Dress Up

It seems Bennett keeps getting "dressed up" - with girls accessories!

Auntie Kristen had fun with him one day in these first two pictures.

The hat & bib in this picture are from my friend Karen's baby.

Big Boy Bed

Well we have Bennett's Big Boy Bed in his room. He sleeps in it well but the problem is getting him to actually go to sleep in it. Nap times don't seem to be as hard as night time. We've given up several nights and finally just put him in his crib to go to sleep but then move him to his new bed once he's sleeping. The only problem with this is that he can get out of bed in the mornings and seems to be waking up around 6:30-7:00 now instead of 8:00. Also it doesn't help that I've "thrown" his Nuk away (we still have 2 of them but I had him watch me throw one of them away in the garbage which he WAS NOT happy about - he hasn't had one for 2 days now). Anyways so this seems to be a slower process than I was hoping for but we've got a few months still before he has to be officially kicked out of the crib.

Here are some pictures of the room. I took these immediately after we set up the bed since it was clean :-)

This is a picture of the tantrum he had when I tossed the Nuk out.

What a Mess

Bennett is a messy boy! I feel like it doesn't even pay for me to pick up the house anymore because he makes two mess's during the time I'm cleaning up his last one. He has a thing for the cupboard with the pots & pans, dumping his blocks and then throwing then around the room, taking all of the books of the bookshelf, dumping out his puzzles and then not putting it back together....I could keep going. The other day though while I was washing dishes, I gave him a small bowl with some popcorn for a snack so he'd get out of my way in the kitchen. Well, a few minutes later I look over and he has the entire bowl dumped out and is proceeding to pick at them on the floor. (and now that I look at the pictures, who knows where the bowl even ended up). Anyways while I vacuumed this up, he of course went to his bedroom (which I also had just cleaned) and yes, dumped out all of the blocks and had them everywhere. I can't wait until I can MAKE HIM help me pick everything up!

Fireworks

We went to the fireworks last night for the 4th. Last year we went and Bennett had no problems (about 7 months old) but I was alittle worried that he'd be more aware of what was going on this year and that the noise might bother him. No problems though - he did great and seemed to like them. But, his attention span isn't very long so after about 10 minutes he had had enough and didn't want to sit anymore. We got there early enough so we had a pretty good spot to see them from which I think helped him sit for as long as his did. I think fireworks are a big waste of money, but then again I think of what the 4th would be like without fireworks and it just doesn't seem American.

Mike keeping him entertained while we waited.

Bennett Updates

It's been awhile since I've done a post on Bennett's newest happenings. I kind of quit doing the month by month thing because there was either just too much or too little to write about or I'll admit it, I just was too tired and didn't feel like doing it there for a few months. He's 17 months now and here are some things that he's been up to. Sleeping - from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.!!! He sleeps through almost every night. And if he does wake up, I'm kind of lucky right now because I send Mike in there to get him back to sleep. If he's crying and I go in his room he wants me to pick him up and rock him which can take forever to get him back to sleep or to stop crying. If Mike however is the one to go in there, he lays down immediately and goes right back to sleep. Also, he is only taking one nap a day in the afternoon from about noon till 2:30 (it's hard to remember back to the days when all he did was sleep!) The boy can't sit still - He is on the go all day long! It's like he is in such a hurry that he can't even walk and he is always running everywhere from room to room. He doesn't sit on laps anymore except to get a book read. And even then it's like I have to read fast otherwise he'll get bored with it. The only time that he is content to just sit is in the mornings. Thank you PBS! I put him in his high-chair, load his tray up with his breakfast and turn on PBS which will keep him busy for an hour in the mornings while I either get ready or lay down if I'm not feeling good in the mornings. Playing - He is pretty good at playing by himself and keeping himself entertained. He has plenty of toys which are age appropriate for him right now. He really really likes puzzles which I think is great! He also likes toys that you have to put the right shape in the right hole. His favorite playtime activity though is wrestling with daddy or the kitty's. Talking - He isn't talking real words really but it is jabbering all the time. He does say Nap, does animal sounds, says his version of Grandma and Laura (which to us sounds the same), and just yesterday he started saying his version of Cake. Stairs - Up and down, up and down. If we let him, he would be going up and down all day at Grandma's house. He did take a little tumble once cause he was distracted. And since then, he goes down the steps on his butt a lot more. Eating - He loves to eat but seems to be getting pickier by the day. He is usually very good at eating his lunch and supper that we have but in the month of June we've had a lot of Graduation Parties and other family gatherings where there isn't his normal food to pick from. At Josh's grad party I got Bennett to eat some green grapes and potato chips - that was the only thing he ate the entire day! Note - I am not a bad mother and did offer him plenty of other food - I'm just not willing to put up a fight or specially make him other food to eat.

Crayons

Bennett has a recent interest of coloring (scribbling). And unfortunately eating the crayons too. He had green teeth!

Josh's Graduation

Josh graduated on Sunday! Here are a couple of pictures we took after the ceremony.