Ben continues to melt into tears when you tell him "no" firmly, so his behavior was very odd at dinner last night. He started waving his fork around, acted like he was going to throw it on the floor, and gave me a "test mom's limits" look, kind of. I said "Please don't throw your fork, BenHoney," and two seconds later, he threw it on the floor. I said, not very harshly at all, "Ben, I asked you not to throw your fork!" and immediately his face fell and he wailed. Tim and I struggled not to laugh and tried not to pay attention to him. The really funny thing is that the whole identical scenario repeated five minutes later! When he starts crying (after you say no), it seems like he can't help it and it seems like genuine hurt, so I'm reluctant to think he is already doing the "I know that if I make a pitiful face mom and dad will be less mad at me" act yet. I know toddlers will test all their limits many, many times, but I thought they usually did it with a devilish look on their faces. This limit-testing ended in apparent misery for Ben himself, so I'm surprised that he repeated it.
Sweet, sensitive Benny!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Old news: March 26, 2008
Tim sent me this email on March 26, and I never posted it. Pretty amazing, considering the sleep problems Ben has always had:
"So I was doing laundry and Ben had been a little fussy so I was going to take him out in the baby jogger. He was quiet all of a sudden so I went and found him in his "nest" on the floor in the bedroom ASLEEP! He crawled in there and put himself to bed!"
"So I was doing laundry and Ben had been a little fussy so I was going to take him out in the baby jogger. He was quiet all of a sudden so I went and found him in his "nest" on the floor in the bedroom ASLEEP! He crawled in there and put himself to bed!"
Grammy visit, but no walking
We hoped Benny would take his first steps alone this weekend for Grammy Pat when she came to visit, but he didn't. He did seem to have horrible teething pain and a fever that came and went, and spent a lot of time being listless in Grammy's lap. He actually refused to nurse last night for the first time ever, which I guess could be because of teething pain. He pulled my shirt down(!) and went to sleep without an evening nursing session.
We went to garage sales (in the snow!) with Grammy and Ben got three new ball toys.
He loves Grammy Pat and is very happy when she is around. :-)
We went to garage sales (in the snow!) with Grammy and Ben got three new ball toys.
He loves Grammy Pat and is very happy when she is around. :-)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tantrums/clinginess
Tim says Ben acts completely different around me than around him, and I don't understand it. Today, Ben and Tim had a great day together and they were napping when I got home from work. Ben is "fragile" when he wakes up from a nap and probably wanted to nurse while he woke up fully. He has been fine with nursing only in the morning and at bedtime, so trying to be consistent with that emerging pattern, I resisted nursing. He cried full blast for a good 15 minutes, kicking and arching his back and pushing away from being held. We both tried several different distraction temptations and he pushed them all away. Then all of a sudden, he was fine. I don't get it. Other times, I need to stop playing with him or put him down to do something else (usually the trigger is that I'm tired of walking with him) and he acts like I'm abandoning him forever. Even if I get down on the floor and hug him and talk to him and explain what I'm doing, he still cries. He will stop crying only if I pick him up. I end up feeling that I'm horrible mother for needing to get dressed or clean the litter boxes, but then I think about families with 5 children or 8 children - how in the world do those mothers give their children enough attention??
I picked up my copy of "What to Expect, The Toddler Years" last night and started to get worried again. For 15 months, it says "Your toddler should be able to walk well, bend over and pick up an object, use at least 1 word; will probably be able to use 2 words, drink from a cup, scribble, point to a desired object; may possibly be able to point to 1 body part when asked, use a spoon/fork, build a tower of 2 cubes." For 14, 15, and 16 months, it says your toddler may even be able to run, walk up steps, use 6 words or more, follow a 2-step verbal command." So, I started worrying that Benny is delayed. It also says "See your doctor if your toddler ... is perpetually irritable, or demands constant attention." Then tonight, I read the book to Tim and we reassured ourselves that Ben is fine. We asked him "where is your nose?" and he immediately pointed to my nose and then Tim's nose! Then, we asked him where his shoe is and he pointed to his shoe! Then I asked him to give me a kiss and he leaned over to my face. He can definitely bend over to pick something up, stack blocks, point to desired objects, etc. So, he won't walk quite yet and he has only 1 word, but I think he's OK. He doesn't really demand constant attention and is quite happy much of the time. My new boss has a prodigy child (22 months old) and I need to remind myself to enjoy hearing about her, but refuse to compare her and Ben.
Other stuff:
Did I say already that one day when I went to pick Benny up from Rebecca's, he smiled at me, but refused to go to me? He kept turning to hug Rebecca again and again. I was mostly glad to see that he loves her. Bella and Bobby (Rebecca's daughter and another daycare child) come bounding to the door most mornings when we get there saying "Baby Ben is here! Baby Ben is here!" He smiles at them. Becca, Bella, Bobby, and Benny!
