Bebo 16-18 months

Well, Bennett has reached the year and a half marker and has gained yet another nickname. I'm not sure this kid even knows his real name is Bennett...

Here's Beebs (credit for this nickname goes, once again, to Lincoln)!

Let's see...what has B been up to lately? Well, he has some new words...actually, quite a few. My best attempt to list them: mama, dada, weh weh (wembley), ah duh (all done), muh (more), dehyeh (there it is), uh uh (no), uh (yes), nana (banana), wahwah (water), bah (ball), buh (book), boo (boot), ooo (shoe), woofwoof, waaama waaama (llama llama), dih (this), hi, hi mama (2 word utterance!), hi dada (another one!), dah (dog), moo, buh (bird), kak kak (quack), ooo ahah (monkey sound), ah (off), kuh (corn), koh (cold), pah (pop), and he signs caterpillar the exact same way Lincoln used to (I need to get it on video!). There are maybe more that I am forgetting...

Knows the following body parts, on himself or others: hair, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, legs, feet, fingers, toes, booty.

Loves taking his pants off. He also knows how to take his diaper off, so we do have to keep an eye on that...

Last week, right after bath, he ran into Lincoln's closet, got out the potty chair, sat on it, and actually peed. Totally random, but we'll take it! Not that I have any intention of potty training an 18 month old. That's just asking for a trip to the insane asylum.

We've been working on cutting down the nursing. Bennett was getting a bit obsessed with having to nurse every time I sat down, which obviously didn't fly with me. He has been night weaned since he had his overnight hospital stay (he was so sick he didn't even try to nurse, so it was an easy time to do that), and as of this week, is down to nursing only 3-4 times a day. Lucas puts him to bed at night, so really he just nurses in the morning, before nap, and sometime in the afternoon. Before bed is kind of hit and miss. He sometimes refuses then, so I certainly don't force it...

I think in part to cutting back on the nursing, Bebo has really increased the amount of food he is eating per meal. He has the least amount of intake at breakfast (as in, maybe a bite or two), but eats a good size lunch and dinner. Did you know that is typical for toddlers? They usually have one (or 2) meals that they will just pick at and the other meal(s) eat a regular amount. I've been meaning to do a post about typical toddler feeding patterns since I attended the Food Chaining conference, but keep forgetting. Favorite foods of the moment: edamame, pizza, cheese, chocolate chips, bananas, strawberries, apples, cooked carrots, crackers and peanut butter (he just licks the peanut butter off, though), raisins, grapes, pasta, chicken enchiladas, beans and rice, honey.

We took a trip up to Breckenridge for Oktoberfest. Mr. B had just gotten over a cold, and I think must have had some residual fluid in his ears, because he was MISERABLE on the drive (which took us to 11,000 feet above sea level). He cried, held his ears and head, and was all around a sad baby. He did fine once we actually arrived in Breckenridge and started walking around. Maybe the pressure in the car was too much when combined with the change in altitude? Who knows. He was so sad :(

 On the gondola in Breckenridge. Bennett appears to be terrified in this picture.

There's Mr. B helping himself to the rest of my birthday cake in the refrigerator, crazy hair and all.

Lincoln and Beebs have started playing together more, which is awesome. I think it is so hilarious to watch them play. An example:
Lincoln: "Beebs, do you want to play trash truck and recycling center in the basement?"
Beebs: "uh"
Lincoln: "Ok. Let's go do it."
Beebs: "uh." (B then goes and pick up something up a truck and plays for about a minute)
Lincoln: "Ok, Beebs! Dump it here!"
Beebs: (dumps it in a totally different spot)
Lincoln: "NOT LIKE THAT, BEEBS! MAMA, BEEBS IS NOT DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY."

We have been spending as much time outside as we can. The weather has been amazing, and both kids ask to go out constantly. A few nights ago, we were on a walk in our neighborhood and discovered a park that we had never seen before--about half a mile from our house. All this time! A park within walking distance! And we'd been wasting it! Anyway, while we were exploring it, we saw these 2 deer in someone's backyard. They jumped the fence and wandered down near the sidewalk. The boys probably could have gotten close enough to touch them...they were not scared of people at all. Lincoln grabbed Bennett's hand to keep him from running up to the deer. And then I melted into a puddle.

