Growing and Changing

On one hand, I feel like I have a ton to say about how Benjamin is doing, on the other, his 10 month birthday is only days away and I am going to use all my good material here. But, its more important than it get recorded than me having a cool 10m post, so here it goes.

It is just incredible how fast he changes! A lot of it is in ways that are hard to describe. More perceptive. More interactive. More interested. More engaged.

He has learned to point. I think really just within the last 24 hours or so. He does it all the time now. Things he wants. Things he wants to know about. Things that are interesting.

He tries to say words. I think he tries to say Kitty. It comes out "gi". He has the Mama and dada sounds down, but we have yet to confirm if he is applying them to us. His auntie K thinks that he was trying to repeat after her when she was saying "thank you" repetitively the other night.

Actually the Thank You game is something else I wanted to note! A week ago (Sunday) we had dinner at my parents and Auntie K was playing with him. She gave him her pink rubber bracelet (like a Livestrong bracelet), and then asked for it back. When he put it back in her open hands, she said "Thank YoU!!" very animatedly and then handed it back to him and said "Thank You" when he took it. They did this for a good 15 minutes, him babbling the whole time. It was pretty cute. Well, since then he wants to hand you EVERYTHING. Toys, bits he finds on the floor, his dinner. You name it, he wants to play the Thank You game with it!

He can stand for a whole 10 "holy craps" (about 10 seconds) now. That is the record at least. He climbs stairs like a pro... but tends to totally throw himself off the top. Tonight he did it once and DH was not paying attention and he really fell and bumped his head. No permanent damage, and maybe that will give him a clue to not do that anymore. He wants to walk pretty badly. We had his little friend over here today who is turning 1 tomorrow, and he was walking all over. Benjamin was trying to imitate big time. Benjamin has also taken to climbing the dog (using her fur to pull up, she is such a good dog!), and trying to tackle the cats. About two nights ago was his first full out tackle attempt on our big gray cat Gandalf. Benjamin totally "wrapped him up" so to speak, hahaha! It was crazy how he just through himself! Benjamin has tried a couple more times without any more success, now that Gandalf knows what is going to happen. Gandalf is also a very good cog (dog-like cat), who puts up with the baby quite well.

We went out to dinner tonight. I realized we have not been in a restaurant since AT LEAST early September... and it might actually have been August. It was a while. Last time we went to a restaurant Benjamin's solids were still somewhat tentative, where as now they are well entrenched. We had a ball at the restaurant tonight!! Benjamin was cheerful and playful. When the food came, he ate well and did not make a mess (ok. Not to much of a mess). He had bits from everyone - burger, bun, bacon, fry, sweet potato fry, celery, peas, carrot, and a pickle. He took awhile to eat, but he did not throw anything really. He dropped the celery om accident, and started to drop some burger pieces at the end (playing) but DH stopped him. And then he signed "all done" which we have been working on, I took him to the bathroom and washed his hands, and he was cheerful while we got ready to leave. It was really great!

Sleep. His sleep has been better. Of the past 10 nights, 7 of them have been good. One of those 7 was great. We have not intentionally changed anything really, except implementing the dual wielding method. We are probably in a lull between teething and growthspurts etc, but I can hope it will stick, can't I? "Dual Wielding" is a video game term when your character is capable of holding two weapons, one in each hand .Well, we have taken to giving Benjamin two pacifiers when we put him to sleep - one in his mouth, one in his hand. He occasionally, sleepily, trades them. It works really well for putting him down. In the past, sometimes when you laid him down already asleep he would fuss, roll over and sit up. If you hand him the second pacifier just when you put him down, he does not fuss, or roll over, or sit up. He stays asleep, or goes back to sleep. It works great for putting him back to sleep when he wakes up. Sometimes he finds the second pacifier on his own, other times he does sit up or fuss, but if you go and give him the second pacifier and lay him back down he goes back to sleep. We have even used it to put him to sleep a couple of times, laying in bed with him and letting him dual wield until he drifts off. I was hoping to wean him off the pacifier at a year, but I am pretty sure it is more important to us to get his sleep habits good first, so I have a feeling that deadline will get pushed out a bit. haha.

Benjamin's day care sent home two paintings he did in the past couple of weeks. We have a plate rail all the way around our dining room, so I bought some cheap frames and stuck them up there. I figure we can trade out art pieces in the frame as he makes more, and save the old ones somewhere else not on display. Anyways, whenever you are holding Benjamin walking through the Dining Room now he sees the paintings and he reaches for them. If you take one down he wants to touch it all over. I think he remembers that he made them/they are his, or maybe things he will be able to paint more. I want to try painting with him at home since he seems to like it so much. I intend to carve pumpkin with him sometime in the next couple of days.... but there are so many things I intend to do and I am running out of time!! Oh dear.

I think that is all. He is just amazing to us, and we love him very much!