Fun with mom (and dad)

I officially started working 3 days a week recently, so I've found myself trying to figure out how to create a good balance of my time now that I have much less of it! The days I'm home with Benjamin (now only Wednesdays and Fridays) seem too short, so I try to make the most of it when I can (without wearing myself out too much). Last week, we had a blast, and no matter how difficult it can be to juggle time/obligations/fun/chores, I know that I'll never regret sharing so many great times (and laughs) with my son. 

Here are a few of the things we were up to last week, me and my buddy Benjamin Willys :)

Wednesday we went to Ikea. Just me and Benjamin. And wow, I think I deserve a medal for keeping that boy happy through lunch and TWO hours of shopping. Not to mention how hard I had to work to reign him in while we loaded the cart with our great finds. And do you think anyone stopped to help the mom with a toddler as she was hauling 60 lbs boxes to her cart? Of course not! {Side note: we had to go back with dad on Saturday to return a few things and pick a few additional things up, and Matt could barely handle it for 30 min!! I quietly, or not so quietly, said "now don't you think I deserve a medal?" ;)}

As a reward for being such a great shopping partner/trooper, we spent the rest of the day in the backyard where I set up a nice little water park for Benjamin. He loved it! 

And on Friday, we met up with Kari & Co. at the zoo and had an awesome time. We didn't see too many animals this time, but we did beat the heat by enjoying a visit to their water play area (which is awesome for little kids!!). I had no clue it was even there. Benjamin had a blast with Noah and Fisher. We'll be back, I'm sure!

And not to leave dad out, we headed to Boulder after BWL's long afternoon nap (that zoo tuckered him out!!) to meet up with some friends and get a personal tour of the Boulder Emergency Squad. It was so fun to explore the gear, trucks, and other equipment these awesome volunteer emergency personnel use, and the kiddos had a blast! Benjamin already loved fire trucks ("cucks!"), but now he looooves them. We topped it off with dinner at Wahoos, but Benjamin was exhausted from the fun day, so we ate quickly! 

18 months old!

Dear Benjamin,

You, little man, are getting big - and by big, I mean you're 18 months old today!

I haven't done any age updates since the big O.N.E., and to say that you've changed a lot since then would be a huge understatement.  I could go on and on about how much you're up to these days and how much you seem to be learning every single day, but instead I'll share some cute pics from our trip to the playground this morning, along with some of the things we love about you in these toddler days!

You LOVE to kiss things - you kiss your cheddar bunnies before eating them, you kiss each of your stuffed animals multiple times a day, you kiss us just when we least expect it, you kiss your buddies (even the sweet newborns), and you kiss animals and people in almost every book you read.  Your demeanor is exceptionally sweet and gentle, and I hope this is something you carry with you throughout your life!

You are going through a big mimic stage - almost everything we do you like to imitate in your own way.  It definitely is cute!  You brush your hair, try to put on your shoes, "clean" the tables and floors, and even grab my makeup brushes to put makeup on :)

You are going through a vocabulary explosion these days.  Even though your dad and I are probably the only people that can understand more than 25% of your words, we absolutely love hearing you jabber on and on.  Your most popular words at the moment (i.e. the ones repeated most often) are: bat, ball, momma, daddy, truck (cuck), bus, book, milk (milch), soccer (cockahr), hot, baby, mitt, go-go-go, quack, moon, please (peees), and thanks to our recent trip, beach. Occasionally you show glimpses of knowing much more than you let on (like when I said, "no hot sauce for you" and you responded "hotsuss", never to be repeated).  And we just can't wait til you can speak in sentences!

While you were sick recently, we let you watch a few shows here and there to calm down.  You became a huge fan of Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That - one day you just started singing along with part of a song.  It totally caught me off guard, but we now sing it all the time!  And by "we", I mean you only sing the "go, go, go" part, but it's still fun and makes me look forward to the days that we can sing lots of songs together!  (Here we go, go, go, go, on an adventure...) {And yesterday, while you were getting ready to slide, we said ready, set... and you said GO right on cue!}

the duck face :-)

Some other silly things about you these days that come to mind are how you yell at a bus every single time you see one (BUS!!!) while pointing furiously; you make a "duck face" when you're thinking or pausing to decide what to do (similar to your momma's silly duck face); you thought it was hilarious when we plugged our noses to talk to you in a nasal-y voice, so now you plug your nose and say "Daddy!  Momma!"; you fell in love with the water in Michigan last week and now you ask to go to the beach almost every day; you love to read "Goodnight Baseball" and point to everything you know how to "say" (trust me, your dad loves this!); you still sign often (only about four signs) but we laugh when you say please (peees) and rub your tummy vigorously; you still love music and learned how to "drum" with Grampa (who you started calling Boppa last week...) and started learning how to strum a guitar today with daddy; you developed a funny habit of loving to take garbage to the trash can in the kitchen (we guess you're right about 80% of the time!); and you love chairs - climbing in them, sitting in them, then climbing out. :-)

Most of all, I cherish every single hug and kiss you give me and daddy (which thankfully increase every week).  You are the sweetest boy I know, and each time you lay your head on my shoulder, my heart melts just a little bit.  As you've been growing and learning/understanding so much more lately, you almost seem to understand just how much we love you and try to show us back.  I'm thankful for your big heart, your laughter, your sweet footsteps as you run across the floors... You are our sweet boy, Benjamin, and we love you so much!

Love,
Mom & Dad

Sickness

We really lucked out with a solid first year of a generally healthy kiddo.  And by generally, of course I mean in the grand scheme of things.  Yes, we struggled with digestive issues and a milk allergy, oh and the wee wee incident (i.e. NO FUN), but BWL was a pretty happy and healthy baby otherwise.  Only a couple colds, no vomiting, and maybe only one fever I can even remember.  Ahh, those were the days!

Once Benjamin turned one, it seemed like his immune system decided to turn off for a bit.  We had the multi-virus incident in March that involved throwing up, very high fevers, and lots of other unpleasantness, and then just a few short months later, another virus (or two) attacked the poor guy.  This last one seemed to linger around for awhile, making sure BWL was too sad to eat, sleep, play, or do just about anything.  Our sweet little man was all of a sudden a sad, cranky, skinny, ghost of himself.  The doctor said it was a virus (or two), but something about the long duration of things had me constantly worried.  We spent long nights waking up to a vomiting child (wow, that is a sad sight!), changing crib sheets, washing stuffed animals, consoling an inconsolable child, etc.  For about 6 weeks total (yes, 6 weeks!), we had a replacement Benjamin - a little boy who only wanted his mom at all times, had no interest in eating - not even in the slightest!, wanted nothing to do with other kids, cried at every little thing imaginable, and couldn't sleep for more than a few hours at a time through the night.  He was a sad sad sight to behold. 

At any rate, after six long weeks of tears and yucky yucky diapers (and crib sheets), we're finally on the mend.  Food is finally being consumed once again, and we're finally able to spend more time in regular clothes than in pajamas!  We're still feeling some long-term side effects from this doozy of a virus, however, and they have not been fun.  All of a sudden BWL has become a lot more clingy, wants his pacifier at random times (we had been down to only crib-time for about 4-5 months), is much more moody in generally (we like to call it "being sensitive"), and still eats like a bird (though we're thankful he's eating at all!).  Mom and dad feel like they were put through the ringer last month, but sunny days are ahead of us.  And we are SOOOOOOO grateful for that!

 

is this how you take my temperature?

All PJs, all the time