My Benny

I wanted to write a little update about Ben. It seems that Ben learns something new everyday and I want to do my best to capture his little moments. So here they are.

Yesterday, while walking around with his Mickey ride on toy, he turned around and waved goodbye to his Daddy. His Daddy in turned waved goodbye to him and then Ben blew a kiss to him! It was adorable. James has been working on giving goodbye kisses, but it was the first time he did it on his own little accord. Very cute Ben!

Ben is also getting so much better with his vocabulary. He is really trying to sound out a few more words here and there. He is still trying and is so close to saying "milk". Right now he more or less mouths out the sound of the letter "M". He is getting there!

Ben lately is also a blanket stealer and a blanket hog. Even though he has his own blanket, which I know is his favorite, he will steal yours if you have it on you. I am trying to teach him to share blankets because Mommy does not mind sharing her blanket. She just does not want it taken away. He is getting better at it. However, yesterday he also took both blankets (his and mine) and carried them to the center of the family room and sat down on them and watched television. Little stinker!

I am also beginning to believe that Ben is missing hockey as much as his Mom is. I can't stand to watch the Pens and since the Caps are out of the series, hockey games in our house have been sparse. Every now and then Ben will raise his little finger up in the air like Ovechkin does when he scores a goal (we did not teach him that) and say "goal". He really does love hockey. THANKFULLY we left a recording of a playoff game where the Caps won on our DVR. We turn that on every now and then to make our little hockey fan happy.

Ben is also becoming quite the little hoarder. He will collect things and more then likely really not want to share them. I don't know if its his age or what, but I have never seen a kid have so many "treasures" he wants to keep for himself. He will either stuff his Mickey ride on toy with things or a little shape sorter basket. I know kids his age aren't the best at sharing, but I have not seen them hoard things like he does. Its interesting to see what we deems valuable in his little world. I have found a number of odds and ends in his Mickey ride on toy from sippy cups with milk (thank god they were new), snacks, pacifiers, various blocks, things from his kitchen set, his dog's duck toys, etc., It is quite interesting. I can only imagine what will happen once he discovers his clothes have pockets.

My Ben

So many things have happened in Ben's little world since Easter. I can't believe Easter is over a month ago! Ben is continuing to grow and grow. It is amazing seeing the world through his beautiful little eyes.

Last week Ben was sick from Tuesday through Friday. At first the doctor thought it was a virus and at the second check up, it was discovered he had another ear infection and a type of baby strep throat. Poor guy! He was a real trooper and really didn't fuss much at all. He basically ate just apple sauce and mac and cheese all of last week, which is fine because I was glad he ate something! Although I hated for my little guy to feel under the weather, I was so glad to spend that time with him. We were great day time buds. He also figured out how to use his little hockey stick during the work week. He word position balls and wack at them with his stick. He certainly is a little hockey player in the making. He really loves his "goal" sport.

On Saturday morning (after we waited to see if Ben's temperature had broken), we all headed to the zoo for our annual family trip. Aunt Amy, Uncle Eric, Ty, Nagypapa and Nagymama were all there. The Goldlust family picked up Nagypapa and Nagymama in our van. We were a tad late due to traffic. Both Ben and Ty really loved the zoo and seeing all the animals. Ben's eyes were so wide when he saw the elephants! He also really loved looking at the monkeys. Both Ty and Ben were such well behaved little boys. I actually can't really remember either of them fussing at all, which in the world of a toddler is a hard thing not to happen for that many hours. Ben also wanted his Nagypapa over his Mom several times, which was quite sweet. He really has a wonderful bond with him. The zoo trip was a success all around and everyone had a great time.

After the zoo and a bit of rest, we headed to Grandma's house where we would meet Grandma's boyfriend Ricks family. They were all very nice people and really thought Ben was an amazing and cute little boy. It got late and both his parents forgot his pack n' play, but his Grandma wanted to try out the fold out couch to sleep on. His parents were a bit skeptical because Ben has never slept in a "big kid bed". Ben surprised us all and after just two goodnight kisses from Dada, he went right to sleep. He is getting to be such a big boy!

On Sunday morning, it was my turn to sleep in while Dada got up with Ben. Ben did really well on not waking up his Mom. Then when he heard me get up, he made a mad dash to me. His little eyes twinkled as he said "hi" (his new word) and then made kissing noises so he could give me a kiss. It really just warmed my heart and that just made my day.

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I also wanted to note some other things Ben now does.

He has for a while on some parts but can show you his nose, head, ear, tongue, belly button, bum, feet and hands. To "show" his feet he will march in place and to "show" his hands he will rub them together.

Ben is also getting quite good at mastering a fork and spoon. Depending on what the meal is, he will be given one or the other. Some dishes are harder then others, but he makes the attempt to eat with his utensils before just diving in with his hands. However, if he is really hungry he will use both utensil and hands to feed himself at the same time.

Ben's current favorite story is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear". I can read that story to him eighteen million times a day. His Dad and I both know the story by heard without looking at the pages. Ben certainly loves to bed read too.

Another new thing that Ben does is, he loves pretending to talk on the telephone. He'll pick up a telephone from the receiver and babble into it like he is having a conversation. I guess he is mocking his Mom, because he never sees Dad on the phone. Thanks a lot kid : )