I Love You Through and Through

So now all the party and guest hoopla is over and life is back to normal, which is never dull, nor calm in our house.  I have often heard it said that having boys is great because there is much less drama.  Well.....not the case in our house.  Ben has all the drama of a girl and all the energy of a boy.  What a combo.  He often has a meltdown over something that seems quite simple or tame to us and  sometimes he has the hardest time recovering from it.  Although, being tired and teething does contribute to the fussiness and quick irritability, but that's okay, he has only been teething for the last year.  Oh wait, he is a year old.  Well, at least teething is short-lived, right? :)

One of our favorite books is called "I Love You Through and Through" and it has been a good reminder to me, when Ben is falling apart because I said no to tossing crackers, cheese, fruit AND his sippy cup over the side of his high chair (I know, legalistic mom here), and when we hit Cranky Hour in the evening, that "I love your mad side....I love your silly side....your happy side and your sad side".  He is my precious little boy and I love him through and through.

So here is the rest of the story:

"I love your topside and your bottomside"...
Ben is loving to stand and bounce and jive and has even gone hands free a few times, though only for a few seconds before he drops soundly onto his rump.  That is why God gives babies plump behinds, I am sure of it.

"I love your inside and outside"...
The latest stats are in: 31 inches (85%), 23 lb. 14oz. (67%), and head circumference is 45.5" (25%)....so we are back to being tall with a small head. :)  He really looks proportional though, and I think the sparse blonde hair helps with that.  He is also wearing size 18mo. clothing for everything and will soon be on to bigger and longer things in the near future!

"I love your happy side, your sad side, your silly side, your mad side"....
 Ben is a ham and a class clown (without the class, and we might need to be praying even now for his teachers....Lord help them).  He continues to love laughter and loves to cause laughter.  The latest antics are: intentionally bonking his head on the wall, pretending to eat our toes when we are barefoot, "dancing" (which is really just bobbing up and down with a big goofy grin on his face....hey, some men never get better than that!), playing chase, laughing at burps and, well, other body noises (yes, he is a boy), and turning himself in circles while sitting on the floor.  The other night we were at some friends' house for dinner and he was obviously showing off (because he never does this for just us): his hands were covered in food (red sauce) and he kept slapping his hands all over his head and rubbing them in his hair and all over his face.  By the time he was done it looked like he was a red-head instead of blonde!  Oh brother.

"I love your giggles and cries"....
He is such a bundle of delight when he is in a good mood, and such a whiny mess when he is not.  The giggles really are incredible, and one of our favorite giggle producers is playing chase.  He will sit by a chair in our family room and give us "the eye" to come chase him.  Then he quickly crawls behind the chair and waits for us to get him.  When we crawl after him and catch him he shrieks with delight and giggles up a storm when we tickle and kiss on him.  It isn't just him that wants to repeat it over and over. :)  And as far as the cries....John thinks he is in training to be a professional soccer player, because he will meltdown with a big dramatic wail, red face, and instant crocodile tears.  We just look at each other and say "Good GRIEF!!"

"I love you running and walking"....
We aren't to walking yet, but he is a cruising machine.  Yesterday he took his little shopping cart and walked it (all by himself!) from one end of the family room to the other, then I turned him around and he kept going.  He did it a few times and had this adorable look of pride on his face.  Hmmm, maybe I should give him the vacuum next time and knock out some chores while we are at it!

"I love you silent and talking"...
Yeah, he doesn't have one of those.  Except for when he is sleeping, though even then we sometimes hear him murmuring in his sleep (soon-to-be sleep talker and walker thanks to his momma), and occasionally waking up screaming from what I am guessing is a bad dream.  Makes me so sad to think of him dealing with that, because what does he have in his life that is bad to dream about? :(
But talking, yes THAT he does.  He babbles all the time with this adorable little language of his own.  I am still trying to find the translation book because I would love to know what he is saying!


"I love (Ben) through and through...yesterday, today and tomorrow too."

This is Ben"s new trick-we call it "Roller Speed Crawling"..soon to be an Olympic sport, I am sure.

 

What are friends for, but to lick each other's furniture?

hanging out with friends from our Life Group

This is one of Ben's new favorite games.  He will stand at this drawer (which has all of his cups and bowls and bottles and stuff) and will pick up each sippy cup top and bottle top and taste it, then either hand me every item in the drawer as he methodically empties it, or just toss it all over the floor.

