Ben: 1 year (including birthday party)

Ben is one year old now!

 

He is all over the place these days. He can walk pretty quickly and navigate backwards, turn, etc. He loves to play with a toy broom and mop set that Sandy gave him for his birthday. The day she gave it to him, he didn't let go of them. He passed out in the corner with the broom in his hand. At nap time, he lay down with the broom. Sandy tried to move it out of the way and he woke up screaming at her. So strange! :)

His favorite food is still meat. When he wants a snack, he opens the cupboard and I ask him what he wants. I show him a box/package and he either shakes his head "no" or grabs it from me if he wants it.

I feel like he has a great comprehension for being so little. At night time, we ask him if he wants to take a bath and he walks to the bathroom door. We open it and he tries to climb into the tub fully clothed. He loves taking a bath and splashes himself and has a grand ol' time in the water.

He likes to take his shirt off a lot too. He walks up to me, flapping his shirt up and down as if to say, "take this off for me!" and then when I do he's happy as can be. Look at that belly.

As far as numbers go, Ben has 4 teeth on the top and 2 teeth on the bottom. He weighs an estimated 33 lbs and wears 3T size shirts and 24m/2T size pants. His shoe size is a 7. He only takes 1 2 hr nap a day (he dropped the morning nap soon after starting daycare this fall).

Ben doesn't say many words yet. He says, "na na na..." for milk. He points and says, "na" and that means "take me over there" or "I want that." He was singing "more" but he doesn't really anymore, even though we sign it to him. He has said "mama" but not recently. Typical second child late talker. He makes a lot of noise though, and expresses his emotions through talking, screaming, etc.

Ben's birthday party

We had a birthday party for him on the 8th. Family came over and we had fun celebrating Ben's first year. I didn't pause to take a picture of my awesome birthday banner I made :( We kept it simple, like I usually do. We had pulled pork/beef sandwiches, chips, and a mixed fruit salad. I made cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting.

As eager as he looks to dive into his cupcake in this picture...

he didn't even have a bite of it. Instead, he shook his head "no."

He had help opening presents from big brother.

We asked for some Little People toys since they're so well-loved and we didn't have many.

After most of his guests had left or were on their way out the door, Ben started lying on the floor. It was perfect timing to end the party and take a nap.

Thanks for everyone who made Benny's birthday special. He felt very loved and likes playing with his new toys.