Ben - One year!

I am a bit late posting Ben's one year information, but better late than never, right? Ben turned one in January. What a great year it was for all of us! Ben started walking January 7th. He started by taking 7-8 steps on his own. By January 8th, he was up and walking all over. He would stumble and fall on his bottom some, but he would get right back up and walk again. He quickly decided walking was a better way to get around then crawling! He has a cute little gait- it cracks me up watching him cruise around. He gets into everything now- even more so than before because he is faster and makes less noise then he did when he was crawling.

He is such a smart and inquisitive little guy. He will watch what we do, then he mimics it himself. He tries to use a q tip in his ear. He tries to write with a pen. He tries to open doors by stretching to reach the handle. He tries to get things to work- like his daddy- he wants to know how they work too! He investigates all aspects of the electronics. He reaches for things on tables, counters, etc and he can almost reach them. If he can climb up on something, he will. He uses chairs to stand up on a table.

The determined look

Almost there...

Success! Look at that happy face.


He climbs onto the couch, then uses the pillows to get up on the table behind the couch. I am having to find new places to keep valuables like remotes, phones, etc. He knows where things are and when he can't reach them or we move them he gets really frustrated and cries. He tries to drink from a regular cup and usually ends up doused in water and gagging- but he keeps trying. He likes to give me food- he holds his food out and says, "AHHH!" He is smiling when he does it too- so cute!

He also tries to put his shoes and socks on. He has tried using a pencil to write. He likes to make animal noises- meow, moo, woof. He can also howl like a wolf! His favorite book makes lots of animal noises and he absolutely loves the gorilla page and thumps his chest saying o o o! This book was also a favorite of Ainsley's and strange enough, her favorite page was the gorilla page too!

He also has a book called Boo. He said Boo and went to the bookshelf and pointed at that book! Another of his favorite books, it makes lots of noises too.

Ben had his lower Right molar coming in 1/25.

1 year check up stats:

Height- 30 inches (75-90%)

Weight 23.3 pounds (50-75%)

Head 49 cm (97)

He says "Ball" and "Dog". Such great first words for a little boy!

In the past month, Ben got 2 more molars. Lower Left 2/8

Upper left 2/24

He said "No" 2/25.

He said "Dirt" 2/25

Ben's fun cake !

Ben loved the balloons. We probably did not need any other gifts, he entertained himself for days with just the balloons.

Checking out the cake- he didn't love it, but he had fun mashing it all over the place.





On Ben's actual birthday, Mandy and Ainsley made him a cake. It was pink ( because Ainsley baked it and decorated it!)


Ben loved eating the cake this time!
Opening presents on his actual birthday! A rare family photo!


Since his birthday Ben has been sick with a few different things, making for a difficult month. He had strep throat, then a few days after he finished his antibiotics for that, he got a virus- cold symptoms. He had it for a while and it progressed to ear infections and pneumonia. Now, we hope he will stay healthy for a while. He has slept horribly this past month- waking multiple times a night crying in obvious discomfort. He would not/could not stay asleep more than an hour on his own for most of the month. Now, we are finally getting a bit better and he is only waking up once a night. I think some of the waking was due to the molars he got in too. Poor guy and poor Mommy and Daddy.

Dan spent all of January and some of February working non stop- he worked well into each night, often getting home at 11pm or later. He worked all day Saturday and Sunday each week too.

Next I will do a blog for Ainsley!