Bennett experienced his first snow in Colorado! It came early (October!), but luckily I had picked up winter jackets a few days before at a consignment shop. Bebo LOVED the snow...he cried and cried when we came inside. Of course, the only fitting consolation prize was hot chocolate...with marshmallows.

It warmed back up about 5 days later, so we are back to daily plasma car/scooter rides, mowing the grass, drawing with chalk, and running into the street because it is hilarious (we have a strong difference of opinion, there). Also, Lincoln looks about 8 years old in this picture.

6 months until I have a 2 year old (again)!

13-16 months of Bebo

Despite my best efforts (and lack of blogging), Bennett is continuing to get bigger and more toddler, less baby. Sigh. I started this post when he was 13 months and just this week he hit the 16 month milestone. This post is gonna take awhile...

Words:
mama, dada, weh weh (wembley), neh neh (lincoln), nana (banana), guh (go...especially likes to do ready, set, go!), yeh (yes), da (dog), ah duh (all done), ca (cat), wega (wagon), ehwuh (hello), hi, ka (quack) (at 13 months)
add to that: dihdih (lincoln), dee dee dee go! (1, 2, 3, go!), booo (book), boo!, joo joo (choo choo), boo (moo) (16 months)

signs: all done, more, bye, please, dog, fish, airplane (points finger up to the sky and waves it around), snake (at 13 months)
add to those: sorry (unfortunately, he has to use this a lot. lincoln is the poor recipient of much hair pulling and hits to the head), ball, thank you (16 months)

Points to: nose, eyes, hair, toes, sometimes belly (at 13 months)
add to those: ears, teeth, mouth (16 months)

shakes his head yes and no to answer questions (although, still mixes them up sometimes) :)

Sad as I am to admit it, he is a hitter. And a biter. :( Lincoln never was, so I am having to adjust to this...Most of the time, Lincoln is the unfortunate recipient of these attacks, but I have been bitten, too (though he was laughing, so he either thought he was being funny or I have bigger things to worry about...)

(Blurry, but so cute. He wanted to carry his glo-worm around.)

He had a run in with a terrible ear infection following our flight up to Omaha. Had 2 rounds of antibiotics (including one via shot), was pretty much miserable the entire trip, and had to endure allergy meds on top of the antibiotics (this kid HATES medicine).

His eczema and allergies started flaring up recently, so we put him back on the allergy med prescribed while we were in Omaha (Zyrtec). He was on it off and on for a few weeks. During this time, he was in a constant angry state...hitting, throwing tantrums, crying....and making this awful angry face with pursed lips while he breathed really fast through his nose. We attributed it to just feeling bad because of the allergies. When we got to Colorado (I'll save the move for another post), the anger just didn't get any better. Finally, I did some research and found that Zyrtec can have behavioral side effects. We weren't convinced that what we were seeing, but we pulled him off the Zyrtec that day. 4 days later, we have a different kid on our hands! He is happy, sweet, laughing again, back to his usual self. Conclusion: Zyrtec makes Bennett angry and mean. No more Zyrtec.

We call Bennett "Bebo" about 90% of the time around here. About a week ago, Lincoln informed us that we need to call Bennett "Bebowie" instead. So, now we throw that around every once in awhile, too. "Mr. B" still makes an appearance every so often.

Bebo LOVES water. He is not afraid at all, and fights to get away from us in the pool. He will stick his whole face in the water, blow bubbles, and try to swim. This is both exciting and terrifying, as I think he would just dive in if he could run away from us fast enough...

Our new house has 3 stair cases. Bennett thinks he can walk down them--he is wrong about that. He is pretty fast at sliding down on his belly, but that is apparently not the "cool" way to do stairs. He much prefers to stand up and walk down, giving me a heart attack as he tumbles down the last few stairs. You would think after the 6th or 7th time, the falling would deter him, but no....

