Ben and his Christmas blanket

As promised here's a picture of Ben with his Christmas blanket made especially for him by his cousin, Alexander. It's a lovely blanket and Alex worked very hard on it. Ben loves it! Thank you very much, Alex!

Happy 1st Birthday, Benjamin!

Ben turned 1 year old yesterday!

So much has happened this past month. Ben learned to push to sitting, Ben learned to crawl, he learned to pull to standing, and I can now say Ben is officially cruising. We think Ben may have said his first word: "gat" for "cat." He's said it a few times, but not every time, so time will tell. Ben's also recently learned to pet the cats properly rather than grabbing two fistfuls of cat and pulling with all of his might.

Ben's birthday was a busy day. Grandpa Beaton and Nanny Jean phoned to wish Ben a happy birthday. Granny and Granddad Bloomfield came up to the house for cake, along with Uncle Tim, Aunt Jenn, and cousin Ian. Ben opened a number of presents, one of which was a pewter piggy bank inscribed with Ben's name and the date of Ben's 1st birthday from Granny and Granddad - I cried. I held it together when we sang happy birthday and had cake afterwards.

Later in the day Nic gave Ben his bath. Ben had a present for Daddy: a nice big crap in the tub. Nic had to evacuate the toys, remove the turd, drain the tub, then hose Ben down with the shower head. Apparently Ben thought this was hysterically funny. I came upstairs just as Nic was getting Ben out of the tub. We decided we'd let Ben crawl around in his birthday suit for a while (and he's becoming quite the crawler now!)... afterall, it is his birthday. He sure loves being naked. Then Ben peed on the landing... Nic noticed when he stepped in the puddle - he couldn't catch a break at all this evening. I love hardwood.

Then I had a cuddle with Ben, read him his bedtime story, and he went to sleep for the night shortly afterwards.

So that's been Ben's 1st birthday anniversary in a nutshell. And what can I say? He's a sweet kid and we love him dearly. I can't imagine our lives without him. It all sounds so cliche, but it's just so true. I look forward to what the years will bring (except for the teen years when he comes home late from a party and stops to puke on the front steps.)

Happy birthday, Ben! We all love you very, very much. Many hugs and kisses.

And here are a few pictures of the birthday boy:

Some Christmas photos

I'm a little late with the pics. It's been ridiculously busy around here between preparations for Christmas and Ben's birthday two days later.

Ben got quite a load of Christmas goodies. Here's a list of some of the highlights:

• LeapStart leap pad from Mommy and Daddy
• two books for the leap pad from Ben's Great Uncle Vince
• a Little People castle set from Mommy and Daddy
• a Fisher Price Sights and Sounds walker/rider from Granny and Granddad Bloomfield
• various bath toys, books, cars, etc. from Grandpa Beaton and Nanny Jean
• a pair of Robeez navy blue booties from Aunt Jenn, Uncle Tim, Emma, and Ian
• bibs, t-shirts, and a book from Aunt Beth, Uncle Robin, Jon, and Alex
• a Peek-A-Blocks farm and books from Ben's buddy Cooper (and Andi, and Vinny)
• a large peg board from his Grand Mémère

Most importantly though, Ben received a beautiful hand-knit blanket made by his 9 year old cousin, Alex. Alex worked so hard on the blanket leading up to Christmas. And he did a beautiful job. I'll take a picture of Ben with his blanket later today and post it.

Here are a few photos from Christmas morning:

Ben is officially "cruising"!

Since learning to pull himself to standing earlier in the week he's now learned to "cruise"... to walk around holding onto furniture. Last night Ben was doing laps around the coffee table and today he used his drum as a prop to stand up, then worked his way over to the coffee table, held on, then walked to the sofa. His gross motor skills are developing at a fast and furious rate now. It won't be long before we're literally chasing him around the house!

And in other news: I'll be making Ben's birthday cake. It seems that bakeries don't "do" egg-free cakes. Who knew?! I thought eggs were a common allergen (and Ben is currently allergic to egg whites.) So, I ran all over god's green earth today in search of various ingredients and untensils for cake making and being Christmas it appears that the value of icing sugar may be greater than gold. I bought two bags. Anyway, those of you who will be here for Ben's birthday - consider yourselves warned! ;)

Children are not unlike puppies

Ben is teething again.

His incisors were a breeze as far as teething goes, but now he's onto molars and bicuspids. Good fun. And they're hard to see without resulting in an upset child and a bitten finger (usually mine) so I haven't been able to get a good look in there. Based on the peeks I've been sneaking while Ben's mouth opens his mouth of his own volition I can see his gums are raised and red. Hope we see something soon.

My Little Drummer Boy

One of our best toy purchases was the Beebop Drum kit from Costco. Ben loves it, as you'll see. He's been drumming for a little while and is getting pretty coordinated.

Ben pulled himself into a stand today!

Mind you, he was standing in his crib screaming his head off over the soothers he threw out of the crib that landed on the floor (ha!), but HE DID IT! Yeah Ben!!

He also managed to disconnect the monitor transmitter too, so I've moved it out of reach. Oh, we best start preparing ourselves for all the mischief to come. :)

Ben's also getting the idea of spoon-feeding himself. I'll post some video later.

Ben crawling

While Ben prefers to scoot, he can actually crawl. He's beginning to figure out when crawling is more advantageous to scooting. A little prompting will get him crawling too.

Scooting and sorting