Mountain Mama

Yesterday, Ben took his first steps!  He had previously taken one “step.”  I put “steps” in quotation marks because it hardly counts as a first step.  He moved his foot 2 inches forward.  Yesterday, he took 2 actual steps on his own!  Tim was playing with him when he first did it, then I got to see it when he repeated the feat.  We tried to get him to do it a 3rd time, but he was done.  Go, Ben, Go!  Soon, I will be saying, “Wait, Ben, wait!!!”

Woo Hoo!  Ben cut his first tooth this week!  It was on Tuesday, 8/12, my parents’ anniversary!  His bottom front teeth have been visible under the skin for a while now.  QUITE a while.  I’ve been thinking they were going to break through any day, but they still haven’t!  Over the past week, his top front teeth became very visible under the skin.  Tuesday morning, I took Ben to his first music class at the CAC (I know, he’s too young, but I wanted to do a class with him this summer and infant swim classes were filled up when I called).  When we got there, we stopped in Tim’s office for a change and a feed.  That was when I noticed a white line on Ben’s upper gum!  His upper right tooth had cut through the skin on the way to Morgantown.  Since then, his upper left 2nd tooth (not sure what it’s called- not the center one) has broken through.

It’s hard to believe, but I think Ben has “words” for “cat” and “bottle.”  I’m pretty sure he’s saying “tih” for cat and “ba-ba” for bottle.  I’m more sure about “tih.”  I’ve been pointing out the cats all summer and there is almost always one around, so it makes sense for that to be something he picks up on early.  ”Ba-ba” could be just a coincidence.  :)

Well, today was a momentous day in our house!  

For the past few weeks, Ben has been babbling a lot.   His favorite “words” seem to be “da-da-da,” “za-za-za” and “ba-ba-ba.”  Several times in the past week, he has looked at Tim and said “da-da” or “da-da-da-da.”  Of course, he also said it to me and the dogs.  But still, we have been wondering if it’s deliberate.  Sometimes it seemed to be and other times it seemed to be random.

Today, it was definite.  Ben said his first word for sure.  Tim had gone upstairs and when he came back down, Ben looked at him and enthusiastically said, “DA-DA!”  No question- it was deliberate.  Yay, Ben!

In other news, my Dad managed to cut himself with water, bad enough to go to the ER for 4 stitches.  Yes, that’s right, he cut himself with water.  He was pressure cleaning our house and his hand somehow slipped into the stream (he’s not even sure how) and his pinky got cut fairly deeply.  We gave him towels and ice and my mom drove him into town.  The ER doc sent him for an X-ray to make sure it didn’t go into the bone (it didn’t).  They stitched him up and gave him a splint.  He’s going to be fine, thank goodness!

Never a dull moment!

Yesterday morning, I noticed Ben seemed to have something in his mouth.  He was making a face and chewing motions.  I performed a mouth sweep.  I felt something very small on the back of his tongue but I couldn’t get it.  Ultimately, he swallowed whatever it was…  Yikes!

Later, Tim called out, “Ben needs a mouth sweep!  He has something black on his tongue.”  This time, I was able to pull it out.  Tim and I looked at it for a moment before we realized what it was.  It was a dead bug.

I guess it’s time to vacuum.

I just realized that I forgot to post Ben’s “stats” from his 9-month appointment!  It was a couple weeks ago.  He weighed 20 pounds and was 29 inches long.  His head circumference and weight were in the 50th percentile, and his length was in the 75th percentile!  So he is doing very well.  There were no shots at this appointment- Hooray!

This picture is from our recent visit to my parents.  They don’t have carpeting, so Ben really enjoyed using this cat scratching post as a walker.  It slid along very nicely!