Quiet moment

Every so often Ben does actually pause his constant motion, and not just when he is sleeping.  Today it was to stop and look out the window with Dagger.  I love my two little sweeties.

-Kim

Ben and the Puddle

You can tell from previous posts that we like to try to get Ben outside as much as possible.  Ever since he was born, he has loved to be outside.  Seriously, he could be fussing and we would take him outside and he would be instantly calmer.  I love getting him out because I think it is healthy for him to run around and get fresh air.  Plus, well, he's a little kid.  All little kids pretty much love to play outside.  He already never stops moving, so I think we will be spending as much time as possible outside as he grows up.

This past weekend it once again hit the upper 30s, and out the door we went.  Most of the sidewalks outside our house were clear, but some were still snowy.  However at one point, we came upon something amazing, something Ben hadn't experienced before, something wet.  A puddle.  It was love from the first splash.

Ben looked very serious as he walked through the puddle, but you could tell he thought it was amazing.  He went back and forth, back and forth.  He walked backwards through it.  He walked through the shallow part.  He walked through the deep part.  He walked quickly, then slowly.  He glided gently, then stomped hard.  He walked back and forth through this puddle for a good long time before we were able to continue on our walk.

To get home, we had to pass by the puddle again.  It of course had to be examined all over again.  This time though, after a few passes, Ben had to bend over and examine it more.  He reached out and touched it.  It got his mittens wet.  This was interesting and had to be repeated.  Now, I know it was chilly out and that being wet in the cold is a bad idea.  But I didn't think too much of it.  We were about 20 feet from our front door.  A few minutes of cold wet hands wouldn't cause any lasting damage.  The thing is, these wet hands had to be examined very, very closely.  The only way to do that?  Yup, sit down.  Ben sat right in the middle of the puddle.  Pat was super fast, snatched Ben up, and had him half way home before I could even do anything.  Me?  I am an awesome mom so I did what anyone would do.  I laughed.  Hard.  Pat had Ben in the house and I was still laughing on the sidewalk.

Ben of course was fine from his whole experience.  Well, he was a little annoyed at being pulled away from his puddle, but he got no-pants time instead.  That's a win for Ben.  I think when it is warm out this summer we will take him puddle jumping in his swim suit.

You can see Ben in action here and here.  You can see he looks pretty serious, but is loving the puddle.

I love this picture of my boys.

Ben, meet the puddle.

What is this?

Testing the waters.

This is amazing!

Sitting- After.

As you can see Ben sat, and Pat was so fast picking him up I didn't even get a picture.  Just the drips coming off of Ben.  Yes, instead of worrying about my son sitting in water outside in February, I was trying to get a picture.  Priorities, right? ;)

-Kim

Soccer Star

As you can probably tell from the small amount of snow, these pictures are from before our big snow day last week.  The day before the blizzard we played outside with Ben for a bit.  We brought out the soccer ball and attempted to kick it around a little.  Ben liked chasing it down, but when the ball is up to your knees it is hard to kick it around.  We had some fun running around the back yard.

I was going to post these pictures, but the snow ones were just too much fun.  So a bit late, here is Ben playing with his soccer ball.  Big contrast from the snow we got that night, isn't it?  I hope we see the grass again before summer.  Snow ball isn't too bad though, and we love playing with our little soccer star.

Passing with Daddy

Snow soccer!

Trying to get it from Daddy

He looks like he's ready to hike the ball.

Future goalie?

Pat and I both played soccer growing up.  We are going to try to pass on our love of the game to Ben.  So far so good!

-Kim

Working out

We all have strange little habits we only do when we are alone.  Or at least when we think we are alone.  One of mine is that I do squats while I brush my teeth.  So, now it is no longer a strange secret behavior, it is a strange habit that everyone knows about.  I know, I think it is a little weird too.  But when you are super busy you have to squeeze in fitness when you can.  The thing is, I really do only do it when I'm alone.  Of course in the mornings I am rarely alone, I have Ben with me.  Most mornings Ben is either running around the bedroom like a crazy person, or trapped in the pack and play if he is getting into too much mischief.  I never thought he was paying that much attention to what I was doing.  Until Friday, that is.  I was brushing my teeth, and doing my squats, when I looked over and saw Ben doing squats right along with me.

