Imagination Taking Shape

That's the slogan for Play-Doh. I'm not sure that's really applicable to Benjamin's interaction with play-doh, but he sure loves squishing it! :) I have always loved play-doh and have been wanting to buy it/make it for a while now but I worried that he would just try to eat it. Then I heard they'd played with it in nursery last Sunday and he hadn't tried to put it in his mouth at all, so I figured he was ready. At first I thought I'd make it, but that's so not me. Why spend all that time when I can just spend $3 and buy it?? So we took a trip to the toy store and after two hours of playing around, came home with some play-doh and some cute little shape makers. We have played with it every day since. He loves pushing the shapes into the doh, loves squishing his fingers in the doh and especially loves when I make little balls of doh that he can roll around and put in various containers. The best part is that this is finally one game of his with which I have just as much fun playing. And not to toot my own horn, but I can make a pretty amazing snake and my spirals aren't shabby either. I've also discovered that Kelly makes amazing carrots and coral formations. :) Seriously, though, Kelly actually has quite a hidden talent for play-doh. Still learning new things about him, even after all these years!


These past weeks in addition to our play-doh adventures, the biggest hit around here has been anything involving water. The dehumidifier, the dishwasher, the wash machine, and the shower are endless sources of entertainment. In addition, every day Benjamin wants to fill the kitchen sink with water, throw in a bunch of cups, bowls, pots, etc. and splash around. If there's already dirty dishes and standing rinse water available - all the better! Bits of food floating around too?? Jackpot!! It's gotten really quite disgusting a couple times before I learned to never leave anything sitting in water in the sink. Also, anytime a new container suitable for holding water is found, it must be tested. Such as the little play-doh cup! His first choice of water source, though, is always the fridge. That handy little water dispenser is so useful! Even when it's locked up, Benjamin doesn't let it dissuade him, that's when imagination truly takes shape.

Camera Hog

Benjamin's new favorite pastime is to take pictures and then look at them. His favorite subject? Himself, of course. He'll now ham it up anytime I want. He won't continue doing what I was trying to photograph, but he will come squat or stand or flop around in front of me for as long as I'm willing to keep going. I'll take what I can get, I guess. :) So here are a few of the cute little poses he strikes as I flash away. (Sorry, the hideous color in some of them is an artifact of my hideous camera.) Other than that, there hasn't been much to report here. We've been going to lots of playgroups and trying to stay warm. Isabella continues to grow and kick ferociously. My hopes for a mellow little girl are fading.




Kelly took this one of us. It's a rare occasion when we're both looking at the camera and smiling. I had to post it.

Marketing is Everything

Benjamin and I have a long history of food conflicts. Mostly they stem from his complete unwillingness to wear a bib. Because of his refusal (and downright violent reaction to them at times), I've been hesitant to let him feed himself too much besides sandwiches and other dry, clean foods. Certainly nothing requiring a spoon or containing liquid! The clothing disasters waiting to happen! My clean freakyness just couldn't handle it. However, I've also started to hate having to sit and feed him everything, thus constantly postponing my own meals. I've watched mothers of children younger than Benjamin plunk a bowl and a spoon in front of their kid and walk away. Each time I thought 'why can't I do that?' I've also noticed Benjamin's increasing desire to wield his own utensils. More than once I've snatched a spoon from his grasp as he threatens to smear it into his hair. The last straw was when the pediatrician at his 18 month check-up asked, "Is he using utensils? Is he eating with a spoon?" I could only look at the floor and murmur,"Hmmmm....Kind of....He's just so messy!" "Are you giving him the chance to be messy?" he retorted. Grrrr. So, I lamented to Kelly about this issue and what did my darling ingenious husband come up with? He looked at the bib, and it's unique upturned bottom portion and declared, "It's not a bib, it's a pocket! A really cool pocket that catches all sorts of cool things that fall off spoons!"


Within one meal-time, we'd gone from violent thrashing at the sight of a bib, to avid checking of the "pocket" and excited high-fives after every successful scoop into the mouth. We treated each successful spoon loading as if he'd achieved world peace. In a way, to us it was just as monumental. The first meal was admittedly a little messy, but by the next day he'd had soup, cereal, and yogurt all by himself, with hardly any spill at all! An amazing transformation. I love it! Benjamin couldn't be happier, either. Now if I try to scoop something for him, he'll grab the spoon, dump it out into the bowl, and do it himself. I can take a hint! Now to find the marketing twist on potty training!