He loves to get messy. He throws dirt (at his brother, the ground, the fence, the house, on his head...), pours water and sand on his head, eats sand and dirt, loves to play with the hose and make mud, throws rocks, eats leaves, and anything else that allows him to be outdoors and get messy. He is going to love Colorado!

Bennett sweats--a lot. We will get in the car and after like 2 minutes, I will turn around and see sweat dripping off him. The sweat makes his head itch, so he constantly has scratch marks from itching his head. He is just a hot kid.

Bebo thinks Wembley is his best friend. He follows him around and pulls his fur and his tail, which obviously is how you should treat your best friend (ha!). Wembley seems to be mildly afraid of Bennett. We are working on petting him gently, and especially not poking him in the eye.

We have determined that Bennett and Lincoln are super sensitive to detergents and soaps. While Lucas was out of town, I tried a new bath soap with the boys (Johnson and Johnson's Natural Head-to-Toe Baby Wash). Within minutes of getting out of the bath, Lincoln was covered in hives. I got Bennett dressed first so I could put lotion on Lincoln, and didn't notice that Bennett had broken out, too, until the middle of the night when he kept clawing at his chest :( Back to the Burt's Bees. We have also tried almost every Free and Clear detergent in the stores, as well as various natural detergents meant for cloth diapers, and every.single.one makes Lincoln break out in eczema-- EXCEPT for Rockin' Green. I am done experimenting now. We are sticking with Rockin' Green. Since we moved, we had to get rid of all our soaps, cleaning products, detergents, etc. (they don't move those on a moving truck, and we had NO extra room in our car!), so I am determined to keep our house as fragrance and dye free as possible!

(Thanks a lot, "all natural" soap)

Foods: eats most things. LOVES watermelon, grapes, noodles, broccoli, pizza, popsicles, and chicken. Still nurses and won't touch cow's milk (or really any other liquid other than water). Also loves to feed his dinner to Wembley, so we sometimes have to make Wembley wait outside until we finish eating. Says "mmmmm" while eating a lot :)

(Who stole the cereal from the cereal box? Mr. B, that's who.)

Teeth: Has 4 on top, 2.5 on the bottom. He is starting to get the back molars on the bottom, which I think is weird since he only has the middle two besides those. But, teeth are teeth, and new teeth make Bennett miserable.

Starts the night in our bed by himself (used to have an area on the floor that we set up for him, but our new bedroom isn't big enough), then we join him when we are ready to sleep. The plan is to move him into Lincoln's room, once we figure out how to fit a second bed in there...

He can run (fast!) and jump. He is also SUPER mischievous. He will look at us, smile, then run full speed into the street. He will also do that in grocery stores (forget about keeping him in a cart! that should be a game on some game show...try to keep Bennett in a grocery cart for longer than 5 minutes. And, go!). He also isn't big on riding in the car anymore. He does better facing forward (trialed him in Lincoln's seat), but I really want to keep him rear facing until at least 2. However, since we currently drive and pick-up Lucas from work since we are down to one car, I have to weigh that against 2 hours of screaming every day (30 minute commute x 4 per day). Maybe it will get better...

 

(Bennett was totally the instigator in both of these pictures. Lincoln followed him up there both times because he thought it was funny. And no, there is not medicine in that syringe (it was water from an art project), but yes, they are drawing with markers on the art table. It IS an art table, right?)

He also drew on his stomach and face. Of course.

There is so much more, but this is already a novel.

Happy 16 months, Bebo!

Mr. B is ONE!

I realized tonight that I never wrote Mr. B's one year blog post. I mean, I wrote it in my head, but I never wrote it here. Along with about 50 other posts. Maybe someday I will just block out an entire day to blog. The kids can just have full reign over the house and I will sit at the computer and yell out "Be careful!" and "Don't climb on that!" and "That's enough whining!" every so often to pretend I am still in charge.

Ha.

Anyway, I am now the parent of two children who are no longer babies. (Although, they probably don't know that since I call them "baby" about, oh, a billion times each day...).  This makes me sad. And happy! And wistful. And proud! And a whole bunch of other emotions that leave me crying and rejoicing at alternate intervals.

For now, let's focus on the happy! Because, seriously. Look at this guy.

