Let it snow!

I don’t really care for the cold and snow, but it was a lot of fun introducing Benjamin to the concept for the first time Saturday!

Here he is all bundled up in the closest thing we could come to a snow suit. It is part of the box of clothes we are borrowing from my cousin Jen, and it is pretty darn cute!

Here he is after Jeremy made a pile around him, removed a glove and told Benjamin to stick his hand in the snow. Then, he took a handful and tried to get him to eat it. Poor Benjamin!

Perhaps later I will post the video of Jeremy tossing snow balls at Benjamin and then accidentally smacking one in his face!

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

I haven’t been doing a very good job keeping up with my posts! So, here is a summary of life in the Hilty household since last time.

We still are fighting the coughs that hit three weeks ago. But. we all feel much better, so that is a good thing. Benjamin is cutting more teeth…he never seems to stop… so that has been the most recent challenge. We think he is getting his right side molars and the canines will follow shortly. It is crazy that at 11.5 months, he has 10 teeth! The problem is that when he is teething, he bites…the furniture, random objects…anybody that picks him up or walks within a few feet of him. I could feel his teeth through my leather boots this morning! We aren’t quite sure how to curb this new bad habit. He doesn’t do it unless he is really hurting…but it isn’t something we want to continue!

 

We spent our Thanksgiving in Bluffton and Findlay. It was so nice to visit family and have some down time to catch up on sleep and relax. Benjamin learned so many new things while we were there. He learned to say “Nana,” something that sounds like “see” for Daisy, and Ba for bottle. He also learned how to sign “all done,” but instead of waving his hands, he waves both of them at the same time. He thinks this is how you wave “bye bye” also. I wish I would have caught it on camera. The funniest moment of the weekend was when he sat in his high chair at the top of the basement stairs, happily watching Papa paint the stair walls while he ate his dinner. He just grinned and grinned! Again, I didn’t get what would have been an awesome photo!

We also spent some time with his grandparents in Bluffton. He got his pictures taken at Grandma Jan’s house, and we plan to order some next week, so stay tuned!

Benjamin LOVED playing with Nana. They spent lots of time reading books and singing songs.

When we got back to Cincinnati, he didn’t know what to do with himself after such an exciting weekend.

Here is a photo of him trying to break out of his gated kitchen. One of his new skills is turbo crawling. He can turn it on when we least suspect it and take off for the stairs before we even notice he is gone. That means, we have to keep the gates closed ALL the time. This does not make him happy!

While Benjamin has always had a sense of humor, he has been cracking us up with his antics. He loves to make us laugh as much as we love to make him laugh! His “pig nose” is the cap from my shaving gel. We use it as a cup in the tub to wash his hair. He also decided it is a nice cup with which to drink tub water. Eww!

Jeremy insists Benjamin needs a hair cut. But, I can’t imagine cutting these precious curls. Just look how adorable they are!

Finally, here is a photo of Benjamin watching story time with Nana. We recorded my mom reading books, so if we can’t Skype or we can’t visit in person, he can watch her on television. He especially liked her puppet, Charlie Bear!

I am trying to think if there are any more developments. I guess the only other thing is our adventure in trying to get Benjamin to eat regular food that isn’t delivered in the pureed form. So far, it is a challenge. He will eat graham crackers, apple slices, cantaloupe slices and Gerber snacks that resemble Cheetos. Yep. That’s it. Occasionally, I can sneak in a few bites of Cream of Wheat if I am lucky. Otherwise, that’s his diet. So healthy! The other challenge is getting baby food in his mouth on a spoon, because he likes to throw temper tantrums when he doesn’t get to feed himself. If you hand him the spoon, he just flings the food on the floor. My precious baby is turning into a VERY strong-willed toddler! But, I love him to pieces and wouldn’t trade him for the world! :)

Here is a video of me trying to convince him to eat Cream of Wheat. He was laughing so hard he was crying. Jeremy just recorded him when he was winding down, so he wasn’t really laughing all that much. Then, you can see the stubbornness…he was ready to fling that food onto the walls!

 

 

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11 months!

Our precious baby Benjamin is almost a toddler! He is 11 months old and is growing like a weed. Last time we checked, he was almost 23 pounds. I haven’t yet measured to see how long he is, but I imagine he is close to 30 inches now. We will find out in December at his 12-month checkup. I wanted to get a really good picture for this blog post, but Benjamin has been so sick all week, it proved difficult. Today, he finally felt a little better, and here he is showing off his dance moves. You will notice the music is coming from a card my parents got him months ago that continues to be one of his favorite amusements.

 

Benjamin has been up to a lot this month.

He loves to laugh and jump and play peek-a-boo while hiding in the curtains. He thinks it is hilarious if you crawl after him a sneak peeks around corners. If we ever leave a gate open, he will either crawl to the other side and swing it open and close, or he will make a beeline for the stairs. He has this turbo mode to his crawl that actually is difficult to keep up with if you aren’t paying attention.