18 Months Old

Benjamin is now a whole year and a half old! How amazing. The best part about this milestone - nursery!!! (Sunday School for kids 18 months-3years). I was so excited about Sunday that I was practically counting down the minutes. In my opinion, the time between which a child declares their independence (starts walking, no longer allows you to pay the slightest bit of attention to a lesson) until that glorious day when you can drop them off and get two hours of no cost, worry-free babysitting during church, is the longest period of time in all of toddler life. Since Benjamin started crawling at 6 months and walking at 10, this period has been especially long for me. Luckily I have the best calling in the world - primary presidency, so I have been able to deal with him better than I could have in any other situation, but oh nursery - how I love you! My only concern was that he would get sad and need me to stay with him. All my worries were unfounded, however. I walked him down the hall towards the nursery and he knew exactly what was coming - toys! He just let go of my hand, walked into the room, breezed past the teacher as she tried to greet him, and started to play. He never even looked back. I peeked in 2 or 3 times during the next couple hours to make sure he was okay, but he did great. He sat at the table and ate his snack, made his little paper crown to signify he's a Child of God and seemed to play well with all the kids. It was amazing. I was so happy. He seemed to have a great time because he was soooo hyper the whole rest of the afternoon! I've never seen him so wound up. It was hysterical. So now maybe I'll actually be able to do my calling instead of spending my time in the hallways keeping Benjamin from going into the other ward's bishop's office and playing on his computer! Yeah!


His new favorite thing to do is jump on my back whenever I'm bent down. Often I tickle him and put him down, but this time he clung on for dear life, so I agreed to play horsie and even in my fat, pregnant state, we trotted around the house for what felt like FOREVER. Still he threw a fit when I stopped, but this horse just wasn't going one more step.


It used to always be Baby Einstein, now he puts in Veggie Tales every time. And don't even try to turn it off until it's over! I just love looking at how cute he looks in his little seat (from which I removed the tag saying "not intended for children" because it's actually a dog bed.)

Happy 2008!

Happy New Year everyone! We just got back yesterday from our vacation. We had a ton of fun and are sad to be away from everyone again, but being home is nice too. We look forward to a new year. This coming year Benjamin will turn 2 and little Isabella will turn 0. :)

As for our trip, we loved seeing friends and family again. You forget sometimes how much you miss them until you see them again and then you can't bear to leave. Here are a few pictures of the cuteness that is Benjamin at Christmas time. (These were all taken with my mom's camera, in case you're wondering. Ours is currently being fixed. May it come back safe and sound or there won't be another blog entry for a while.) Besides the adjustment to Utah time and several different sleeping locations, he did very well. How could he not, considering he was constantly the center of attention?

It snowed a ton while we were there so we had to make use of Benjamin's new winter jacket. Unlike in Michigan, he couldn't get enough of the snow. We were out there for over an hour and finally had to drag him back inside when we couldn't stand it anymore.



He also discovered the old-school Nintendo system in my mom's basement. Any chance he got, he was down there begging to play it. I have to say, it wasn't such a sacrifice to oblige. :)


The air hockey table at Jill and Zerin's was quite a hit as well.


On Christmas Eve we were with my family playing our favorite game - the candy bar game. Basically an all-out sugar extravaganza built on ruthless competition and a dog-eat-dog mentality that's great for building family unity. :) It was hours past Benjamin's bedtime and still he couldn't get enough of the excitement. It was so fun to watch him with his older cousins. He'd flop down with them and laugh when they'd laugh and try to wrestle with them. I've never seen him so happy around other kids. He was one of the big boys.


He also loved his little cousin Colton (11 months). I tried and tried to get a picture of them playing together, but they were like tasmanian devils darting around the place. I'm still shocked as can be that my cousin managed to get the two of them seated for a split second to get this adorable picture.


On Christmas Day and thereafter, we were with Kelly's family and my favorite part of that time was seeing Benjamin with his cousin Katelyn (1 month younger). They really seemed to have fun together playing with the toy phone, opening presents, and watching movies. I really wish they could spend more time together.




Benjamin's favorite presents were his musical book and his doll. I have really been surprised how interested he's been in babies lately. Real ones, especially, but also dolls. He doesn't carry them around or take care of them like I've seen little girls do, but he no longer throws them across the room or sits on them as often and I think that's a good sign! :) Maybe he's ready for a little sister after all.



So that was our Christmas. Hope everyone else had a great holiday too.