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?"