Fruit, Fruit, Fruit For The Home Team

Big Boy Classroom

Now that Ben is a professional walker and eater (that last one has never been an issue!) he was ready to move up into the one-year-old classroom at school. Miss Robin, his teacher in the old classroom, was reluctant to give him up, but she gave him the green light last week to move on up. Today was his first day with the older kids, and he handled it like a rock star. He walked in the classroom with a look of curiosity and wonder, and as soon as he saw the new and exciting toys to play with, he was off. He will now be able to enjoy lots of amenities the school has to offer, such as the ball room and the playground. Probably the biggest change for him is that he no longer takes his naps in a crib, but on a little cot. I was curious to see how this went, seeing how he has never slept in an unconfined environment before. But he fell asleep with no problem and took a super long nap - 3 hours! Maybe we should get him into a bed at home if he will take those kinds of naps! =) One definite bonus is now our daycare bill has decreased about $60 per month, so yay for more money! It's a little sad for us for him to be in that room without Miss Kim, who was the greatest one-year-old teacher ever! But if today was any indication on how well he will handle the transition, we're sure he'll do just fine!

Enough Already!

Again yesterday I got the call from Daycare. This time about Ben. The director told me he had thrown up and had a low grade fever. She was really cool about it though, and didn't ask us to pick him up early. I think they were enjoying hanging out with him in the office, because let's face it, he's pretty awesome. =) So once again we need to devise our plan for tomorrow since he is banned from school for 24 hours. My mom is a saint and agreed to watch him the whole day since, of course, it happened on a day that would difficult for either of us to take off. So all last evening Ben is eating lots and acting pretty much normal, and was completely fever and vomit free this morning. I spoke to my mom and it sounds like they are having a lot of fun together, so I guess it all works out in the end.

But my question is this.... can we please have ONE WEEK where no one gets sick, there are no holidays or other activities and/or daycare is closed. I feel like a circus juggler lately trying to balance everything. Lord, give me strength!

Peek-A-Boo! And Other Random Ben Facts

Ben is now a full on participant in the game of peek-a-boo. Yes, he has been playing the game for many months, hiding himself under a blanket and then whipping it off to "surprise" us. But in the last couple days he has actually started saying peek-a-boo. Well, at least he tries to say it. It really sounds more like "da-da-doo". But he will try to cover his eyes with his hands and when he pulls them away says "da-da-doo!" with a huge grin. Too stinkin' cute!



We're pretty sure that Ben is also trying to say Josh or Joshua. He will say something that sounds kinda like it, and when we then say Joshua, Ben's face will light up, as if to say "You actually get me!" We are starting to see some definite early language development with him, and we are so excited about that. Hopefully he'll keep it up.

We have also tried teaching him a few baby signs, and he's actually picking up on a couple of them. He knows "all done" and "more" and Andrew said that yesterday he did the "eat" sign. He doesn't do the sign for drink, but can get his point across loud and clear by trying to open up the fridge!

One last thing we have noticed with him is that he is understanding more and more of what we say and is following all sorts of commands. He will sit down, put his binky in his crib and give Josh a hug all on command. It's a great feeling to know that we're starting to understand each other!

200 and Counting!

Wow! We've had this blog going for over 3 years, and I have apparently been blogging my little heart out this year. We have reached our 200 post mark! I love being able to keep a record of the things we have done and the progress the kids are making. This blog has really turned into our kids' scrapbook (since who has time for actual scrapbooking!). I love looking back at old posts about when Josh was little, or when Ben was brand new. I think its better than flipping through the pages of a scrapbook. You can access it anywhere you are without having to lug around albums! I tend to be a little long winded (have you noticed?) so this is a great medium for me to keep a family record. I hope that our 3 readers enjoy reading our little corner of the internet as much as we enjoy writing and sharing it. Thanks to anyone who takes time out of their busy day to check in on us. We love you all!

Now, onto 201... I'm a blogging addict!

The Best Laid Plans...

