11 Months

What a fun month it has been! The biggest news this month is that Ben started walking (3/13/2013, for the record). He started walking while we were at work. My mom sent tons of videos and pictures to keep us updated on his progress. On that first day, I literally told every person who would make eye contact with me that Ben was walking(!!!). On days like that, I really miss my nurturing friends from my old job. It took a few weeks for Ben to walk more than a few steps. It's sure fun to hear his little feet padding across the kitchen floor or to be standing at the kitchen sink and all of a sudden get a big hug around the legs :)

Speaking of hugs, Ben has started to become such a cuddle bug!!! He must have gotten that from his Aunt Michelle or his dad...he didn't get it from me! But boy oh boy do I love cuddles from my little guy!!! For a while now, he's loved cuddling in a chair reading books. In addition, lately he's started snuggling more. He'll hug me and rest his head on my shoulder and stay there for a while or he'll just nuzzle his head into my stomach or chest. I don't want to move or say a word to distract him, so I just rub his head or his back and rock him gently. Oh I love it so much! Even when he was a tiny baby, he was ALWAYS squirming and so strong, so I never felt like I was really cuddling him, so the fact that he's doing it now is so fun. He's also started giving kisses on the lips.  I swear he gets a sweet little look on his face when he gives me a kiss. Oh. My. Gosh. He doesn't have any idea how much he kills me with all his sweetness!

We've had some beautiful days this month, so we've spent lots of time outside. Joel and I have been doing lots of yard work and Ben just toodles around the yard while we work.

For the record:

• Weight: 25 pounds
• Teeth: top 2 and bottom 2 teeth are totally broken through. I think he's working on FOUR new teeth right now, which would explain his uber crankiness.
• Sounds: new sounds include "N". Still says "baba" for bottle and ball. Sometimes makes monkey, elephant, bear and dog sounds.
• Skills: Started walking. Also, he knows where his head and his ears are
• Signs (Grandma teaches him. Thanks mom!): More, Dog, Water, and maybe mama or dada or food...still trying to figure out what he means with one sign that he's doing...
• Food: LOVES bananas and nothing else. It's a challenge to get him to eat much of anything. He'll eat yogurt and jelly/cream cheese sandwiches. The kid has a sweet tooth!
• Interests: LOVES balls. He walks around by himself and kicks the ball. In soccer, I guess that's called dribbling. Of course, Joel is very proud. Ben dribbles better than I can ;) He also likes playing with Emma. They play tug-of-war and they sometimes play chase. Ben also gets a kick out of throwing the ball for Emma (with our help). And like I mentioned above, he loves books and could read books for minutes on end (haha). Anything that keeps his attention for more than 2 minutes is amazing.