AAAAAAAAAdorable. Obviously, he loves beans. He also loves: noodles, cheese, strawberries, grapes, bread, applesauce, avocados, and red peppers. He has cut back on his bananas and cherrios intake (he's actually been refusing them...). He eats most things we put in front of him, though. He did go through about a week where he wasn't eating much of anything, but I think we are chalking it up to a bit of a sore throat/teething. Anyway, he ate enough noodles today at lunch that I think we can call him over that dry eating spell...

Drinking! He is still nursing, but we do offer him water at meals (and when we play outside...it is HOT already!). He drinks from a straw cup--he does great until he decides to start spitting it out. Then it is like a fountain flowing from his mouth, all over his clothes. He thinks it's funny. Me, not so much.

Mr. B is quite the little sneakster. He hops onto the back of the plasma car while Lincoln is riding around, hoping for a free ride. Lincoln usually reacts by screaming/crying that Bennett is bothering him, but here is a rare glimpse of him actually taking B on a lap around the house. I think it is hilarious, and sometimes I plop Bennett on there hoping Lincoln will laugh. He usually doesn't--he takes plasma car riding very seriously. Boo.

Bennett participated in his first Easter Egg hunt this year! Here is what he did with most of the eggs. Mmmm, delicious plastic.

With Daddy on Easter. Awwwwww!

And now, the Birthday Pics!

Birthday balloons! We actually took Bennett and Lincoln and met a few friends at the strawberry patch the week before for a small birthday party...but we forgot our camera. These pictures are on B's actual birthday with our family at home.

 The birthday feast: mac and cheese and strawberries. You get your favorite foods on your birthday. It's a rule.

 Reaching for the flame.

 For me??

 In it goes! He ate the whole thing. It was amazing. I actually thought they were pretty gross (they were chocolate zucchini muffins that I think went horribly wrong...), but Lincoln and Bennett both devoured theirs.

Happy Boy! 

Also of note this month:

Full time walking.

Can go up stairs like a pro, downstairs is still a little tricky, but coming along.

Sleeping....eh. Nothing new to report.

Words: mama, dada, nana (banana), dah (dog), waga (wagon), no (plus a head shake), lots of growling and grunting (which Lincoln has taken up, too. that's pretty fun.), bah (ball), bobo (Lucas has heard this, I haven't yet), buh (bye, plus a wave), ahdah (imitation only for all done).

He loves to run into the street. Thinks it is hilarious every. single. time. 

If we tell him "NO", he thinks that means we want him to do it again. We need to come up with a new way of telling him to stop doing something....he is sooooo mischievous!

Loves books--I Wrote to the Zoo is a current favorite. Anything with flaps is also great.

He also loves to dance! He will dance to music on the radio, to us singing, to the sound of a drum...anything making a beat is fair game :)

Happy Birthday, Mr. B!!!

11 months. 11 MONTHS!

Mr. B.

B.

Bebo.

B to the Bizzo

Bennett.

 (Lincoln is such a good helper...here he is trying to find whatever piece of dirt/mud/lint that Bennett has eaten. Repeat every 10 minutes.)

This has been an exciting month for Bennett! He has joined the ranks of the walkers around here...and he is getting fast.

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit. Most of their time was occupied with "Tornado Rex" (seen above), but Bennett had his share of Grandparent's fun, too.

No spring in Texas is complete without Bluebonnet pictures. Bennett, of course, missed out last year by not being born yet (the nerve!), so this is his inaugural Bluebonnet experience. He thought it was delightful to pick them and subsequently, eat them.

 Brothers in the field.

 Grandparents, too!

Bennett is quite the eater these days. As you can see, he feeds himself. Some favorites: beans, noodles, raspberries, strawberries, chicken, smoothies, grapes, jelly sandwiches, cheese, olives, and cherrios.

He has also been drinking water from his own cup (and actually swallowing some of it, so that's a bonus...).

He says a few words:
Mama, Dada, Ba (ball), Duh (duck), Dah (dog).
He has imitated a few others:
ahduh (all done), gah (bye?), ***(something unintelligible that was clearly meant to be grandma and grandpa)
Signs:
dog, all done, more, wave bye

He also shakes his head for no and will point to things.

