the little negotiator

This morning while the boys were eating breakfast, I was fixing a snack for Daniel to take to camp (his preschool has a summer camp they can attend every morning for a week at a time, so he went a few weeks ago and is going again this week). I asked him if he wanted Goldfish crackers. He said, "no, I want muffin." Then he paused and said, "I want muffin AND Goldfish." I told him he could have one or the other. And he replied, "I want HALF a muffin and some Goldfish."

How could I refuse?

happy (belated) birthday, ben!

Poor Ben... his first birthday (which fell on Mother's Day) was overshadowed by a stomach virus that started with Daniel earlier that week and was shared throughout the family. Ben was barely well enough to eat a birthday cupcake, I was not well enough at all, and we hardly have any photos. Thankfully he's too young to have been bothered by the haphazard nature of the festivities. In fact, if it hadn't been for Alyssa, he wouldn't have had cake at all that day.

Also as a result, I also didn't finish his birthday slideshow on time, and once I was already late with finishing it, I lacked the motivation of a deadline. Poor second child! I finally told myself I would get it done by the end of May... and I did! I just didn't get it posted until today. So anyway, without further ado, here's a retrospective of Ben's first year. Enjoy!

Ben - One Year from jennifer on Vimeo.

baby yoga

There's nothing like a little early-morning yoga in your pajamas.

He's getting pretty good at downward-facing dog, don't you think?

Or maybe he's just trying to look at the world from a different perspective.

adventures in egg dyeing

This year marked the first time we attempted to dye Easter eggs with Daniel.  We were nervous... enough so that we all changed into old clothes before we got started.  But surprisingly, it went quite well!

He was SO excited to get going that many of the eggs got tossed (not too softly) into the cups.  There were a few cracks, but nothing disastrous. 

Benjamin observed from the safe vantage point of his highchair (with the ever-present Cheerios to keep him occupied).  Maybe next year he can help too.

Daniel was fascinated by the process of dyeing an egg two different colors.

When Ben got tired of watching, he was rescued by Papa who gave him a balloon to play with! 

Of course, fingers were dyed too. 

The finished products! 

egg hunt fun

The church near our house has an annual Easter EGG-stravaganza at the local park.  We went last year and had lots of fun, so of course we had to go back this year and bring Papa, Grandma, and Lala with us!  (Thanks to Rita for all the pictures!!)

Daniel got into the egg-hunting this year.  Last year he was a little young, but he definitely knew what to do this time.  Although he kept getting so focused on a particular egg that he'd run by other ones on the way...

Benjamin joined in on the fun too.  He was thrilled with this orange egg with the racing stripes.  Until he spotted another one hiding in the tree... (okay, he may have had a little help for that one). 

Who needs candy?  The eggs are pretty good by themselves!

Checking out the loot!

Ben got to meet the Easter Bunny, and he was rather taken with the bunny's furry cheeks.  We spared Daniel the trauma of an encounter - as you may remember, he's not so much a fan of large costumed creatures.

Daniel got to hold and pet a REAL bunny, which was much more fun. 

In addition to all that, there were also games!  Daniel had so much fun digging for dinosaur eggs and choosing lollipops.  We're happy to make this egg hunt an annual tradition!

big boy

This weekend we installed Benjamin's "big boy" carseat - something we probably could have done a few months ago.  However, the convenience of the infant seat won out, especially while it was still cold out and he could stay bundled and cozy in the carrier.  But with the weather warming up, there was really no excuse left for letting him be a baby any longer! 

He seems to like his new setup - he can see out the window better, and I think he can also see Daniel better.  Benjamin is rear-facing and Daniel faces forward, so they can actually look at each other pretty well.  They crack each other up in the car on a regular basis, and it always makes me smile when I hear them laughing back there.  I have no idea what's so funny, but I have a feeling that it's only the first of many jokes that the two of them will share that I'm not privy to!

This takes me back to when we installed Daniel's new carseat two years ago - hard to believe it's been that long!

helpful

This is what happens when your two-year-old decides the cat is hungry.

Note Licorice in the back, gobbling up all he can before I start cleaning it up.

nine months

My baby is nine months old.  Well, actually almost 10 months, now!  It's so amazing how in these nine months, he's gone from being a tiny helpless newborn to the little person he is now. 

