Ben is properly outfitted for winter!

We got our first snowfall just this past week and we just got Ben completely outfitted this weekend. He's not fond of mittens, in fact he cries when he sees them (ha-ha), but they're growing on him.

Here are some pics we took today around the yard.

Making his first snow angel.

All aboard!

One of Ben's favourite things to do these days, especially when he wakes up in the morning or from his nap, is to load my arms up with things like his stuffed animals, blankets, and books. He announces each item as he adds it to the overwhelming pile in my arms... be-BEEE (blanket -- usually several of these), May'uh (his Mater from Cars stuffy), cah (car, usually his Lightening McQueen from Cars stuffy, or any number of toy cars), dih-gah (his book of diggers). And just when my arms couldn't possibly hold another thing he announces "BABY!" and hops on top of the pile and into my arms. So incredibly cute, and funny. :)

This is what happens when Ben has craft time with Daddy.

Hahahahaha!

A small victory for Mama!

Ben's not been keen on having us brush his teeth lately; he's all about doing it himself, and he loves to, and we tell him he's doing a great job, but that we need to help, and we don't press the issue, especially since he actually *likes* to brush his teeth (we want him to keep on liking it!)

But tonight I discovered his "currency" -- toothpaste! He absolutely loooooves toothpaste. So I let him brush first by himself, and when he demanded more toothpaste I explained that he could have more but Mama would do the brushing. He watched me put the paste on the brush, but protested when I tried to brush, so I said "that's okay, I don't have to brush your teeth if you don't want me too" and we left the bathroom... oh, how he cried. He really wanted that toothpaste. So. Back into the bathroom we go, I pick up the toothbrush again and explain that if he wants the toothpaste Mama will be doing the brushing, and it worked! He let me brush his teeth. Yay!

I love having such a reasonable kid. :)

Language development

"Hi Mama!" is what Ben *finally* said for the first time yesterday. He's been saying "bye-bye" for ages. In fact, "bye-bye" was his first word, but "hi" has been a long time coming! He's not very consistant with it, but he's started saying it, so it's a matter of time.

"Red pepper" is another new word in Ben's repertoire (which is too lengthy to list). We were having a dinner that contained red peppers, so I asked Ben to try a red pepper, and so he picked it up, looked at it, said "bye-bye ree pep-pah!", then popped it in his mouth and ate it. Ha-ha! This kid kills me.

And my beloved "buh-bee" is no more. Ben can now say "bubble."

However, strawberry is still "duh-pih-taw"... and we've yet to figure out how Ben derived "duh-pih-taw" from "strawberry", but he has and we understand it, so it does the job. I think it will be a bittersweet day for me when Ben starts saying "strawberry."

The many faces of Ben

I gave Ben a Kit Kat finger after dinner tonight. Here are the many faces that followed. (Click the image to see full-size version.)

Ben and Cooper go trick or treating

Andi and Cooper came over yesterday so we could bring the boys out trick or treating together. We only expected to hit a couple of houses, but the boys were really enjoying themselves. We were out for about an hour and went to about 12 houses. Both of their buckets were filled to the brim.

When we got home I went through Ben's candy to remove all peanut/trace peanut product and surprisingly there wasn't much at all. I sent the peanut stuff home with Andi and Cooper. When Ben gets older we'll keep peanut-free candy in the house to trade with him.

Here are some pics from our Halloween outing.

Nic hangs onto Ben and Cooper so we can get a pic of them together:
Ben takes a break before we get started:

Andi and Cooper, her little lion:

Me and my little elephant:

Ben and Cooper taking a legit break:

Heading back home (Cooper's way ahead!)

Ben dragging home his Halloween loot:

More airplane?

Tonight I read Ben a bedtime story in which a page had a picture of an airplane. After we finished reading Ben was asking for "mo' air-bay?" repeatedly. I didn't understand what he was asking for, so I asked him to show Mama, so up he got, walked from his bedroom to the top of the stairs still asking for "mo' air-bay". I carried him down the stairs and he ran to the front door pointing and still asking for "mo' air-bay". Finally I clued in; the other night we sat on the front steps watching spotting airplanes overhead, so he was wanting to go outside and watch for some more. It was really very cute.