I tried to get him on video that morning, but he wasn't into it.  Later in the afternoon he did them again with me!  I am happy that he was copying a behavior, that while perhaps a little odd, is at least a healthy one.  Time to really take a look at everything I do now that I know my little shadow is watching and imitating me!

You can see Ben doing his squats here.  I hope this is a good sign for a life of fitness ahead!

-Kim

Knife and Fork

Ben has started expressing interest in imitating us more while eating.  He likes to hold his fork and spoon.  He also likes to hold onto two utensils and try to 'cut' his food like we do.  Most of the time he just plays at it, then picks up the food item with his hand to take a bite.  He is getting much better at it though!  I enjoy watching him explore and try to figure out what we adults are doing at mealtime.  There are so many little things in this world that we as adults just know how to do.  It is fascinating to see them through the eyes of someone who doesn't know the customs and routines.

Ben did pretty well with his bread stick this past week!

Am I doing this right?

I'm getting good at this!

He still needs a bit more practice, but he is doing really well!  I have hope that some day I won't have to pull food out of his hair after every meal.  ;)

-Kim

Snow Day: Beyond the Snow

 Ben had a pretty good snow day.

We knew we weren't leaving the house, so we took it easy in the morning.  Pat built Ben an awesome mega block creation.

After Ben's first nap, we had a traditional snow day meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup.  Ben is a tomato soup fan!  It got a little messy, but all good meals are.  

After lunch we bundled up and explored the great outdoors.  You can see our snow play here.

Ben played with the snow outside and inside, and after second nap I made us a special treat- snow ice cream!  I had never made it before, but I will be making it again.  It is so easy and pretty good!  I got a recipe off of pinterest, just condensed milk, vanilla, and snow!  Pat and I enjoyed it.  We let Ben try some.  True, it's a lot of sugar, but come on.  It was a snow day, we had to live it up a little!  Ben hated it.  We got him to try a tiny bite, and he was not having it.  Silly kid.  Oh well, I know when he is bigger he will like it.  I am excited to have it as a snow day treat for the future!

After our snack, (snow ice cream for Pat and I, raisins for Ben), we had a chance to skype with Gramma and Grampa.  Ben really likes skyping with them.  He ran around and held up his toys to show them.  They played peek-a-boo and patty cake through the screen.  It's great that we can see Gramma and Grampa while we talk to them.

That night was the super bowl, so we had an evening of talking about football and watching the fun commercials.

Overall, I think Ben had a pretty good snow day.  I know snow days can cause havoc on schedules, especially as kids get older.  We got lucky that this snow day was on a Sunday, and we could stay home.  But I am excited to experience snow days in the future with Ben.  I think they are just going to get more and more fun!

-Kim

Snow!

Finally, a big snow!!  After lunch we bundled Ben up and took him out to play in the snow!  This is the first time he's been in a big snow where he could walk.  Okay, he couldn't really walk in the snow, it was too high.  But the only other time we took him out in a big snow he was only 4 months old.  He couldn't really do much then.  This time he could enjoy it a little more!

Cutie in snow pants!

Exactly how many layers are you going to put on me?

Ready!

Why, hello there

Picture with Mommy!

What is this stuff?

Not looking super amused...

The snow is almost to his waist!

Ben liked the snow better from up here.

As expected, we didn't last very long outside.  Ben couldn't walk with the snow practically to his waist.  He didn't like when it got on his gloves either.  But we enjoyed a little bit of time outside in the snow.

We brought some snow inside for Ben to explore further.  I think he found it...  different.  He wasn't entirely sure about it at first, but for the most part he enjoyed it.

Inside snow!

Digging right in

Making a tiny snow ball

That was fun!

I'm looking forward to all the snow days to come as Ben grows up!

-Kim