of cool sticks that are apparently more interesting than the sticks in our yard. He also liked watching the bigger kids playing, and he got to see a very friendly dog.

Ben is really digging books this week. He is even bringing books to us to read to him. Although sometimes he walks away after the second page.

"Goodnight Moon" is one of his favorites. And we've read it so many times that it doesn't matter when he flips the pages all over the place because we have it memorized.

He is fascinated by my teeth, especially when I'm talking.

This trip to the park was just the boys. Mike said Ben found even more sticks.

All that playground equipment, and where does Ben go? Down to the chain link fence by the road. There are more sticks down there.

We did have several days last week where there were threats of thunderstorms. One morning I took Ben to a small playground on base, hoping to beat the rain. It was overcast so I didn't have to worry about too much sun, and it was windy...Ben loves the wind now. A year ago, he couldn't stand it and acted like he couldn't breathe when a breeze came by. This park was near an empty pavilion & he ended up spending most of his time running around on the concrete. He did explore the playground a bit. It is surrounded by a very low plastic fence that he couldn't step over. But he could step up onto the plastic ramp at the entrance and thought it was an awesome toy: he kicked it, rolled around on it, and beat it with sticks. Yes, he found more sticks.

Ben caught his first stomach bug yesterday. He had strange eating habits; he ate a ton of acorn squash but wouldn't eat much else for dinner. He went to bed as usual, but this morning he slept in until 9:30. We checked on him a lot to make sure he was okay. He seemed fine when he finally got up, but when I tried to feed him some pumpkin bread for breakfast, he took one bite and threw it up. He was very upset. This was the first time I've seen him throw up since he's been off formula. He ate some plain saltines & took a few sips of water. He never did throw up again, and later in the day he started eating regular food and drank a bunch of milk. I'm relieved that he seems to be feeling better already.

Wedding

Last weekend we went to Alabama for the wedding of our friends Matt & Audra.

I promised Nana that I would take pictures of the outfit she bought for him.

This was the first ceremony that Ben has attended. Well, if screaming in the parking lot counts as attendance. It took three hours to get there & Ben took a short nap in the car. We got there a bit early because Mike had to rehearse with the brass quintet, and they started playing half an hour before the ceremony. Ben made it partway through the pre-music, then had a meltdown. I thought I'd take him outside and he'd calm down. Nope. Nothing I did appeased him. Luckily my friend Sarah (who came without her own toddler, smart woman) came out to help me. After a loooong time, we got him to calm down a bit. Mike spent much of the reception pushing Ben in the stroller on the sidewalk right outside. I thought that, after such a long day, Ben would sleep like a rock in the hotel. Once again, I was very wrong. He woke up twice. The second time he got up we decided to just get up and hit the road. He slept for a bit in the car and didn't fuss until the very end of the trip. It's really helped since we turned his car seat to face forward.

Pre-meltdown moments before the wedding, in our hotel room.

He got the biggest kick out of the air vent. And yes, he had the pacifier for this trip. I don't want to think what would have happened without it.

Back at home and happy in the bathtub.

He found his reflection in this tub fixture...there was lots of talking & smiling at himself. And peekaboo.

This was right after Mike was practicing trumpet and was showing Ben how he forms his lips to play. We were shocked when Ben copied him, then marched out to the living room and continued practicing.

We continued practicing through dinner. Our little Louis Armstrong.

Ben absolutely loves the show Yo Gabba Gabba (for preschoolers) and Mike found a book from the show while the two of them were in the grocery store. Of course, Ben had to have it.

Daddy + Yo Gabba Gabba book = BIG smiles!

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.

Puppy! (someone else's)

This was from a week or two ago...our friends Tim & Tina brought over their puppy, Margot, to help socialize her with little ones. Plus Ben loves dogs.

Hard to tell in this pic, but Ben is smiling at Margot. He had a great time. It was hilarious to watch her run wide circles around Ben, trying to herd him.

Corduroy boy. This toy remote is his latest favorite toy.

Trying to take the monkey for a stroll around the neighborhood.

He has just recently started to like digging through the kitchen cabinets. This splatter shield is constantly in the living room now.

Going through my wallet and purse. He does this a lot.

Last weekend I went to a bridal shower, and the husband & son of the hostess came to our house to keep Mike & Ben company. Here, the groom (our friend Matt) is amused at the boys checking each other out.

Catching the tail-end of a clump of spaghetti as it disappeared. He was walking around the house with noodles hanging out of his mouth...until I took a picture, of course. He's holding a low-sodium saltine - those things taste like cardboard, but he likes them.

We went to a well-baby appointment yesterday with a new pediatrician, a civilian on base. I will not be going back to this person if I can help it. She had horrible bedside manner & was not interested in discussing much with us, unlike all of his other doctors (there's a lot of turnover in the Air Force). As soon as she heard that he is still not speaking, she decided to put in a referral for him to see a speech therapist. Mike & I had no part of this decision. I can't imagine what they can do for a fifteen-month-old; the only kids I know of who saw a speech therapist were at least two. But since we are going through the medical clearance process before we go to Germany, we don't have much choice but to follow through with the referral. I agree with the base nurse who sees Ben regularly - she says that Ben does things when Ben is ready, and when he starts talking we won't be able to shut him up. Anyway, that's my rant.

Just when I was thinking that Ben would be taking both morning & afternoon naps until he graduates from high school, he transitioned to one nap a day. He's been taking a 2-hour nap around noon for the last week. I'm hoping to push the nap until after lunch. For the longest time, we couldn't go to playgroup on base because it was right during his morning nap. But we got to go again last week after many months. I thought he would love all the kids and toys. I was shocked when he froze in one spot, then clung to me. So THIS is what people have been saying would happen eventually! I can't remember the last time he ran to me like that. It didn't take too long before he started playing with some books and toys, and then played alongside some other kids. I'm really glad that we'll be able to go to this group more often now.