The Perfect Day

Today was an absolutely perfect day. I wanted to write it down to remember a little slice of daily life.

The past few days, I was sick and totally wiped out in bed. I really missed playing with Ben, so this morning I was excited to spend the day doing something fun. We decided to go to a petting zoo a few miles from our house. I was surprised at how ridiculously excited I was to go! While he took his morning nap, I packed us a lunch and anxiously waited for him to wake up.

As soon as he woke up, we hopped in the car. Ben ate his cheese sandwich and blueberries in the car on the way there. The petting zoo was basically a farm with lots of animals, including goats, chickens, pigs, rabbits, emu's, camels, mini horses, ducks, and more.

 

 

We got a little bucket of food to feed the animals. Ben loved it!! Mostly he just watched the animals closely. I think the bunnies were his favorite. He got to sit in the pen with the rabbits and they hopped around him and came really close.

We spent about two hours just wandering around and exploring. The little cars caught Ben's attention. He climbed right in and started trying to scoot around.

Back it up!

After the zoo, we came home and he had another nap. Joel left to go hang out with friends, so it was just Ben and I for the evening. We sat outside on the patio and quietly shared a bowl full of cherries while we listened to the birds and airplanes. Then we cleaned up by playing with the hose. After looking for bugs in the grass, we came inside and had a yummy spaghetti dinner with carrots.

 

At the end of dinner, he caught a glimpse of his bubbles sitting on the counter and insistently said "Buhbuh Buhbuh Buhbuh" while pointing and climbing out of his chair...So, that was the end of dinner! We went outside and blew bubbles for a long time. Towards the end, I was sitting in the grass blowing bubbles and he came and scooted his little toosh into my lap. He'd get up and chase a few bubbles, but then he'd come back and snuggle in. I love it when he comes and sits on my lap...he just backs right up as if he belongs there and I'm just waiting for him to come along (he's right...).

We took a few breaks to marvel at bugs, birds and planes. I love it when he catches a glimpse of a bug and passionately says "buh" (or whatever else it is he sees) over and over until we acknowledge it. His voice gets wound up and a little frantic sounding (in the most adorable way). This evening, he did that a few times when he saw a bug, so we'd stop blowing bubbles and watch the bug crawl around (and then he'd try to smash it...).

Here he is smashing bugs earlier in the day.

I decided a bubble bath would be a good way to clean off the cherry juice, spaghetti and the grime from the petting zoo. He'd never had a bubble bath before. He was intrigued!

Even bed time was perfect. When I asked him to lay down so I could change his diaper, he plopped down and laid down all by himself. Then we snuggled in the chair, read a few books and said our prayers. When I laid him in bed, I rubbed his little blonde head a bit and he giggled when I tickled his neck....Then he chatted to himself and snuggled Tucker for a while before he fell asleep with his little bum in the air.

 

Sigh. I really don't know how this day could have been more perfect. I loved this day with my guys. This was the perfect way to kick off the summer!

Lately

The last update I made was when Ben first started walking. That seems so long ago! As usual, the last few months have been a blast. Ben gets more and more fun as he gets older! There are lots of things I want to remember about this period of his life. So here goes!

1) Back massages. Oh goodness. He totally MELTS when we give him back massages. He can be playing like normal, but he freezes if we start to rub his back and he turns into mush. He leeeeeeeaans forward as he relaxes into the massage. Last night, he was having a hard time going to sleep and was just sitting up in bed. I went in and started rubbing his back. He literally did a face plant forward because he relaxed too much and couldn't hold himself up. It's soooo sweet, and of course I love the snuggle time it gives me :)

2) His reaction to "no". The time has come where we have to start being stern with him. Mostly, it's just when he throws food off his high chair, plays with dog food or the occasional bite. When we say "No", a lot of times he laughs at us. We try to stay serious, but ooooh man, it's soooo cute when he laughs at us and I have to dodge away so he can't see me laughing. The other day, he bit my shoulder and I said "NO!". Immediately, he gave me, like, 15 kisses in a row! Little charmer. He knew exactly how to get instant forgiveness!!