"Want some, Mom?"

5, 4, 3, 2.....ONE!

We have a one year old!  The countdown of the last year blew past us and all of a sudden we have a little boy, not a baby, in our home.  What a bundle of energy and noise he is, and what a delightfully exhausting job it is to be his parents! :)

The birthday bash was a huge success and though I told myself I would keep it simple and not do much since it was just the first birthday......yeah, I ended up doing a little...I had to, to make it fun and festive!  Would you expect anything less of me?


We started birthday celebration off right, with presents the day before and a special visit from Auntie Laurie (my best friend) and Ben's first set of Mega Blocks.

love the look of concentration....we may have an engineer in the making here

Ben was actually afraid of the balloons at first, but once he learned that you can throw them, whack them, bounce them, lick them, thwap them and chase them....well, they got REALLY fun!

Ben's best present of all was a visit from Gran (John's mom).  He filled up on snuggles and hugs and giggles and playtime with Gran and it was so special to have her there for the actual party.  She and Laurie and my mom helped tremendously to pull it all off and make it a wonderful celebration.

Birthday morning he got to open a few presents from Gran.  This was a little shopping cart with some plastic food.  His foodie mom was thrilled. :)

he's in training to take over the weekly grocery shopping

Look at those pearly whites!  He now has 8 teeth (two of which showed up and we didn't even know about them until they were in and announcing their presence!  A far cry from the work we all went through to get the first four!

A little decor for the party.  I actually had this sentimental moment while decorating after he had gone to bed.  I was remembering all the birthdays that I had as a little girl, waking up to a decorated house and presents and how special that felt.  And now I get to do that for Ben.  I was looking at the family room thinking of all the birthday celebrations it will see over the years as our family grows.  Ahh, a girl could get misty over all this, but not me of course. :)

AHHHHI LOVE PRESENTS!!

She's at it again!  Ok, I have secretly been wanting one of these awesome cupcake pans for YEARS, and then Linda bought me one for Ben's birthday!  Score!  A present for ME for Ben's birthday! 

As if the cake wasn't already amazing, I decided to add M&M's to it.  Seriously good.

My One Year Old tablescape...it's just so much fun!

I love my new kitchen--perfect for entertaining and buffet style get-togethers.  We enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches, a yummy jicama slaw, watermelon, tea, pasta salad and of course CAKE!

Ben loves to be the center of attention, so this part didn't phase him a bit.  In fact, before the cake time we had laid out a blanket in the center of the group and Ben kept trying to make sure the attention was still focused on him.  "I AM the birthday boy, after all!"

The first taste, and......

....his first reaction was a giggle.  I love my boy--that is how it should be--good food (especially sugary food) should just bring on a spontaneous giggle.

After about 3 bites of the cake and frosting Ben decided he was done and wanted his watermelon rind again.  Guess I shouldn't complain that he likes fruit more than dessert.  It won't last for long I am sure.

Ben loves to share now....his toys, and his food.  He will hand it to you and want you to take a bite or just eat the whole thing.  We are trying to encourage the whole sharing thing and saying "thank you" but are challenged a bit when the offering is soaked in a thick layer of slobber. 

This little face brought on the nickname "Mr. McTongueGrin"

Ben is so very talented at being messy!

Ben's most favorite present: a microwave.  He LOVES our microwave and lunges for it whenever he gets close to it.  He loves opening and closing the door, slapping the sides, pushing buttons and seeing the digital lights.  We found a play microwave that beeps and when you push start the turntable actually turns and the light goes on--very realistic and very adorable!

Jack and Ben playing nicely....for now. :)

All in all, a success!

Ode to Gran

 In honor of Gran Norsworthy's visit last week, here is....

Ode to Gran

Gran is so special

she's one of a kind

she tells me she loves me

most all of the time.

She helps me learn things

so I will be smart...

 

 ...and her snuggles are great

'cause they're right from the heart!

Gran makes me smile 

when she sings me a song.

She makes it so fun

 that I want to sing along!

She lets me do fun things

and gives a big smile, 

when I make silly faces and play awhile.

Gran loves to laugh

and I love it too.

She chuckles and grins

 so I giggle too!

She lets me be big

and try new things out,

and her kisses are great,

that I know about!

I love to be with her,

without a doubt,

whether doing something special...

...or just hanging out!

I love you Gran!

~love, Ben