Parenting Vs. Taking Care Of...

We knew it would happen. Our little prince is starting to get opinions, demands, and desires. That cute little pointing trick he used to do? Now it's a fast point followed with a loud "arghhh" sound (which is cool if he were a pirate, not cool since he isn't). If he doesn't get whatever it is he thinks he needs, it quickly turns into a louder arghh and possibly fake tears. This had made me realize that up until now, we were simply "taking care" of Bennet. Now, it's starting to be true "Parenting." Do you respond to his grunts and yells? Every time I do, it's positive reinforcement to do it again next time. His tamtrums are harder to ignore because rather than lie on the floor and scream, he gets up, walks over to my legs, and holds on while screaming bloody murder. I can't move, can't pick him up (don't want to reinforce the tantrum), and can't spend the next 10 minutes standing still waiting for him to stop. I end up walking in circles so he can't zero in on my pant leg and grab hold. I keep trying to reinforce the good behavior and ignore the bad but it's really hard! I thought "parenting" would be easy...

The Joy Of Little Boys

In this pic, you can cleary see the nicely healed cut on Bennet's left eyebrow. First real injury came and went. The black eye? That's from this weekend. Ben tried skydiving off his chair and didn't leave time for his chute to open (a common rookie mistake). His face hit the other chair cutting his upper lip, making his nose bleed, and evidently causing a nice black eye. The bruise on his forehead above his right eye? He was playing behind the curtain over the back door and walked into the bookcase next to the door. He bounched off the bookcase, fell backward, and hit the back of his head on a stool. It's been a pretty fun week at our house.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We Had An Accident

Day Care called me at 9:30 this morning and told me Bennet had a "little" accident. He had fallen and cut his eyebrow (stress level rising). I arrived at day care to find my naked son being held down by one woman while another woman was holding an ice pack against his eye. They took his clothes off so as not to get any more blood on them. The fact that Ben was so scared that he was feveriously scratching his bare stomach seemed less important that getting more blood on an already bloody shirt (urge to kill rising). As soon as he saw me, the crying got worse. I picked him up, he looked right at me, then immediately stopped crying and pointed to the toy shelf (urge to kill fading). The bleeding had basically stopped at this point. I was surprised by this until Bennet looked at me and said "I ain't got time to bleed." I heard someone then scream "get to the chopper" but realized I was now in a flashback to the movie Predator with Arnold Schwarzenhew87q (or however you spell it) and quickly rejoined the present situation.
It turns out he had fallen right into the hinge on the door causing his eyebrow to split open. When I asked, "shouldn't there be a cover over the hinge?" I was told that the other rooms had covers but the INFANT/TODDLER room didn't for some reason. I think my silence to that answer was enough for the staff to understand how utterly ridiculous that was.
I took Ben to the doctor, they took us right in, and within 20 minutes they had glued his eyebrow back together. He doesn't have a black eye yet so I didn't post a picture. With the glue on his eye, you can barely see where it was cut. I'm waiting for the real shiner to show up tomorrow.
I'm not mad at the day care. If they put these kids in a padded room with straight jackets they'd still find a way to get hurt. Babies get hurt, it's an important lesson on how to avoid getting hurt in the future. Babies are made to bounce back quickly. They forget it ever happened. It's all part of growing up. blah blah blah. As I reflect on the day, I have to say I'm actually quite proud of my little man. Those of you who know anything about my childhood will recall by the age of 6, I had had about 3-4 sets of stitches on my face, including my eyebrow. By the time I turned 20, I think it was 6 or 7 different "uh-oh's" totaling well over 20 stitches on various portions of my battered mug (what's up Mickey Rourke...amateur). Bennet passed his first test with flying colors...and no matter what anyone tells you, chicks dig scars. For his bravery and speedy recovery, I want to give Bennet a medal of honor...or at least a banana of bravery.

Baby We Were Born To Run

Today was the first warm day of 2009 so we took Bennet out into the world. Luckily our neighbor Hailey was also out enjoying the weather. They were so cute walking around together. Ben pointed out every car on the street to her and said "cah cah cah". Hailey told Ben all the animal sounds she knows. I, overcome by overwhelming adorableness, wet my pants twice.

Bennet In Action

Press play!!!!

Bennet's Ninja Pose

Here is Ben in the Preying Mantis position, one of the many martial arts attacks he has mastered. Actually, Ben has decided now that he is one, he should try to master walking. He can make it across the room. However, he's got his arms up (as shown) and a slightly crooked gait that makes him look like a drunk chimpanzee. To top it off, he's so proud of himself he's usually laughing. Every time I see him do it, it makes me proud. Watching his confidence grow is awesome. Watching his head bounce off tables, stairs, the floor, etc...not so awesome...