3) Signs. Oh my mom. She is wonderful. She's great in many ways, but one thing she does is teach Ben tons of signs! He's learning all kinds of things and can communicate so much to us! I can't what it would be like if he couldn't sign to us...I love getting a little glimpse into what's going on in his mind. Mostly, he's thinking about cookies, bananas, basketballs and birds...but still. It's fun. It's also cool to see how quickly he picks up new signs. It makes it clear that he knows what's going on in the world around him and differentiating objects. I just love seeing his brain work!! It's so fascinating! I remember learning about infant brain development in college, so it's fun to see it in action.

4) Balls. Still the ball obsession.  I want to say he plays with some variety of ball at least 80% of his day. Maybe more? Any kind of ball. He insistently points out balls he sees on any clothes we're wearing (pj pants, tshirts, etc). Even when we go to the store, he manages to find anything that resembles a ball. An orange? A Potburri/straw round thingy? It works for him! Yesterday, we went to the park and I forgot to bring him a ball. So, instead of playing on the playground equipment, we walked around the huge grassy area going from family to family, watching them play with their balls (that sounds bad....Ha.). He gets so serious and is so intent on watching whatever sport is going on. And basketball on TV is a huge hit. We play youtube videos of basketball bloopers or dribbling practice. I love his intensity. Oooh my sweet boy.

"Gee, I REALLY want those balls over there...Look, there's a red one and a blue one and...must. get. the ball."

 

5) Swim lessons. We started swim lessons a few weeks ago. Nothing too exciting...just learning a few songs and getting used to the water. He likes "jumping" into the pool from the ledge and he's started to try blowing bubbles. He's totally comfortable in the toddler pool and just walks around all by himself. He's taken a few dunks, no big deal :) It took a bit to get there, though. The first couple times in the pool, he clung like a baby monkey to my mom or me :)

6) Tucker. I think he's getting more and more attached to Tucker. We got him a second Tucker to love, just in case one gets lost. So, now he sleeps with both. He calls him (them) "Duhduh". When he's sad or tired, he sweetly asks for "DuhDuh" and snuggles Tucker tightly as soon as he finds him. He has the same honest, intense, persistence when asking or looking for Tucker as he does with basketball, cookies, bananas, and his water bottle.

Studying his book very intently
7) Sickness. He's had a few not-so-fun sicknesses. The first, and worst, was a mouth virus. It was basically a mouth full of canker sores...in his throat, cheeks, tongue, and roof of his mouth. He was in so much pain, it was heartbreaking. And those things don't go away very fast...He didn't want to eat or drink anything for days. This was the most worried I had ever been about him. I knew he would be ok, but it BROKE MY HEART to see him in so much pain!! UUUUGH. But, apparently, it's a very common virus that causes canker sores in adults...it's just that the first time a kid is exposed to the virus, sometimes they react very strongly to it. Hopefully he'll never get it that bad again!!!

8) Skillz. Joel's sitting here reminding me of some skills. Of course the dribbling and kicking of the soccer and basketballs...and lately he's been catching the basketball if we bounce it to him...Um, let's see, he's also learning to lay down on his own for diaper changes and waits until we're done...He's starting to use a fork and spoon...He's starting to want to go up the stairs like a big boy. He practices his "big step" all around the house. He also has learned more commands and body parts. Have I mentioned I love watching him learn?!?

9) We've got a few things coming up that I'm nervous about. We're going to Yakima for four nights. the last time we went anywhere to spend the night was Yakima for Thanksgiving (I know, we don't get out much....). It was terrible. Ben didn't sleep. No naps, no sleep at night, nothing. It was miserable. I'm terrified that our trips this summer will be the same. Camping with a sleepless baby, anyone? Ugh. And now I can't even nurse him to sleep if I had to...maybe the back massage would work. But, Ben is always a champ and always does way better than I expect, so I HOPE HOPE HOPE that he'll be a champ and sleep just fine in new environments. I'm already trying to associate smells with sleep (lavender and chamomile) so that I can have those smells in Yakima and camping to help him sleep. I really am freaking out.

He's a serious little dude, but he's also SO goofy and playful.

Watching basketball with Dad and having a snack (but too engrossed in the basketball to realize that Emma is stealing the snack)