His new favorite activity is putting coins in his piggy bank. We also played with stickers a couple of weeks ago and I love to watch his little fingers struggle. His fine motor skills seem really good, though I don't know what to compare them to, I just think it is great that he can turn the coin in the direction to go in the piggy bank slot, etc.
He is talking so much and it is so cute and sweet, though it is still just gibberish. "Gello, gullo, whhay, bootch, hulla!" It seems like he is trying almost all the alphabet. We need to try to catch some on video so we can remember it.
I really don't worry as much as it sounds like I do. I concentrate on enjoying him and giving him love and attention. Tim and I say hundreds of times a day "He's so amazing! He's so sweet! He's such a good boy!"
Sweet, sweet, sweetie!
I picked up my copy of "What to Expect, The Toddler Years" last night and started to get worried again. For 15 months, it says "Your toddler should be able to walk well, bend over and pick up an object, use at least 1 word; will probably be able to use 2 words, drink from a cup, scribble, point to a desired object; may possibly be able to point to 1 body part when asked, use a spoon/fork, build a tower of 2 cubes." For 14, 15, and 16 months, it says your toddler may even be able to run, walk up steps, use 6 words or more, follow a 2-step verbal command." So, I started worrying that Benny is delayed. It also says "See your doctor if your toddler ... is perpetually irritable, or demands constant attention." Then tonight, I read the book to Tim and we reassured ourselves that Ben is fine. We asked him "where is your nose?" and he immediately pointed to my nose and then Tim's nose! Then, we asked him where his shoe is and he pointed to his shoe! Then I asked him to give me a kiss and he leaned over to my face. He can definitely bend over to pick something up, stack blocks, point to desired objects, etc. So, he won't walk quite yet and he has only 1 word, but I think he's OK. He doesn't really demand constant attention and is quite happy much of the time. My new boss has a prodigy child (22 months old) and I need to remind myself to enjoy hearing about her, but refuse to compare her and Ben.
Other stuff:
Did I say already that one day when I went to pick Benny up from Rebecca's, he smiled at me, but refused to go to me? He kept turning to hug Rebecca again and again. I was mostly glad to see that he loves her. Bella and Bobby (Rebecca's daughter and another daycare child) come bounding to the door most mornings when we get there saying "Baby Ben is here! Baby Ben is here!" He smiles at them. Becca, Bella, Bobby, and Benny!
His new favorite activity is putting coins in his piggy bank. We also played with stickers a couple of weeks ago and I love to watch his little fingers struggle. His fine motor skills seem really good, though I don't know what to compare them to, I just think it is great that he can turn the coin in the direction to go in the piggy bank slot, etc.
He is talking so much and it is so cute and sweet, though it is still just gibberish. "Gello, gullo, whhay, bootch, hulla!" It seems like he is trying almost all the alphabet. We need to try to catch some on video so we can remember it.
I really don't worry as much as it sounds like I do. I concentrate on enjoying him and giving him love and attention. Tim and I say hundreds of times a day "He's so amazing! He's so sweet! He's such a good boy!"
Sweet, sweet, sweetie!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Other stuff
I need to figure out how to blog more often! I'm aiming to blog three times a week and upload photos once a week. We'll see how that goes!
I'm so proud of my good eater, Benny! If you put broccoli and other stuff on his plate, he eats the broccoli first, and he always chews with his mouth closed, even if he takes a huge bite. Lately he has eaten quesadillas, grilled cheese, scrambled eggs, tater tots, chicken strips, Chinese food, burritos, and other regular toddler stuff. If we get burritos from Chipotle, which some people complain are too big, Ben eats almost half of mine.
Just in the last couple of weeks he has insisted on feeding himself, though he would do it before if we asked him to. I've been delaying it because it is so messy and we don't have a dog to clean the floor. But now he takes the fork or spoon away from us and does it himself. It's so fun to watch how earnest and serious he is about it. I used to love it when I was babysitting and a toddler would pick up a piece of food, place it on the fork or spoon and then put the utensil in his/her mouth. Ben hasn't exactly done that yet - his aim and skill are pretty good.
Have I said before how sensitive he is? I don't know if all babies are like this at some point and then grow out of it, but if Tim or I say "No!" harshly to him, he looks shocked for a second and then wails like he is hurt. It's so heartbreaking!
We went swimming last week after a long time and he had a blast! He smiled the whole time, kicked and moved his arms, jumped (walked) off the side of the pool.
He's so sweet!
