I definitely have to blog this…

So this morning, I was making Ben some eggs for breakfast (I don’t normally have that luxury, but today was a snow day- yes!). I heard a banging sound behind me. When I turned around, I saw Ben sitting in one of the high bar stools, smiling away and pounding on the counter. He was so proud of himself! I called Tim and grabbed the camera. He had used his riding truck as a step stool and climbed from there. After I took this picture, he climbed on to the counter and grabbed a knife.

Is there no place safe???

 

Our Little Monkey

Ben has officially entered into the climbing stage.  Yikes!  Yesterday I was sitting on the couch, and Ben was playing behind the couch.  Suddenly, I heard breathing in my ear.  He had climbed onto his riding truck, then from there climbed onto the end table and was standing right beside where I was sitting.  The other day, as I was drying my hair in the bathroom, I was watching Ben try to climb onto the (closed) toilet.  I let him try, just to see if he could.  Next thing I know, he’s standing on top of it, clapping his hands!  Today, he’s been sliding his diaper box around the house, seeing what he can climb on to:

In other Ben News, he’s learning a lot at “school” (day care).  He can sign “ball,” “more,” and “bath.”  He loves to dance (although it’s obvious he’s a white dude- we’ll have to work on his moves).  He’s starting to make animal noises- he can growl like a lion, say “woo” for a dog, and buzz his lips like an elephant (or at least what we’ve taught him an elephant sounds like… can anyone really make an elephant sound?).

 

Yeah, Ben can walk.

Ben can definitely walk now!  He’s getting better every day.  He’s been officially a walker for a couple weeks now.  At first, his “walking” was more of a controlled, multi-step fall.  He’s much better now.  He even puts his arms by his side when he walks now!  He used to hold them out to balance.  Time to buy him some running shoes, because I’m sure he’ll figure that out any day!

 

Ben can almost walk!

Ben is almost walking.  He can walk from one couch to the other and not fall down!  He’s done it several times.  However, when we cheer for him and try to get him to repeat the feat, he gets so excited that he invariable falls down.  So, when he’s “not thinking about it” he can practically walk.  I really think he could have walked a couple of months ago, but he is such an expert crawler he had no need to try.

Something else he’s started doing the last week or so: giving kisses on request.  His kisses are open-mouth slobber festivals, but melt my heart anyway!  He’s been giving “kisses” for a couple months now (actually he tried to kiss a girl when he got to day care one day, and the teacher was like, “be nice”), but only recently has he started giving them on request.  He doesn’t do it EVERY time, but I’ll say, “give mommy a kiss” and he will put his mouth on my face.  The other day I said, “give Simba a kiss” (a stuffed animal) and he did!  Then I said, “give the puppy a kiss” (another stuffed animal) and he did!  It’s so sweet!  Now if we could just teach him to close his mouth…

 

First Steps

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!!!”

 

Happy 9 Months!

Ben is 9 months old today!  Next week, he goes for his checkup.  He’s starting to use his “walk-behind” truck.  He’s so proud of himself when he makes it all the way across the living room!

 

An Update

Ben’s eye cleared up.  He is back to the “regular” blocked tear duct problem. 

He is really starting to babble a lot.  It’s starting to sound like he’s really trying to have a conversation!  One of his favorite pasttimes is chasing the cats.  He is starting to stand unassisted for longer periods of time.  The other day, he stood for about 5 seconds!  Tim got so excited, he exclaimed, “Ben, you’re standing!,” which distracted Ben enough to make him fall!

 

Danger

So, we didn’t get very far with baby-proofing the house much BEFORE Ben became mobile- we are doing it on an as-needed basis.  It just sort of happened this way, I guess because he became mobile earlier than we expected.  So, basically, we take turns following Ben around, protecting him from danger.  I used to keep my laptop on the wide, flat arm of the couch.  I left it there out of habit the other day (duh- I know) and went into the kitchen.  I glanced up in time to see my Powerbook slowly creeping backwards off the edge of the couch.  I ran over in time to grab it before Ben pulled it down on his head.  Suddenly, “No, Ben” is part of our vocabulary.  It felt really strange the first time I said it.  Now I’m more used to saying it.  ”No, Ben, don’t grab the cat’s tail.  No, Ben, don’t chew on that electric cord.  No, Ben, don’t pull up on the toilet.”  I’m in for a BUSY summer, chasing Ben around.  I can’t wait!

 

Pull ups

This is all happening too fast…

Just a quick update to mark this milestone- Ben has been pulling himself up to a standing position for a couple weeks now, but he has gotten very good at it this past week.  He seems so proud of himself when he does it!  

Of course, with this newfound mobility comes new danger.  He fell against a chair and banged his face pretty hard 2 days ago.  I am sure it’s the first of many mishaps he’ll experience as he learns to move around.

 

Quick update

Last Friday, Ben started sitting up independently!  He had been propping himself up with one hand for a while.  Since then, he’s started pulling himself up onto his knees and, given a ledge to push from (like his dad’s belly when he’s laying down), he can push himself up on his feet (while still holding on).  I REALLY can’t believe how fast this is happening!  Ben is 6.5 months old.