Catching Up

Well, good thing my New Year's resolution wasn't to stay on top of my blogging, because I would have busted it for sure!

The Norsworthy home is full of life and busyness, mostly due to our lively busy little 18 month old.  He is just entering that stage where we feel like he is learning something new every day and surprising us with what he can understand and do.  Here are some of the highlights of what he is up to lately, and of course lots of pictures (which we know is the REAL reason you check this blog! :)

• He loves lids and containers....taking lids off and on, putting things in and out of containers, and he has mastered twisting lids on and off.  Now everything is fair game for him....no more letting him hold a bottle of sprinkles and thinking he will be content with just looking at it and shaking it to hear the fun sound.  Oh no, it is only a matter of seconds until the sprinkles are being sprinkled.  And he has no fear of messes.
• He is VERY talkative, just not in English.  He jabbers all day long, often "explaining" things to us or pointing and naming things, asking questions-all of which you can tell by his body language and tone of voice, but it is all in some dialect we are unfamiliar with.  So far we have narrowed it down to a Chinese/Spanish blend.....will come in handy if we ever come across a Chinese Spaniard in Seattle.  His English words are few, but he is very confident in them: "cow", "ca" (cat), and "uh-oh".  "Uh-oh" is his new favorite and he uses it often, but always in context.  Though I have caught him throwing something and then looking at me with this surprised face and saying "uh-oh!"  Apparently we need to work on the difference between "accident" and "on purpose".
• He communicates best through his signing.  He uses "all done", "please", "thank you", "milk" and "more" with pride and confidence.  It is so fun to see him see the results of his communicated word and our action to respond to it.  He will often point to an object and then look and me and sign "please" to ask for it.  Quite a little smartie!
• He is a super sleeper once again!!  We have been in the trenches of sleep training the last few months but after sticking to it we now have a little one who sleeps from 7:30 pm to 7:00 am, and takes a 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day.  Whoopeeee!!!  Granted, this is a new trend, and as my best friend says, "normal" or "usually" for a new mom is only what happened yesterday.   But the truly amazing thing that just makes me want to bust my buttons with pride and gratefulness is how he responds to going to sleep.  Perfect example: yesterday we had a fun visit from Aunt Jenny and cousin Wes and after they left Ben was in rare form, jabbering and talking and bouncing around the house telling us all kinds of things.  It was nap time and John turns to me and says (with much sarcasm) "Boy, he looks ready for a nap!"  I said, "just watch".  I told Ben, "Ben, it's time for nap", I picked him up, gave him his pacifier and laid his blanket on my shoulder.  He went from animated energy to melting against my shoulder and snuggling in with sleepy eyes.  I walked upstairs, laid him down and he slept for 2.5 hours without a peep.  Amazing.  I know, I count that blessing over and over and over again.
• He is very proficient at knowing his body parts.  We are up to 12 so far: hair, eyes, nose, tongue, ears, chin, hand, fingers, foot, toes, knee and belly button.  Not only does he point to his own, but when asked, he can point to other people's parts too and know who we are talking about.  His favorite by far is "belly button" and he grins with this little impish face when he gets to lift his shirt and find it.
• He hasn't said "mama" or "dada" yet, but I finally have concrete proof that he knows that those are our names.  We were looking at pictures on the wall the other day and I asked him "where is mommy?" and "where is daddy?" and he pointed to our faces correctly, without any help!  Yay!!  Occasionally he does say "mamamamamamama" but without making eye contact with me.  Then if I say "Did you say Mama?!  I am Mama!!" he just grins slyly and looks away as if to say "yeah, I know it's you, but I'm keeping that one in my back pocket for when I really need to use it!"  Little stinker.
• He is getting a little better at eating, though I never know what he will like or when.  Can't get him to eat meat for the life of me, but tonight he ate a wheat tortilla filled with rice, homemade poblano verde salsa and queso fresco cheese.  Go figure.
• He LOVES cleaning tools, i.e. brooms, mops, vacuums.  Now that he knows how to open the pantry doors my kitchen is littered daily with all my cleaning accessories.  Enter at your own risk and stay light on your feet because it is a mine field.
• He loves, loves, LOVES his grandparents.  He squeals with delight whenever he sees them and at the mention of their name he lights up and gets so excited.  We love having my parents come over regularly and share in all our fun.

playing with Auntie Jenny....maybe someday there will be lessons!

peeking in on a treat we were making, soft pretzel bites

Grandma and her boys

Grandpa has the best lap for stories

Aunt Melissa came for a visit and Ben was head over heels for her.  He wanted her to hold him all the time and was so sad when she left.

Playing with Granpa's snap trains, which were made for my Dad when he was a little boy

Our little Brit Baby

special visit with Auntie Laurie

found him doing this all by himself one day while I was in the kitchen

Disclaimer:  this video is quite long and full of just normal everyday moments, but for those who don't get to see it all the time, you might enjoy.

We had a fun Valentine's night with 8 kids in our house that we watched while their parents went out for a romantic dinner.  This was how Ben started with his cookie decorating.....

....and this was the end result.  Yes, he finished the cookie and had a blast doing it!