Opening and closing doors, cupboards, drawers, books, etc. is a major fascination as are playing with shoe laces, strings, ribbons and anything else that catches his eye…like earrings, necklaces, lace, sequins, Jeremy’s arm hair (ouch!)

Benjamin has a major independent streak, but he also likes for Mommy and Daddy to do some things for him. I was concerned when he wasn’t really holding his bottle, so I asked his babysitter if he holds it at her house. Apparently, he does all the time.At home, he likes to do other things while we hold the bottle…like twirl Mommy’s hair, rub Daddy’s scruffy chin, watch television or just go limp with relaxation. It is pretty precious, since he rarely likes to sit still long enough to cuddle.

Benjamin doesn’t say any words besides the occasional “mum mum mah” and “da da da",” but he chatters all the time and has the funniest noises and expressions. He carries on conversations, even if we have no idea what he is saying. Perhaps he is calling things his own words, and I just haven’t learned them yet. We are trying to teach him a few signs, but so far he makes it clear what he wants without them. Hands raised high means “up please.” Climbing up your leg means “up NOW!” Batting away the spoon and making faces definitely means “I am ALL DONE!” as does throwing food on the floor. (grrr)

Exploring is by far his favorite activity. What is he in search for? Cords, electrical outlets, electric space heaters, dangling objects, paper to eat, lamp poles to tip… basically all dangerous things that keep us on our toes. He also is constantly on the look out for the remote controllers, the mouse and keyboard. He LOVES to play with them more than anything else. For Christmas, his Aunt MB and Uncle David got him a laptop computer that makes music. He likes to groove to this as well as his musical cards.

Here he is Friday when I had to bring him home early from his baby sitter’s house, because he was so sick and miserable. We sat outside in the leaves until his doctor’s appointment. It was 70 degrees and probably the last warm day of Fall…unless we get lucky again. The doctor said he didn’t have an ear infection, but he was wheezing. So, we have been giving him breathing treatments and doing our best to distract him for 10 minutes, so we can put a mask near his mouth and nose. Typically, we can do this for a few minutes by playing videos of Benjamin laughing on Jeremy’s iTouch. Benjamin thinks there is nothing funnier than seeing himself laughing. Who is that hilarious and adorable baby?

You will notice a walker to his left. It is a gift from his Aunt and Uncle…we spent some time with them last weekend. He didn’t show a lot of interest in walking with it – just spinning the toys on the front. So, much to my surprise, when we got home on Sunday I looked up from the e-mail I was typing and he was motoring across the room with it. Of course, It has been nearly impossible to get him to do it again when I have the camera handy.

Here is a video of the closest I could come to getting him to walk. He wasn’t feeling great, so you can tell he is a little bit in a daze.

Benjamin loves to shred paper, empty clothes baskets and knock over blocks…he is a little bulldozer!

Next month will be Benjamin’s second Christmas, and we decided to put up the tree we purchased when I was in labor and walking laps around Target last year. Benjamin thinks the box is the best part and likely will play with it all weekend.

Here he is exploring the branches with Daddy. We are trying to decide if he will leave it alone, or if we will need to gate it. We are starting with the approach of letting him play with it to get it out of his system, and then see if he ignores it.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving when we can put a bunch of yummy food in front of Benjamin to see if he will eat any of it. He still refuses to eat any food with chunks, though we are working on it. He will now eat  Puffs that are crushed into smaller bites, but he still swallows them whole. We are trying to teach him to chew, since he has 10 teeth! His top and bottom left molars have finally popped through. We are waiting on the other side, and then we hope to be finished with teething for a while. He hasn’t caught a break! So, we will keep putting food in front of him and hope he figures it out before he turns 1 and switches off formula!

It is so much fun to see him grow and change. I will try to take more photos this weekend. I have part of the day off tomorrow, and plan to stay home with Benjamin. It has been wonderful this week to spend time with him. Jeremy took Monday off and I took most of Wednesday off. So, Benjamin has had a lot of TLC. Tomorrow night, I have to go to a VERY LONG and likely dull black tie dinner for work, so I am leaving my two favorite guys home to play and get better. Jeremy still has no voice after three days and Benjamin gurgles when he breathes. I am praying my voice holds on, because I have to work Saturday too. I already spent two weeks of this year without a voice, and it is NOT easy to do my job without it.

Until next time…

Dinner entertainment

I was feeding Benjamin, when all of a sudden, he thought Jeremy was the most hilarious person in the world. Jeremy just looked at him and Benjamin would crack up. This kept up for a while, but here he is at the end.

 

Happy Halloween!

Well, it’s official. My little Tigger just celebrated his first Halloween. I can’t say he was too thrilled about it, but I had fun!

Last night, we went to a party at a neighbor’s house. Benjamin took a 30 minute nap and decided that was it, so he would have made a better zombie than a Tigger. Jeremy went as Chuck from one of his favorite shows, “Chuck.” He wanted me to join him in his Nerd Herd theme, but I decided no one would get it and I didn’t want to wear a skirt on a cold day. Instead, I just grabbed a cape from the Halloween box in the basement and called myself Little Red Riding Hood…though, Jeremy said I looked more like a Vampire. Gee thanks.

