Bennett-3 months and counting

I have been operating under the impression that Bennett would be 3 months tomorrow, but it turns out he actually hit the big 0-3 today.  Long story short, I need a calendar.  Do they still sell them this late in the year?

In the past month Bennett has:

• Rolled over--front to back and back to front.  Today he actually attempted to log-roll himself towards Lincoln's dump truck.  He made 3 full rolls before getting caught up in the lambswool rug.  Pretty impressive.
• Grabs ahold of items and aims them towards his mouths--favorites include burp cloths, hair, a stuffed cat, and linking rings.
• Similar to the above, he has also discovered his hands and feet and attempts to eat them both.

• Grown.  We call him "The Chubbers."  This attempt at a family picture nicely features his double (sometimes triple) chin.  Being that big, one might be inclined to believe he is attached to mama eating all day long.  Surprisingly (even to me!), this is not the case.  Bennett is an "all-business" nurser.  He'll eat when he is hungry, finish in about 5-6 minutes, and that's that.  He WILL NOT nurse for comfort.  If he is fussy or accidentally gets bopped on the head with a ball (not that that ever happens....ahem), my first instinct is to nurse him.  This usually results in a blood curdling scream and a violent arm flailing.  I have really had to adjust my comforting techniques this time around because Lincoln was all about the comfort nursing.  Until this week, I could count on one hand the number of times I had nursed Bennett to sleep.  He nearly always nurses, then pulls off awake, after which I walk him in the mei tai until he is sleepy.  Half the time Lucas puts him to bed by playing guitar.  He's even been known to fall asleep just laying next to us with his thumb or pacifier in his mouth.  All this is so foreign to me, that I quite often search online to make sure it is normal...(it is...but I'll probably still keep checking...)

• Bennett LOVES Lincoln.  He just grins every time he hears Lincoln's voice or sees his face.  Lincoln really likes to pat Bennett on the head and say in this really high, squeaky voice (which I can only imagine is his impression of my voice...sigh) "hi beddett!  you happy beddett? need a toy, beddett?" He also thinks is is fun to hold or carry Bennett "by himself." Lucas or I always hold on, too, but Lincoln somehow thinks he is doing it all alone.  :)

• Bennett had some visitors this month.  My mom came down for a couple weeks at the end of June. Unrelated to Bennett, but Lincoln called her "Buddy" almost the entire time she was here.  The minute he opened his eyes in the morning, we heard "where'd anoder buddy go? let's go play toys, buddy!" 

• Aunt Breanne came to visit, too.  She, too, was called "Buddy" during the duration of her stay. (Lincoln looks less than pleased in this picture, but it was the best one of all 3 of them looking at the camera...).

• Bennett and Lincoln both got to visit Mission Control at NASA during the final shuttle (Atlantis) mission.  This picture is in front of the International Space Station flight control room.  The shuttle flight control room looks the same, but our picture didn't turn out.  

• Bennett can propel himself about 3 feet by pushing himself off his toes and "launching" forward. He has also turned himself in a complete circle using this same technique.

• Someone opened the drool floodgates.  He is either teething or trying to help provide water during the drought here....

• This kid babbles constantly.  Soooo cute.

• Sleep:  mostly good.  At night, anyway.  It is rare that we don't get a 4 or 5 hour stretch once we put him down at 8(ish).  He wakes then to nurse, then goes back down for another 3-4 hours, nurses again, then sleeps until morning.  Every once in awhile (like last night, yawn), Bennett wakes up after nursing instead of falling back to sleep.  As in, wakes up.  Wide-eyed, cooing, laughing, smiling, how-can-you-possibly-ignore-me-i'm-so-cute wakes up.  Last night he did this from 12:30-1:30, and again from 4:45-6:15.  I usually just lay him on the bed next to me and let him kick and punch until I am so tired I can't take it any more and wake Lucas up (who is somehow able to sleep through Bennett waking up, nursing, throwing a party, and punching him in the back).  One of us will wear him in the mei tai until he dozes back off.

Happy 3 months, Chubbers!