Happy 4th of July from Terra Alta, WV!

Ben had a blast at the carnival…

 

Ben’s 18-Month Checkup (at 19 Months!)

Yesterday, it was finally time for Ben’s 18-month checkup.  I made the mistake of canceling the original appointment because I didn’t want to miss this class or that class (you can see how “important” it was- I don’t even remember why I canceled).  It was a mistake because his regular doctor is booked until late July!  So Tim took him in to another doctor in the practice.  He has seen her a couple of times when he was sick. 

His height is still tracking in the 75th percentile at 33.5″- he takes after his dad in that area.  His weight (26 lbs) and head circumference (18.5″) are in the 50th percentile, so he is right on track!  And yes, they plotted him at 19 months on the chart (I was worried they would plot 18 months and not get an accurate picture but Tim made sure they did it right).

They talked about the blocked tear duct, again.  You see, after his 1-year appointment, we made the appointment to see an optometrist (that’s the surgeon, right?).  That appointment was scheduled for January.  In December, the tear duct problem seemed to go away.  So we canceled that appointment.  Soon after, we realized that, although the drainage wasn’t yellow or green anymore (hooray for that), the left eye was definitely more watery than the other.  So we will be making another appointment with the optometrist, hopefully this summer.

The doctor wanted to know if he could say 14 words or so.  Definitely (although I am sure that most of them are intelligible only to us…).  So I thought I would make a list of his words (and their translation when necessary):

da-da
no
more
bink (binky)
bink (bank)
dee (deer)
ball
bah (bottle)
ba (bath) 
juice
tash (trash)
gass (grass)
tuck (truck)
book
eye
bee 
Bee (Ben)
bay (baby)
uh-oh
pop-pop 
shh
uh (up)
dah (down)
ha (hat) 
hi
hey
bye-bye 
jaff (giraffe) 
soos (shoes)
sots (socks)
rock 
boo (blue)
fag (flag) 

(I still can’t pay him to say “mama,” and although he has said it once or twice, it was likely just a coincidence).

This is all in addition to the many animal noises he can make.  :)

He is also in the VERY beginning stages of putting words together.  Like yesterday, when he saw Tim’s notebook, he pointed and said “da da book.”  I’m so proud! 

We are indeed, very blessed.

 

 

 

Happy Mother’s Day!

I love my Ben!

 

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?).

 

The Classic 1-Year-Old/Santa Pic

Or, proof that Ben does not actually smile 24/7!

Is it wrong that this picture cracks me up a little bit?

 

A Visit with Grandma Lowe

Today, we went to visit Tim’s Grandma Lowe (his father’s mom):

 

A post to knock the crash picture down off the top of the blog

I didn’t want a picture of my crashed truck at the top of the blog any longer.  I am going tomorrow to get a new car- a green Ford Explorer.  It’s the same year as my old one (2002) but it has less than half the mileage.  Also, it’s a regular Explorer, not the truck kind like my old one.  I’m pretty excited about it.

This is me and Ben at the home opener, about 3 months ago.  The band is in the background, and that’s the back of my Grandma’s head next to us.

 

Why I am Thankful…

This is what I did on Wednesday:

I fell asleep at the wheel with Ben in the car.  We ran into a guardrail.  We are both fine, and that is why I am thankful!

 

Ben’s 9-Month Stats

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!