I'm so proud of my good eater, Benny! If you put broccoli and other stuff on his plate, he eats the broccoli first, and he always chews with his mouth closed, even if he takes a huge bite. Lately he has eaten quesadillas, grilled cheese, scrambled eggs, tater tots, chicken strips, Chinese food, burritos, and other regular toddler stuff. If we get burritos from Chipotle, which some people complain are too big, Ben eats almost half of mine.
Just in the last couple of weeks he has insisted on feeding himself, though he would do it before if we asked him to. I've been delaying it because it is so messy and we don't have a dog to clean the floor. But now he takes the fork or spoon away from us and does it himself. It's so fun to watch how earnest and serious he is about it. I used to love it when I was babysitting and a toddler would pick up a piece of food, place it on the fork or spoon and then put the utensil in his/her mouth. Ben hasn't exactly done that yet - his aim and skill are pretty good.
Have I said before how sensitive he is? I don't know if all babies are like this at some point and then grow out of it, but if Tim or I say "No!" harshly to him, he looks shocked for a second and then wails like he is hurt. It's so heartbreaking!
We went swimming last week after a long time and he had a blast! He smiled the whole time, kicked and moved his arms, jumped (walked) off the side of the pool.
He's so sweet!
Nice long weekend - PHOTOS added!
We went to Fruita this weekend for camping and mountain biking and had a great time. The dirt was very fine, dry, and dusty and the wind was blowing like crazy the whole weekend, so Ben was one dirty little boy. He ate a ton of dirt and he doesn't seem sick so far, thank goodness. For breakfast, he would sit on the ground with his bowl of oatmeal, take a bite, put the spoon in the dirt, then eat a spoonful of oatmeal mixed with dirt, then stick his hand in the oatmeal, then rub his face, then turn into the dusty wind, and then be covered in oatmeal and dirt! It was easier to let it all dry and fall off than to try to wipe it off with wetwipes.
He gave a camp-neighbor doggy a couple of hugs, walked a ton (our aching backs!), played in the dirt, played with inchworms, rode in the bike trailer, waded in the Colorado river, and slept badly.
Ben has discovered the moon, which is a ball "ba!" in the sky, and we had a nice full moon this weekend. He also pointed out all the balls on the power lines along I-70.
How nice to have a little sweety along with us on our adventures!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Closer to walking!
Over the weekend, Pat, Wende, and Darrell managed to convince Ben he could walk holding only one hand, so now he will walk beside me holding my hand!
Other cutenesses:
- I forget if I said already that he says "hmmmm" to mean he is hungry. In the morning after he wakes up a little, he points to the kitchen and says "hmmmm!"
- It's so neat to watch him begin to express his wants and needs. He points and makes a little "huh?" sound to indicate things he wants. He points out the sliding glass door and out the front door to indicate he wants to go outside to play, and when we were driving to Almena this past weekend, the stroller and walker were in the backseat and he kept pointing to those indicating he wanted to go walking.
- I'm so proud that he eats vegetables! I know that might not last very long. Oddly enough, the only thing he consistently pushes away is pasta, which includes the child staple, macaroni and cheese!
- He loves to stand in the kitchen with us and "help" with dinner. He usually ends up soaking himself and the kitchen, but we appreciate his "help."
- He also loves to watch us take showers, and ends up soaking wet in that case too.
- We played a little Simon Says at dinner last night. Ben did what Simon said once or twice, but mostly he was Simon telling us what to do.
- In Almena, Alex and Gracie didn't appreciate his "hugs" much more than Scout and Flynn do!!
- He flirted with a baby girl across the restaurant the other night!
Other cutenesses:
- I forget if I said already that he says "hmmmm" to mean he is hungry. In the morning after he wakes up a little, he points to the kitchen and says "hmmmm!"
- It's so neat to watch him begin to express his wants and needs. He points and makes a little "huh?" sound to indicate things he wants. He points out the sliding glass door and out the front door to indicate he wants to go outside to play, and when we were driving to Almena this past weekend, the stroller and walker were in the backseat and he kept pointing to those indicating he wanted to go walking.
- I'm so proud that he eats vegetables! I know that might not last very long. Oddly enough, the only thing he consistently pushes away is pasta, which includes the child staple, macaroni and cheese!
- He loves to stand in the kitchen with us and "help" with dinner. He usually ends up soaking himself and the kitchen, but we appreciate his "help."
- He also loves to watch us take showers, and ends up soaking wet in that case too.
- We played a little Simon Says at dinner last night. Ben did what Simon said once or twice, but mostly he was Simon telling us what to do.
- In Almena, Alex and Gracie didn't appreciate his "hugs" much more than Scout and Flynn do!!
- He flirted with a baby girl across the restaurant the other night!
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