“Dee! Dee!”

A couple of months ago, I saw 3 or 4 deer down at the end of our driveway, so I picked Ben up and we watched them out the window until our dogs chased them away.  For at least 2 weeks after that, Ben would say, “dee!  dee!” and beg to be picked up, or drag us to the window.  He wanted to look out the window for deer.  We also saw several deer in the next weeks by the side of the road or crossing in front of us.  For a while there, Ben was seriously obsessed with deer.

Then that obsession faded and he hasn’t mentioned deer for a while (nor have we seen any lately).

This morning, I was sitting at the bar, checking my email, with Ben on my lap.  He said, “dee!  dee!”  I absentmindedly said, “yes, Ben, we can look for deer.”  Then he said it again: “DEE!”  I glanced up, and there was a deer standing RIGHT THERE in our kitchen window!  We watched it for a while until it walked out of sight.  

Smart little guy!

PS- that is a picture of a deer I ripped from the internet.  ;)

 

Ben has a name for me!!!

Today’s update:

Ben has a name for me!!!

For about a week now, I’ve noticed Ben saying “ma-ee” to me and when pointing to my truck.  I thought he was saying “my” at first, but I’m 95% sure he’s saying mommy.  He says “da-ee” for daddy and “pa-ee” for potty, so it makes sense that “ma-ee” would be mommy. 

I’m serious, he says something new every day now!

Go Ben!

 

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.

 

 

 

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?).

 

Ah, Snow Days…

…Mother Nature’s gift to teachers!  (Nevermind the fact that we have to make them all up, even if it means teaching until July…We won’t talk about that part).

Earlier in the week, I was slightly jealous of my friends’ good fortune in getting a snow day in their county.  Today, I am the lucky one!  Ben and I are enjoying a day at home together, watching the snow fall.  It’s really beautiful and there is something special about that first snow day of the year.  The fact that it came on a Friday makes it even nicer- a 3-day weekend!

Ben can now identify 4 animals (that we know of): cat, dog, duck and frog.  He can sort of say ”cat” and “dog,” as I mentioned in my last post.  I think he’s trying to say “duck” but it sounds like dog (actually they both sound like “dah.”  But he is pretty consistent about pointing at ducks and saying it.  He can’t say frog, but he has a frog pillow chair and everytime we ask him, “where’s your frog?” he goes and sits on it.  Also, when we point out a frog in a book he looks at his chair.  So cute!  Every other animal still gets called a “dah” or a “ta.”

His favorite part of the day is still bathtime, and he really likes going to daycare, so that’s nice.  He could care less about me when he gets there and when I pick him up, he is really happy to see me, until I start to put on his coat.  Then he knows he’s leaving and starts squirming or crying.

 

Ben’s 1-Year Stats

It’s a snowy Sunday morning and Ben is down for a nap.  I’m enjoying sitting inside, working on laundry and a scarf for Ben.  I haven’t posted in a while, so it’s time for an update.  I have to admit I’ve been putting off posting until I can do a spectacular, picture-ridden post like some of my friends do, but let’s be realistic.  I don’t have time to do a perfect post.  So I’ll settle for a post, period.

Ben went for his 1-year checkup a couple of weeks ago.  He was between the 50th and 75th percentile in height (30 3/4″), in the 25th percentile in weight (21.5 pounds), and 25th percentile in head circumference (18″).  Everything checked out fine!

Ben can now say “Da” (Dad), “ta” (cat) and “dah” (dog).  He occassionaly says “mama.”  He knows the difference between dogs and cats, but every other animal is EITHER a dog or a cat!  He is very proud of his ability to identify animals and does so every chance he can.  He has taken to carrying around his stuffed moose and saying “dah” (dog).  He still LOVES his books, especially ones with animals and babies in them. 

I will try to give updates more often, even if they don’t contain lots of pictures!  Bring on the snow days!

 

“Tih,” “Ba-Ba,” and BEN’S FIRST TOOTH!

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.  :)

 

“Da-Da!”

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!

 

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!

 

Ben’s First Word?

This morning, Ben looked at Tim and said, “Dah.” I told you he was advanced for his age!

But, seriously, he is getting very close to crawling. He’s up on all fours and regularly scooting off of his blanket. It won’t be long now!