Next year, we’ll try to be more creative! Anyway, Benjamin had no fear of the big harry spiders, rats, severed fingers or the costumes. In fact, he thought a chandelier of bony hands was incredibly funny when it brushed his head. I think that is the only thing that made him crack a smile all evening! He was so good, though. There was plenty to see, and plenty of kids to watch. Our neighbors all have boys, so he has lots of playmates.

Tonight, we went Trick-or-Treating! Jeremy had to work, so it was just Benjamin and me all day. He was having another rough day. I understood how he felt, because we both are a little under the weather with a cold. He wanted to be held a lot, so we vacuumed the house together. He LOVES to vacuum, though I think he just wants to dismantle it to see how it works. We also did lots of laundry. I set him in a basket in the basement, and he stayed put while I loaded and unloaded the washing machine. Then, I carried him up and put him in the pack and play while I ran back down for the basket. We were efficient!

Tonight, though, he was very tired after crawling around the house (and up the stairs twice). I put him in his outfit, and again… he would not crack a smile. I kid you not…the child who always smiles would not even look at me. He ignored my singing “The most wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tigger’s a wonderful thing… their bouncy, pouncy, flouncy, trouncy fun fun fun fun fun!!!!”  He was still angry that I had shut him behind a gate and would not let him eat the vacuum cord. Sigh.

 

Look who found his pacifier two seconds after getting strapped in.

Does this look like a happy trick-or-treater or what?

So, we took our normal walk around the block, stopped to talk to every neighbor we knew, and met a few people we didn’t know. One neighbor gave him a Count Dracula rubber ducky, and two others gave him crackers. How sweet! He smiled for a few people…slightly… after much fawning, but he made no reaction to the dozens of children milling about in strange attire. He watched them closely, mind you, but not a single peep came from his normally very chatty lips. I was only accosted by one neighbor who wanted to discuss my levy coverage. Several others wanted to talk “shop” about my thoughts on the issues. I said I had no opinion, and “don’t all these kids look cute?” :) Benjamin miraculously was unscathed, despite having to pass by a neighbor’s home that had the scariest clown I have ever seen, a man carrying a chain saw and another resting in a real coffin. My child will be in therapy someday and recount this, I just know it!

Here is the cold and sleepy boy checking out his treats before bath time.

“Night Night mommy>”

 

So, I put the little Tigger in the tub, where he spent much of the time growling (literally) at his rubber duckies. He roared, he splashed, and he TiGGRRRRREEED until his paws started rubbing his sleepy eyes and his tummy started rumbling for some warm milk. He curled up in mommy’s arms and was fast asleep as he drank the last drop.

Stress and blessings

So sorry I haven't posted in weeks! We have been loving every moment with Benjamin, but life has been a bit stressful with work. There are days I would love to quit and stay home with our precious baby boy. But, I keep plugging away, knowing there is a light at the end of the tunnel when Jeremy graduates! He is starting to look into residencies, and we are weighing the options and deciding where we want to be located and what the best opportunities are.

Meanwhile, Benjamin has been growing like a weed! He is now 10 months and some change. He weighs 22 pounds and at his 9-month visit was 29 inches long. I bet he is longer if we measured him! He still does not like to chew food, but he loves to put things in his mouth. So, we have a lot of minor choking incidents whenever he gets his hands on food. He loves to sneak it off our plates when we walk through buffet lines or snatch something off a fork if we are sitting too close to him. Forget eating something on the floor near him, because he will climb all over you, swatting at whatever it is you have in an attempt to secure it for himself. His favorite food still is sweet potatoes, though he now likes most fruits. He refuses to eat any non-orange vegetables. I sometimes try to mix them into food he likes, though he always seems to detect it. Then, we get lots of waving arms and raspberries. I ended up wearing carrots and wiping them out of his hair and off the walls after one such attempt to feed him mixed veggies.

Benjamin is so close to standing on his own. He will let go of things and stand, sometimes for close to 10 seconds. But, he doesn't try it very often. He also is enjoying pushing chairs around the dining room while he walks behind them. He has a walker at Nana and Papa's house, which I am sure he will love next time he tries it out.

You can see him trying out the walker in the picture at the top. Of course, his tongue is sticking out as usual. That is his "I'm concentrating" look. Sometimes, he even sticks his tongue out the side of his pacifier.


Below is a photo I took when we got home. I can't get over how much he looks like a Kayle in this photo. A lot of times, he definitely resembles the "Lindsey" side of the family as well as the LaGana side...but you will see what I mean with this shot!




I will do my best to post more this weekend. Be prepared to see the cutest Tigger in town!

Happy Fall!

Benjamin wasn’t so sure about the leaves outside. He usually collects a few to crumble. But, when he was buried in them, all he did was try to dig himself out. We think he was checking to make sure his legs were still there.

 

 

He did smile at our silly antics.

But he didn’t like when we threw leaves at him.

 

“My teeth hurt!”

“Happy Fall!”