Family Update: Body Parts and Fly Swatting

The countdown has officially begun.

Counting the days until Benjamin turns O.N.E, that is. Two weeks from yesterday, on July 27, it will be one year since our baby boy made his arrival into our arms. It seems like just a few days ago, and yet, a lifetime away. We're planning a little party, it should be fun.

I have been slightly obsessive recently over this impending first birthday. I've never been one to fawn over birthdays so I am not sure why it means so much to me. After all, every day is a celebration with our little guy. Every giggle, smile or squeal, every glint of understanding, every amount of progress in independence, every unbridled demonstration of affection brings such joy to his proud parents.

Carrot face

Silly

Thoughtful

One year is a milestone to be celebrated, for sure. It is the first of what I can only hope will be many many birthdays to come. But the days leading to his birthday are also an odd form of anniversary, commemorating the anxious expectation we felt a year ago at this time. Impatient and scared and giddy at the thought of finally meeting our baby. That little guy who was decidedly content to stay put for 9 days past his due date!!!

So we are counting down the days. And in the meantime, we are keeping busy. Or, at least, Ben is keeping busy, getting into trouble every way he possibly can, sticking his little hands into everything. He has officially become a handful.

This video is a good illustration of his squirminess. Note the bossy "dah! dah!" sounds. We hear this a lot these days. It means "Give me that!" or "I want this!". It is usually spoken in increasingly shrill tones, reminiscent of those German soldiers you see in war movies. "DAH!!"

Mischief!

Dah! Dah! DAH!

Look at those pudgy little feet!

Aside from physical progress, Ben's comprehension is making leaps and bounds recently. He listens to most of what is said around him and doesn't miss a beat if we mention something he knows or understands. He'll point, gesture or smile to let us know he got it.

Of particular interest recently are all the animals in his farm-themed bedroom. He specifically likes the cows and the ducks, and can even begin to mimick their noises ("maaah" or "mooh" for the cow). He figured out that the white duck silhouette on his wall represents the same animal as the framed illustrated ducks over his crib and the little yellow stuffed duck in his toy basket. How in the heck do they suddenly grasp this stuff?

We've been working on learning body parts for a while. I finally caught Ben being somewhat cooperative and pointing to various limbs I called out for him. He knows how to do it in both English and French but was quite distracted, so we didn't make it to the end of the list. I should have given him a break in between. As always, you'll have to take my word for it!

In the sleep department, we were having trouble the past few months with a consistent waking around 12-1 a.m., followed by another one around 4-5 a.m. Yawn! Regardless of our response to these wakings (pat him back to sleep, rock him, ignore him, bring him to bed with us -- we tried it all), they kept on happening. We recently decided to start Ben's nighttime routine earlier. It had been getting increasingly out of control and late: we often wouldn't have baby in bed until nearly 9 p.m. which robbed us of our evenings. Well, with the earlier bedtime at 7-7:30 p.m., Benjamin is now (mostly) sleeping through the night, waking up around 5-6 a.m. for his morning feeding! Needless to say, we now strive to put him to bed early every night!

Sunday dinner at Gamma and Grappa's house

We recently have had an unwelcome resident in our kitchen: a stubborn fly that will not go away. It's been hanging around for a few days and insists on sitting on whoever is around the kitchen table. Oftentimes, it will land on Benjamin or me while we eat our meal, which leads to a good deal of swatting and waving arms around to shoo it away. Here is a good example.

Have a great week, everyone!

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