At nine months, Benjamin...

... weighs 20 lbs, 8 oz (50th percentile) and is 29 3/4 inches long (90th percentile), prompting the doctor to call him "long and lean" although you wouldn't know it from his chubby cheeks and thighs.

... gets around mostly by army crawl, although he's starting to do a "normal" crawl occasionally, too.

... can pull up to standing, and is starting to cruise.

... goes anywhere he wants - there is no obstacle he can't climb over (or so he thinks).
... has done numerous face-plants into the floor (one involving a bloody lip) due to his desire to climb over everything.
... loves Cheerios more than anything, and gets excited when he sees that yellow box.  He actually has an affinity for all bread products (wonder where he gets that... Mike) and refuses to feed himself most other finger food.
... looks up to his big brother, and wants to do everything he does.
... has a bear blankie that he likes to snuggle with at bedtime.
... sometimes whistles because he purses his lips when he's concentrating.
... has four teeth, two on top and two on the bottom.
... turns every diaper change into a wrestling match.
... never stops moving.
... has crazy hair that is now slightly less crazy since he recently had his first haircut.
... has gorgeous blue eyes with long lashes.
... has an adorable scrunched-nose smile that melts my heart on a daily basis.

two and a half

My "big boy" turned two and a half this past week... or "two un-half" if you're using his preferred pronunciation.  I was going to try to make this a coherent post with actual paragraph structure and everything, but I guess my mind is having a hard time wrapping itself around the fact that he's now closer to three than to two.  Plus, I haven't blogged in a really long time (I know, I know).  So it'll be a little more of a stream of consciousness.

At two and a half, Daniel...

... will tell you every chance he gets that he is a "big boy".

... frequently utters the phrase "my do it myself!" 

... hasn't fully grasped the proper usage of pronouns (see previous).

... loves to do puzzles and is very good at them.

... has a bedtime routine consisting of reading two books and having a "big talk" with Dad.

... refuses to let us tuck him into bed, because he has to close his door himself.

... has a good time playing with his friends at school twice a week.

... loves to play any kind of ball, including his own invention, "hall ball".

... is a great big brother to Baby Ben.

... is better than anyone at making Ben laugh.

... is so much more verbal than he was a few months ago - it's so fun seeing how his mind works.

... would probably watch Thomas the Train all day if we let him.  Curious George is a close second.

... loves to build with blocks and legos.

... enjoys chatting with his grandparents via webcam.

... can count to six, but often transposes three and four.

... is learning his letters, with his favorites being D for Daniel, and B for Ben.

... gives amazing bear hugs.

... is loved a whole lot.

Happy two-and-a-half, Daniel!

trick or treat!

Daniel's first trick-or-treating experience was a success! It was a rainy Halloween, but my little turtle couldn't wait to get out there and get some CANDY!  Daddy braved the rain to take him to a few houses down our street. 

Benjamin and I stayed home to greet the trick-or-treaters and to chew on a hammer (Benjamin) and eat too many Butterfingers (me).

Benjamin did get dressed up too, though - here are my bat and my turtle!

Daniel also had a dragon costume, which was very cute and fit him better than the slightly-too-small turtle, but he would have none of it.  We really tried to get him to put the dragon outfit on, even just for a picture, but he threw a tamtrum of epic proportions, crying "MY NO WEAR DAT!" so we gave up.  He's got a little bit of an obsession with turtles. 

Daniel was pretty excited to dig into his stash of candy, so he topped the evening off with a grape Tootsie Pop, or as he prefers to call it, a Lala-pop.

Happy Halloween!

pumpkin carving

This was Daniel's first year to help with pumpkin carving, and boy did he have a good time!  After only slight hesitation, he dug his hands in to help clean out the pumpkins that we had picked out.

Pumpkin goop is fun! 

Unfortunately, Benjamin was not really able to participate in the carving, but he observed from the sidelines. I think he approves!  (Actually, he just thinks anything Daniel does is hilarious.)  I just love this smile!

Messy hands...

Helping Daddy poke the eyes out.