He loves to play "Where'd Bennett go?" When we say it, he covers his face with his hands until we say "There he is!" and he peeks out. So much fun! He also initiates the game by covering his face with his shirt or a cloth when changing his diaper. Awesome.

B also loves to poke people in the face, tackle Lincoln, make sounds with his tongue, and be outside (all the time!). And make jokes:





His favorite toys are balls (he can already throw it a good distance!), a book about babies, the plasma car, and shoes (he likes to try and put them on our feet, or his own).

He likes to get in and out of things (boxes, the bathtub) over and over again...and he also likes to put items into boxes or cups or bowls and then take them out (over and over again). Speaking of bathtubs...Bennett has always loved to take a bath, but he is now currently in a phase of hating a bath. Lincoln went through something similar and it only lasted a few weeks. Strange.

11 months old. Wow, that went fast!

(Mr. B will be ONE in 2.5 weeks. Writing it down apparently does NOT make it more real...)

10! (fingers, toes, and months)

Why yes, Bennett is in fact only 10 months old.

Funny story.

I was out on a walk today with both boys in our super amazing double seater wagon. We were walking a looped path and passed another mama walking her baby a couple times. The third time, she stopped her stroller and paused. We said hello, and then she said..."Are they twins?"

Yes. I was the only other person standing there (I double checked).

TWINS?

After stifling the urge to laugh until I cried, I managed to answer her. "Nope! hahaha! This one is THREE, and this one is 10 months. Hahaha! Definitely not twins!" 

She looked at me, shocked, and said, "Wow! Only 10 months! He is sooooo big!"

I then learned her baby was only a month old, so I could understand why she thought Bennett looked big...but to think he was Lincoln's twin still blows my mind. 

Look at this guy! That's a baby if I've ever seen one!

Mr. B (or B, more often these days) has been quite vocal lately. He very clearly uses the words "mama," "dada," "hi," and "nana (banana)." He constantly makes sounds with his tongue, growls, or yells. He will imitate us (including Lincoln) with vowel sounds, especially "ah!" He has also tried to imitate "dog" and "ball." Lincoln looooooooves trying to get Bennett to talk or sign. He is constantly telling us to "Tell Bennett say mooooore! Tell Bennett say NANA!" Awesome.

Bennett will also sometimes imitate the signs for dog, more, and all done.

Lucas started a new job last week which is no longer onsite at NASA. We went as a family for one last tour before he turned in his badge. Here is our tiny family next to the giant shuttle mockup (FFT-full fuselage trainer). This mockup is headed for the Museum of Flight in Seattle in June, so I'm glad we got to see it before it left.

Bennett loves to be outside. If he hears a door open, he will take off crawling so fast that he ends up crawling sideways. Pretty hilarious. But, should that door close before he makes it there, a full on meltdown will follow. I have learned to be stealth with doors around here unless I know we are all going outside.

 This is the face he makes when he is headed towards an open door.

 I made it. YES. Time to do my favorite thing EVER....

Eat mulch! Or acorns! Or mud. Or grass. It's all delicious to Mr. B.

There have been a few other foods Mr. B has been dining on lately--yogurt, smoothies, meatballs, whole wheat bread, jelly sandwiches, strawberries (LOVES them), noodles with ghee, peas, cottage cheese (eh, not a big fan), and feta cheese (in addition to our already established menu).

Bennett has been big time into tackling or otherwise beating up on his big brother. One of my favorite recent Lincoln quotes was after Bennett jumped onto his back, "MAMA! He's twying to take my skeleton apart!" Oh, brothers. So much fun!! Also, please do note the amazing president's day t-shirts they are sporting. Lincoln really didn't want to wear his, but you know what? Mama made it, so you are wearing it, because I said so.

 This is an unsolicited hug/face smooshing.

Bennett is so close to being a walker. He has taken up to 5 steps at a time. We think he is just so confident with his crawling (he's been crawling for 6 months already! Isn't that insane??), that he isn't willing to foray fully into walking.

Sleep. No comment.

Happy 10 months, Mr. B! Love you!