Ben is pushing himself into a sit and trying to pull himself up!

The weekend of November 18th Ben pushed himself into a sit, and had done so a couple of times, but he really perfected it this past weekend of the 25th. Hardwood, carpet, it makes no difference. Now I know he prefers to bum scoot to get around because if we put him on his belly he immediately pushes himself up into a sit and scoots off. It's pretty darn cute.

Ben is also trying desperately to pull himself into a stand in his crib too. This makes naptime a little more interesting, because rather than go right to sleep he prefers to practice his new moves for a while.

I'm going to look at buying a lower crib now. We have one on loan from Robin and Beth, but with the side rail up I can't reach in to get Ben, and it's a bit of effort to get it in place. I'm hoping to find a crib low enough that I can just lean over. If I can find a crib that converts to a toddler bed, even better!

Ben and Santa!

I took Ben to Upper Canada Mall last week for a picture with Santa. Of course, I was so proud of Ben looking like such a big boy with Santa that I cried. Poor Ben! I'll likely be the most embarassing mom on the playground!

Anyway, here's the photo. :)

Ben is commando crawling

Ben can now move himself short distances on his tummy and seems to be getting himself a little higher off the ground each day. He can scoot on his bum more quickly, but I do think we'll see Ben crawling very very soon. (How many times have I said that?)

Maybe I'm hearing things...

But I could have sworn Ben said "hi" to a man who passed by us in Home Depot today while we were sitting on a bench. And apparently the man was "hearing things" too because he said "hi" back. :)

And Ben also said "up" with his arms out to Granny Bloomfield a few times last week. We haven't heard that one yet despite our best efforts.

Ben waved for the first time today!

This morning Ben waved good bye to the cashier at Shopper's Drugmart. I've never really spent any time teaching Ben to wave, so it's not something he's ever really done before. Every. Single. Cashier. however waves good bye to Ben so I guess it's something he's just picked up through observation. It was pretty cute. I don't know if I'll get a repeat, but it was very deliberate this morning.

Ben is also "creeping" a bit on his belly. He's much quicker scooting on his bum, but he's finally figured out how to move forward on his belly, even if he looks like he's in basic military training while he's doing it. :)

And I bought Ben some toddler toothpaste this morning. Until now I'd been brushing his teeth with plain, ol' water, but he's really enjoying the flavour of toothpaste (fruity-tooty, I believe) so brushing his teeth is a breeze.

Benjamin makes his first drawing for Daddy

I bought Ben some crayons and drawing paper the other day. He found the crayons quite tasty. Apparently the most pallatable is navy blue. Ben also made Daddy a piece of art for his office at work.

Ben weilds paper and a crayon:
Okay, enough silliness, let's get down to business:
Hm. What should I draw?

Presenting Ben's first work of art. TADAAA!

Going back to work in January

Yep, I'm returning to work, but only part-time. I'll be working three days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.) I'm currently looking for a dayhome to take Ben and when he's a bit older we'll look into daycare centres. I do think this will be a good thing for our family. Ben will have more exposure to other children in a different environment, I will still have a foot in the door at work, and financially things won't be as tight which benefits all of us. And I'm certain Ben will adjust much more easily than I will. I'm not looking forward to leaving him with someone else, but at least I will still have four full days with Ben per week.

I definitely have a lot of mixed emotions about this, but ultimately I feel confident that it is a perfect compromise.

Now give me a hug.

Ben has learned to give! (and other things)

I was shocked on Saturday when I held out my hand and asked Ben to give me his soother (I said, "Give to Mummy") and he did! He put it in my hand, released it, and retracted his hand. I figured it was a fluke, so I tested it out a few more times, and sure enough, each time he happily put it in my hand. Then I tested out giving some more on Sunday, and today, Monday - he's still giving. :)

Ben's also come around to eating chunky foods and more table foods, so his diet these days consists of a lot more food that he can pick up and feed himself. His favourite breakfast these days is toast and cream cheese with hard-boiled egg yolk mixed in. He's also accepting of stage 3 chunky jarred foods too. His menu has really opened up these past couple of weeks.

And Ben's becoming a more effiecient scooter. He can scoot all around the living room, from the living room to the kitchen, all around his bedroom, and from the hallway to the bathroom. We've installed a couple of safety swing-mount gates and the tops of our stairs.

I'll post some new photos soon. My laptop has recently died, so I'm on Nic's and not quite set up in my new computing home.

Scooting action

Ben is getting better at scooting around. Here is some video I captured of him this morning.

In theory, Ben is long and lean.

Ben had a follow-up appointment with his paediatrician today; she wanted to check on the rash/eczema he had when he was younger. It's been gone for a few months now, we've put him back on his old formula, and she says his skin looks great. No more follow-ups required.

They also took his measurements:

• weight = 25 lbs = 75th percentile
• height = 30.5 inches = 90th percentile
• head circumference = 18 inches = 50th percentile

His weight percentile is down, his height percentile is up, and his head has been following the 50th percentile growth curve since birth.

Anyway, based on Ben's measurements and percentiles I've concluded that there must be a lot of really short, fat babies out there!