Have I mentioned that Benjamin is teething?  In fact, his first tooth (bottom left) popped through earlier this week!  I'm trying to get a picture of it, but that's easier said than done. It's just barely through the gums, so it's still pretty hard to see.  I'm pretty sure tooth #2 is on the way though, if his constant chewing on anything that comes close to his mouth is any indication. He liked this position for observing the pumpkin carving from his highchair.

Daniel wanted to pose with his handiwork.

The final products, ready and waiting for trick-or-treaters to come tomorrow!

our annual trip to the farm

Two years in a row officially makes it an annual trip! Once again, we visited Cagle's Dairy this year. (To see last year's trip, click here.)

Once again, we did the dairy tour - I wish we had a picture like this one from last year so we could compare, but as you can see Daniel is almost 3 feet tall!

Daniel had so much fun feeding the calves!  They weren't too hungry (I think they get fed quite a bit...) but they were adorable nonetheless.

We managed to get a little family picture thanks to our friendly hayride tour guide!

Something must have been awfully interesting to capture Mike and Benjamin's attention!  Ben had a good time hanging out with Dad for the first half of the day, and Mom for the second half!

Next we got to feed the goats. Unlike the cows, they were more than willing to take food from us!  Daniel got really good at keeping his hand open so they could eat.

A feature of the farm that we didn't try out last year was their jumping pillow.  It's kind of like a big trampoline anchored into the ground.  Daniel has recently learned to jump and actually get his feet off the ground (which is harder than you might think). He was hesitant of the jumping pillow at first, but soon thought it was the most fun he'd ever had!  We finally had to drag him away.  Oh, and this was the little kids' jumping pillow - there was a much larger one for older kids and adults. 

Luckily we did have a way to lure Daniel away from the jumping pillow - a giant hay-bale spider! (Poor tired Benjamin had passed out by this point.)

No, the real lure was PUMPKINS! 

Now the question: what is the easiest way to pick up the pumpkin? (I think the stem eventually won.)

So many pumpkins, so little time...

turtle taw

A conversation a few weeks ago between me, Daniel, and Alyssa, while playing in Daniel's room just before lunchtime.

Jen: Daniel, what do you want for lunch?
Daniel: Turtle.
Jen: Turtle? Hmmm, I'm pretty sure we're fresh out of turtle today.
Alyssa: I really don't think we have any turtle! What else do you want?
Daniel: Turtle taw!

He was pretty insistent, so we headed downstairs to the kitchen. I was hoping I would be able to find him a suitable subsitute for the "turtle" he was craving. But he dragged me to the pantry and pointed at an upper shelf, insisting, "turtle taw!" Finally I lifted him up so he could show me what he wanted. Turns out "turtle taw" is Daniel-speak for "apple sauce".

I pulled out the video camera while he was eating lunch that day so he could tell us about the "turtle taw".



As we have since discovered, "turtle" has a lot of meanings to Daniel, among them apple, potato, and play-dough, as well as other green animals like frogs and lizards. I love trying to figure out how his mind works! It's also amazing just how far his language skills have come since we took this video.

lala

We are very lucky to have my lovely sister, Alyssa, living with us for awhile. Since Daniel refused to say "Aunt Lissy" or any other similar variation (he can be pretty stubborn), we went looking for alternate nicknames. Since he obviously says "Mama" and "Dada" with no problem, we decide to give "Lala" a try. He took to it immediately, so forevermore Aunt Alyssa shall be known as Lala to her nephews.

Daniel positively LOVES his Lala, to the point where I almost can't do anything for him when Lala is around because he wants Lala to do it. Now, this can be really great for me when it's diaper-changing time, however I don't think Alyssa would agree (love you sis!). She'd probably rather stick to reading books, building with blocks, and coloring. But Daniel can be awfully persuasive!
Benjamin's kind of fond of Lala too! Aren't they cute?

first food

Benjamin recently took his first foray into the world of "solid" foods. First up on the menu: oatmeal! (What? Oatmeal instead of rice cereal? I know, we're rebels.)

Doesn't he look tiny in the big highchair?

"I'm not sure what's going on here. Should I open my mouth?"

"What is this slop you're feeding me?"

"Okay, well, maybe it's pretty good after all. Give me more!"

"You're too slow! I'll just have to feed myself!"