That's What Cake Tastes Like?!?

Check out this picture. There's one of two things happening. Either Ben is slowly transforming into the Hulk or he FINALLY realized how awesome cake is. Caryn was eating some leftover cake and Ben suddenly wanted to try it. She put a piece in his mouth and his eyes lit up like a heroin addict in a poppy field. I could barely hold onto him as I put him in his high chair. He proceeded to poke, smoosh, and eat his week old birthday cake. I guess he didn't want the big party after all, just wanted to celebrate alone with mom and dad. Happy birthday buddy.

One Year (and 3 days) Old!

Believe it or not, last Friday was Bennet's first birthday. (judging by his reaction above, can you imagine the drama when he turns 40?) I didn't get to posting until now for two reasons: 1) His actual due date was January 12th and I feel I'm still owed those 3 days of carelessness. 2) It was a crazy weekend filled with Elmo balloons, party hats, and shiny new toys.
I really can't grasp how quickly the year passed. Bennet has learned to roll over, crawl, walk, grow teeth, point, talk, laugh, play, and clap. He knows where his belly and nose are, can give a high five, and can sign "more" and "all done" with his hands while eating. The only thing I learned during the past year was not to invest with a guy whose last names rhymes with "made off." (how did no one see that coming?)
From the jubilant highs to the scariest lows, it's been a year I'll never forget. That first doctor visit when they said Ben was losing too much weight and I thought "My God, I'm going to kill this baby." Fast forward a month when he was in the 90th percentile for weight and I think "we can do this, he's going to be a great kid." Fast forward 8 months to Ben throwing a bowl of peas onto the floor and I think "that's it, I am purposely going to kill this kid." Somewhere between thoughts of pure love and infanticide lies the true meaning of parenthood. You learn what different cries mean. You have no problem sticking your nose up to his butt to check if he made a "deposit" (even more weird is you secretly enjoy the smell of pampers). You're excited to watch his personality grow but cringe as he gets more "opinions"...he knows tupperware on the table usually has cookies in it and if he sees said tupperware, no other morsel of food may enter his mouth until a complete inspection of the contents of said container are completed and tasted. We tried putting cooked carrots in a container on the counter. He looked at us like "you have to be kidding, do you think I'm a 4 month old?!?" Smarty pants...
In closing, leading up to this day I was trying to think of some profound way to talk about the first year and all I could come up with was poop jokes and picky eating. So, to all of you without kids, let me just say that parenthood is that best thing that has ever happened to me. To those of you with kids, all I have to say is "la la la la, la la la la, Elmo's world. Elmo loves his goldfish, and crayons too."

Bennet's First Christmas

This Gap box was his favorite present...

3 Headed Christmas Monster

This is just a nauseating sea of holiday flannel. Still not sure how Caryn talked me into this but it's definitely blackmail material for when Ben gets older. Actually, the thing that bothered me the most about the pajamas is that mine weren't footie pj's. Ben's toes were safely wrapped in a rubber soled, flannel bootie. I was exposed to the elements.

Fun With Strangers

Bennet, the stranger wants you to sit on his lap...
See the little white thing on his leg? It's a cheerio. He had a mouthful until I handed him to Santa. It was more like a silent scream but because he had his mouth wide open, each cheerio, one by one, dropped to the floor. Merry Christmas.

The Nebulizer

(lyrics sung to the tune of "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven)
I'm the Nebulizer
I have to suck on this tube
Breathe in albuterol
While I'm sitting still.
'Cause my infection filled
All my lungs with goo
I have to breathe this gas
But get to watch TV to!

Two Steps

It's not just the name of a Dave Matthews Band song anymore, it's what Bennet just did half an hour ago!!! He is 11 months and 2 days old. He was leaning on me with one hand and eating a piece of string cheese with the other. He decided he needed both hands to shove the last bit of cheese in his mouth so he let go of me, stood upright for about 10 seconds, then just looked at Caryn and I and took 2 steps before sitting down on his butt. He didn't seem to understand why we were so excited but did manage to clap his hands and smile. Plus, since Caryn and I were both right there, it is an official "first walk." Coincidentally, the video camera wasn't charged and the regular camera didn't have a memory stick in it (the pic is from a few weeks ago). I can't wait for Ben to take 15 steps because that's the title of a Radiohead song (the greatest band ever). It's been a helluva year! Merry (early) Christmas.

Pensive Bennet

To the company who made this sweater, I want royalties when you use this picture in your ads.

