I year, 5 months, 2 weeks and 6 days.

Some words he can say (and what we can mostly understand!):

- Car.. everything is a car. Trucks, plane, bikes, diggers, dozers.. he LOVES them all. And the best part is everytime he sees one, it is just as special as the first one!
- Ball (almost an equal love to a car)
- Bath ("ba".. the simple word and/or the sound of running water in the tub makes him RUN to the bathroom and practically strip down to his diaper)
- Bubble
- Dog (comes out "da" sometimes)
- Mama and Dad/Dadda
- Buh-bye
- Woah!
- Papa (my dad)
- Down.. as in "Get DOWN Ben!" He then smirks, points downwards and says "dow-n". And then I try not to laugh.

He tries to say Ella, Stella, Lola, Cat (sometimes sounds like car). He "talks" on the phone.. he actually had a little chat with Granny today. He hung up twice, but he tried!

I can ask him to go throw something into the garbage.. Voila! He does it! Put your dirty clothes in the hamper Ben.. Voila! It still amazes me what he can pick up so quickly. I think that will always be the case :) He is even eating yogurt himself with a spoon. And, he LOVES to dance. Boogie. Get down and funky.

There. I am done bragging about my wonderful, sweet, cutie-boy Ben xoxo

Rain Rain GO AWAY!

I know this is the lower mainland, and it rains a lot. But this is enough. Ben and I are getting cabin fever. There are only so many trips to the store and library I can handle, and neither of them let Ben release his boundless energy. Besides, he screeches and squeals too much for the library!

He is done daycare now until we move (even then nothing is lined up for the new city) and although it is fun, the rain puts a damper on our activities. No park — unless you want to get SOAKED and cold. I have been trying to come up with rainy day activities that are Ben-Friendly. Shaving gel on a cookie sheet? Wasn't that big of a hit. Touched it, laughed and ran away. The dogs ate his crayons and we need to buy more. Paint, he just eats it. Non-toxic yes, but it makes one heck of a mess on both of us. Will attempt it again next week. Instead we make a hurricane sized mess in the front room about four times a day, stay in our pj's until 10, play chase repeatedly, snack, eat some lunch, watch a bit of a movie.. anything to keep Mum sane! At least he is taking two good naps like a champ, provided there isn't major construction going on in the basement.

Here are some pictures of our week.

Happy Birthday Balloon...

I turned 28 on the 16th. I am now in my late-twenties. How do I feel? GREAT! We had a wonderful weekend (Mom and Dad took Ben for 5 days, we missed him SOOOO much!). Got to go shopping in Bellingham with Kerry, she surprised me with a fabulous pedicure at a spa, dinner on Friday AND Saturday night. Talk about spoiling me/us. We even got some packing done for the big move in 22 days!

I got a bouquet of flowers for my birthday (from my Kidswap Secret Mommy) and a helium balloon with them. Ben came home on Tuesday and he LOVES the balloon! In fact I couldn't even get it away from him to put him in the bath!

And finally another update on Mr. Ben..

Gotta get my bum in gear and fill out his baby book. This is his online baby book!

He has cut his first three molars, the fourth one is coming in right now. I also think his eye teeth might be bugging him.. he hasn't drooled this much in a LONG time! Fingers in the mouth, chewing away on them, runny nose. Oh the joys of teething! I am glad that he is hopefully getting the majority of his teeth now before we go to Hawaii next month.

Yesterday he said "cute" and "cracker". Don't know if it was a one time thing, but I heard them!

He is understanding and comprending so much, too. We can ask him to go get things or do things and he listens! It is wonderful! Put your cup on the table.. voila! Go get your cracker.. voila! Kisses, high-5's, cheers.. pretty cool.

We are working on trying to get him to say please and thank you , as well as "more". Not an easy task! Ben is very stubborn at times, and prefers to just grunt to get his way. No rush.. he is still young. But I don't think it is ever too early to start. We try to use manners all the time.. hopefully he picks up on it!

The boys get haircuts...

I tried really hard to get a picture last night of Ben and Mike together, showing off their spiffy new hair, but Ben wasn't going to have any of it.

Mike thought if you can't beat him, join him!

First carwash!

And what did Ben think of it? Well, the pictures speak for themselves!

Ben has some big news...

He is in a big boy bed!! And has adjusted to it like a champ! Have had two full nights of sleeping (minus an emergency sucky save from under the bed!) and naps, too!

We didn't manage to get a picture of him sleeping (was terrified of waking him up!) but here he is when we found him in the morning checking things out - and no the heater wasn't plugged in!

Our little boy is growing up so fast!

Finger Painting!

Last night we did finger painting with Ben.. it was good messy fun! I was doing hand prints with him and he thought it was pretty cool. Got this perfect hand print!

Happy Anniversary!

To us!

Today marks our 5th wedding anniversary! How are we celebrating?? But putting an offer on a house! Hopefully today we will have good news and can go out and celebrate tonight! Mike's parents are coming over this weekend and have offered to watch Ben so we can go out for dinner (a rare and appreciated thing!).. fingers crossed!

When the camera comes out...

...Ben hams it up!