Catching up!!

I've been horrible about my goal of three posts per week, haven't I?

Updates:
- I finally saw Ben walk on Saturday, May 17 and he continues to walk a little more each day. He didn't take off like we really thought he would, and he still really prefers to hold my hands when I'm around.
- Somehow Ben learned to turn around and go feet first when he gets off of things (chairs, beds, etc). When he ends up in bed with us in the morning, he wakes up, smiles at me, crawls to the foot of the bed, turns around and slowly slides down to the floor, then walks to the door. Our bed is pretty high, so I'm proud of his accomplishment.
- He learned how to tickle from Tim and it is the sweetest thing! He comes up to you and makes a tickling motion with his fingers and laughs. It's unfortunately a little painful if he does it on bare skin, since his nails are so long and sharp and he won't let me cut them.
- All the sleep books I read in the past said that big milestones disturb sleep patterns, and I guess that is what we are currently seeing. At least four nights in the past week or so, after following our usual bedtime routine, Ben pushes away from me while nursing, climbs to the floor and crawls to the bedroom door to be let out. He continues to play (actually not too tired-acting or whiny) from his official bedtime (7:45) until 9:00 or 10:00! The other nights he reverts back to his normal routine. Tim and I didn't realize how much we depended on the 8:00 - 10:00 time period for rejuvenating, but we sure miss it. Not that we don't love being with Benny! But I guess learning to walk has gotten Ben's body all excited and he doesn't want to sleep. :-(

More later!