Starting at Short Stop Today...

We have a circular coffee table in our TV room. Ben and I spent 10 minutes rolling a ball back and forth to each other yesterday. It was really amazing to see him think about grabbing the ball as it rolled towards him. (even more amazing is the fact that the table was cleared of the usual junk mail and other cluttery crap) Plus, the look on his face when he actually caught the ball was really cute (of course when I got up to get the camera, he felt the game was over and went back to trying to lick the cats tail). Anyway, you can imagine how proud I am now that my son has shown the smallest amount of athletic skill. I can hear the argument now..."Yes you have to go to baseball practice. No you can't take ballet lessons. Stop crying." :)

Happy Autumn

My Kryptonite

The kid loves bananas. What baby doesn't? I however hate bananas. It's not just the flavor. The simple sight of someone else eating a banana actually makes me a little nauseous. It was difficult for me just to take these pictures. As Bennet is learning to look at our reaction to a situation, I know it will be important not to let my disgust turn him off of natures most nutritious and arguably most phallic fruit. Nevertheless, the fear that keeps me up at night is the inevitable day when Ben tries to get me to share his banana with him ...must ...not ...vomit ...on ....sons ...face ....arghhhh.

Unclean!

As the weather turns colder, I'm noticing how dry and cracked my hands are getting. After dirty diapers, gas station pumps, and general daily activity, I wash my hands so often they're like sand paper. However, this doesn't bother me quite as much as the obvious question: How often did I wash my hands BEFORE Ben was born?...

Lil' Stinker

Ben's numerous nicknames always seem to have "stink" in them (Stink-Eye, Stinky Pants), so it was only fitting that he was a skunk for Halloween! Notice the resemblance between Ben and the pumpkin? Two bottom teeth and a cute button nose.

There Will Be Blood

Here's our little bruiser with his first black eye. I know what you're thinking; "Daddy is teaching Bennet how to listen..." Before anyone calls the authorities, he did it to himself. Evidently a framed picture of himself was so overwhelmingly cute that he tried to physically imprint it on his face. He did handle it well, although we adults still feel a little guilty.

Wish We Had A Dog

Here's Bennet covering himself in spaghetti. He was really pissed we were giving him something that hadn't been through a blender...until some got in his mouth. He then got real excited, shoved a handful in his mouth, and threw the rest on the floor. Somewhere there is a golden retriever puppy looking for a floor to lick clean...

My Two Uncles

Insert gay joke here...
-thanks guest author (soon to be competitive blogger) R.C.B.

Hit Me Beatty One More Time

Look who came to visit all the way from Australia! See that glass in the lower right corner of the pic? Mr. "I don't spill anymore" did just that moments after this shot was taken. To be fair, Ben's arm technically knocked over the glass. It's comforting to know after all these years, some things never change.

9 Months

Nine months of pregnancy...check
Nine months of having a baby...check
Stories of vomit, poop, sleepless nights...check

I know it's cliche to say but I can't believe it's been 9 months already. (I also realize saying it's cliche is itself cliche). I haven't been good about posting because I really just don't have a lot of time to do it. This kid thing is really putting a damper on my free time. Let me fill you in. Ben can pull himself up on furniture and walk around. He still only has 2 teeth. He can wave goodbye (although not always at the appropriate time). We're waiting any day now for him to just let go of the furniture, take a moment to balance, and run out the front door (hopefully he'll be nude just to make the story that much better). I keep telling myself to be better about posting...although it's mostly for the ego stroke of people telling me I'm funny....we all have our motives. Coming soon....Halloween pics...

Pumpkin Picking With Our Pumpkin

These pumpkins are actually normal sized, Ben is just freakishly large.

Enough Said

Little Chomper

Ben has a tooth! I just happened to notice it while he was smiling...this little whitish spot on the top of his bottom gum. There's not much sticking out so a pic of it will come later. For now, here's a random shot.

What Do Ben And Ned Flanders Have In Common?

To the untrained eye, this picture is just Ben in a high chair. Look closer, there are a few important things going on here. First, Ben has learned to pick up little pieces of cereal and put them in his mouth. I know what your thinking...I've seen chimpanzees do that with their own poop, big deal. Well, it is a big deal, it's a major developmental step. Ok, here's the real reason I'm excited. He's doing it with his left hand!!! I was fine with a boy or girl. When he's older, he can be straight or gay. He might like running better than swimming. But I'll be damned if my firstborn son is a righty! I already want to go out and buy him a pair of "special" scissors.

Coffee Break

Ben needed a little rest while eating breakfast the other morning. I guess the Starbucks wasn't strong enough for him.