Pictures and stories of Norm, Fern, Benjamin - the Big Brother and Nicolas -
the Little Brother and Sofia Grace - the baby sister.
A new chapter has started in this household of only human feet and no two days have yet been the same.
It's never too early to start developing good habits. So the days of eating on the green floor seat on the kitchen counter are over. We now have this little booster seat, that was a shower gift, set up on a chair at the dining room table. Today Benjamin ate at the table for the first time. Like a civilized human.
Here is Norm getting him situated:
Ready to eat!
Eating. Cali and Pellet were so intrigued by this new process. Since Benjamin is pretty much at their eye level, they were all up in our business. But they finally settled down. Pellet laid at the feet of his chair and Cali sat next to us and stared.
When we finished, the bottom tray doubles as a play tray. So since he is into banging his hand and toys, he loved smacking the chains on the tray!
Benjamin's school asked for a family portrait... they have a section of the classroom where each baby's family is displayed. The teachers say that when the babies get older (than Benjamin) they like to go up to the wall and look at mom and dad. So the other day when our friend Kerrie was over, she took our (current) family picture!
Next step is to take one with the dogs... we won't hold our breath for that one though.
Half a year already! Six months ago this morning, we were gifted a tiny little human. Six months is such a short time to develop and grow as much as Benjamin has developed and grown...
He is becoming an awesome eater! He loves all the foods he's had so far... avocado, sweet potato, squash, potato, apple, bananas, pear and rice cereal! We had a week or so of stomach issues, so we had to do the apple, cereal and banana diet for a few days until his stomach got it together, but we are back to normal now. We have been so lucky that he has had no issues with transitioning to more full-time bottles or to formula. He eats everything in whatever vessel is delivered to him.
He is starting to recognize his name! He also recognizes his bottle and opens his mouth as soon as he catches glimpse of it. Even if they are clean bottles on the drying rack... They teach him sign language at school, so we try to carry that over at home. Slowly he is starting to learn "milk" and "more". It is amazing how his little brain is constantly working and learning.
He grabs his feet and rolls... the other day he took his sock off and chewed it up until it was soaked.
He has been sleeping through the night more consistently. And he has been sleeping in his room like a big boy. No more sleeping in the room with mom and dad. He loves his crib! When he wakes up (for the most part) he plays all by himself until either he starts screaming or we come grab him.
He is the sweetest little human we know. Each day we are more and more in love with him.
Five months already. That is almost half a year. Benjamin is growing so quickly! He is so awesome.
He has had lots going on in his little life over this last month. He started eating solid food - well, I wouldn't necessarily call it "solid", let's just say it is something else besides milk. And it involves a spoon. He now rolls every kind of way, to the point where he wakes up facing opposite direction in his crib! He can reach his toes and has started discovering his hands (as of this morning!). He moves them in slow motion and stares at them mesmerized.
He makes all kinds of noises with his mouth. I am pretty sure he has said "agua".. twice. But still no mama or papa. He doesn't always take his pacie even when he is cranky and you try to force feed it to him. He sure has a little temperament and will let you know right away when he is ready to move on to the next activity. Or when he is done eating. Or when he has a burp. Or when he is tired of the car seat.
A big step for him this month is that he started school and he is doing so great! All his teachers love him - three of them are latin, so they speak to him in Spanish (win!). Another big accomplishment is that he is now sleeping through the night (for the most part.. and mainly on school nights, but hey, we'll take what we get).
He absolutely loves music - and with that, my singing! Maybe because I am his mother and he loves me unconditionally or maybe because he doesn't yet know the difference between good singing and cats dying. Speaking of singing, I think we might have been singing happy birthday on picture one! :)
Well, we are officially a household with a child. Tonight we finally put up "the" calendar on the fridge. You know, the staple on the refrigerator that keeps families with children as sane as possible.
It started with Norm needing to be off on this one Saturday because I have a wedding at work and will need to be gone from 8am on. Then it was followed by Norm not being able to drop him off on Tuesdays and Thursdays (usually Norm drops Benjamin off at school and I pick him up). Then it was followed by Norm "might" be able to pick him up on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I should plan on it just in case. I forgot to mention that pretty much every Monday in September I have late night functions so Norm will have to pick him up from school, which is not a big deal since he is usually off on Mondays, but sometimes he has to work. It all ended up with both of our brains on overwhelmed mode. Exactly.
So here is our "the" calendar... it is very primitive - did you know that you can get calendar templates from Excel? me neither. I am sure as the months go by and as he grows up, the calendar will evolve, right now it got us out of crisis mode...