It wasn't a huge shock to us on Monday afternoon when Andrew was told by the daycare that Ben had a fever and so couldn't return to school until Wednesday. He had been somewhat congested and had a very low grade fever on Monday morning, and usually the afternoon is when it really hits. So, of course the preparations began to figure out who was staying home with him. What's hard this week is that we both already have to take a day off of work because daycare is closed Thursday and Friday for teacher training. It's difficult for me to take too much time off of work since I am the one and only employee, and Andrew had something that he had to get done this morning, so we devised the perfect plan. I would drop Ben off at my parents house and my mom would watch him until Andrew was done and Andrew would pick him up, then I would pick Josh up from school that afternoon. Sounds great, right? Wrong! As is always the way, the kid that is being forced to stay home is perfectly fine. Fever is gone and he is rip roaring ready to get into whatever trouble he can find. But as soon as Josh woke up this morning we knew our plan was foiled. He didn't have a fever, but we knew there was something that was not quite right about him. Andrew made his breakfast and sat him down at the table, but he wouldn't touch it, which is very unlike him. Josh is big on breakfast, just like his Mommy. All he wanted to do was cuddle with us. So we decided to keep him out of school today too. Okay, no big deal. Instead of dropping just Ben off, I'll drop them both off. Still a pretty good plan. Oh no. Wrong again. Right after I called my mom to ask her if she could watch them both this morning, without any warning, Josh emptied the contents of his stomach right on the living room rug. And then again on the living room rug...and then again in the hallway. By the time we actually made it into the bathroom, his tummy was feeling just fine again. SO, second change of plans for the morning. The final verdict was that I would stay home until Andrew got done with his work project, and then I would go in. I was at work by 10:30, so I really only missed 2 hours today. But my goodness. This morning gave our normal stressful mornings a real run for their money.

In the end, Josh is completely fine. We figure this was his annual random throw-up that he tends to do. The rest of the day he couldn't get enough food in him. So he should be cleared to go to school tomorrow. The day turned out okay, but what a morning!

Halloween 2008

Halloween has come and gone, and it really was the best one ever! On Wednesday night we carved our pumpkin, and Josh even helped scoop out some of the goo. He quickly decided that job wasn't very glamorous, so of course the rest of the work fell to Mommy. While I was carving what I think was a pretty kick butt pumpkin, Josh set to work painting his very own pumpkin that we had gotten at the farm a couple weeks ago. He had a blast. I put some of each color into paper cups, and showed him how we mix colors and make different colors. He thought that was pretty darn cool. Then I showed him the coolest part of all... at least he thought so. I gave him a cup with just water in it to clean his brushes, and he was amazed that the water would change colors. Before long, the pumpkin painting was forgotten, and we were just getting paint on our paintbrush and making the water change colors. But his pumpkin definitely got sufficiently painted. Benny even helped out some.

Friday was awesome. Andrew and I got off of work early and picked up the kids right after nap. We went to my parents house to show off the costumes, and then came home for dinner and to get ready for the big show! All of my concerns that Josh wouldn't want to wear his costume were completely unfounded, thank goodness!!! He happily got into his costume, and never once complained about it being scratchy or hot. The face painting took a little coaxing, but we finally got him to come around on that, and we ended up with the cutest little guinea pig ever! We went trick or treating down about 3 streets in our neighborhood. Josh was guiding our way, telling us which houses had lights on that we could go to. Ben was really getting in on the fun too. Whenever someone would hold out their bowl for him, he would take his candy and drop it in his bucket, like an ol' pro! After about an hour, Josh told us he was done and wanted to go home. But with 2 kids trick or treating, you end up with a TON of candy without even trying! So we headed home and then headed out again to join our small group for a get together. Josh even wanted to put on his costume again to show his friends! We all got home and collapsed at around 10:00. What a fun day.

Now it's November, the weather is cooling, birthdays are abounding (including mine!) and the holiday season is rapidly approaching. I gotta say, our Halloween was a great way to kick off all of the fun of the season!