Grandparents

When she sees Benjamin, my friend Barbara always says, "Oh, he looks so much like your dad!"  Doesn't he?          

One of the great joys of being a parent is having our parents as grandparents.  JB and I are both so blessed to have such great parents to be grandparents to Benjamin.  My parents were here from NY last week, getting to know their grandson again.  JB's parents came down for an overnight, so we had both sets of grandparents ... and JB and I took off for the Mexico ... maybe some day.  

Benjamin really started talking a lot more while my parents were here last week and we had so much fun teaching him to imitate us.  This week it has gotten even better.  Or worse, depending on the words he learning.  A few days ago I broke a glass in the kitchen as I was washing up, and let out with a four letter word . . . which Benjamin repeated right back to me with the same tone.  I laughed because just the day before Amy asked me if B had learned any swear words yet, and I said, no of course not, why would he?  My laughter only encourage him to say it over and over again, so I eventually stopped.  

We visited with mom's sister Mary a few times while my parents were here and we had plenty of outings--to the park, to the zoo, to the World Hunger Relief Farm for Farm Day--but we primarily stayed around the house and out in the yard and played with Benjamin. Dad always helps us with at least one major project while he's visiting, and this time it was installing a new door on the side and a screen in the back door.  We are loving the increased ventilation.  Thanks, Dad! 

The semester is finally winding down, and I'm feeling some relief from the demands of this semester.  I need to remember not to take on so much again when my primary responsibility is raising a small child.  Between preparing a conference paper, teaching two classes, editing a newsletter, and taking charge of our church's Easter Retreat this year, I really just took on too much.  I don't think we cleaned the bathrooms more than once since January.  Ugh.        

I'm trying to plan some projects and events this summer without going overboard.  But for now, some pictures.  

I think the camel is eating mom's hair 

I was just sitting down to write a new post with pictures of our visit from Grammy and "Pa," but then realized I just have too much to do to prepare for class tomorrow.  Teaching Virginia Woolf again after about 5 years, so I have much to re-read.  And one of my students very politely e-mailed me today to ask if I could grade their papers before the next papers are due in two weeks.  Ugh--that is so ..... reasonable.

So here is a cool pic of B going down a slide at the zoo that dad took.  The slide goes down through the otter exhibit, so the playful beavers otters are swimming all around the slide as the kids go down.  It's such a good exhibit.

This blog thing is going to pick up again in two weeks when classes are over.  For now suffice it to say, he talks!  He sings!  He collects snails from the yard!  He gives everything hugs and kisses!  And just so you don't think everything is roses and unicorns around here (is that the phrase?), we found out tonight that he likes hitting other children and anyone around him when he gets really tired.  That was not the best.

Waco Wetlands Part 2

Benjamin at the Waco Wetlands (and at the end of a loooong cold)  

             

One of the first posts I made on this blog included pictures of JB and I at the Wetlands with wee Ben just weeks from being born.  I was remembering that day when we returned to the wetlands this past Sunday afternoon with Benjamin almost 17 months old.  Benjamin is such a nature boy, and the Wetlands did not fail to excite his curiousity.  We took pictures on the dock you see here because it is the only one with railings to keep him from throwing himself headlong into the water.  He wanted to reach, reach, reach into the water (maybe like Curious George in one of his books?) with no sense that it meant falling in.  In the pictures below, JB is holding him tight as he reaches in to inspect the snails.

And this below is where I found Benjamin one morning soon after he had woken up and gone downstairs.  He put all of these instruments up on the bench by himself and contented himself banging away for at least 15 minutes.  Just enough time for me to get breakfast together, milk warmed up, and coffee brewing.  As I was listening to him play, I was impressed that he was going back and forth between all three instruments--usually he gets fixated on just one.  

Next post should be full of pictures from our spring break trip to New Orleans!  

Moon phase

Before becoming a parent, I don't think I quite understood the charm of toddlers.  Every now and then I see Benjamin through the eyes of my previous self, who would have noticed the repulsiveness above all:  the constant nose running, the food everywhere at dinner time, the sippy cups and sticky fingers.

But the toddler charm is more alive to me than the grossness.  The last two weeks or so, Benjamin has been obsessed with the moon.  As soon as I see him in his crib in the morning, he is pointing at the ceramic moon hanging over his bedroom door; he grabs Goodnight Moon as soon as he gets out of his crib, and we read through his other moon books multiple times a day; he can follow the moon with his finger in the sky when we are taking a walk; and he points out the moon on other objects, like his diapers, before I have even noticed.  Now if he could only say "moon."  We are still waiting for that. 

 Here are some pictures of some of Benjamin's favorite things to do these days.  I was thinking that these aren't particularly special pictures, but we need some pictures of our daily lives.  When I look back at childhood pictures, the pictures of special events don't really have any more meaning for me than the pictures that show me and my sisters doing daily things.  I love the pictures where I can see bits of the houses we lived in growing up:  the rugs on the floor, the 80s style pots and pans, and the wall hangings that are fuzzy in my memory.   

In the above pictures maybe Benjamin will remember when that couch and blanket were new.  And oh look, remember how all three of the lamps in that picture didn't work?  And, oooh, that was before I broke daddy's guitar...just kidding! That will never happen.  We hope.   

Below are pictures of our time in the backyard:  Benjamin's favorite time of the day.  He could spend hours in his swing, throwing the ball to Brazos.  He's discovered the joy of dandelions and he waits expectantly by the fence for the neighbor's dog to pay us a visit.  The neighbors and the dog are very nice.  Don't worry.   

In memoriam

 And finally, we've got our winter/spring garden started in different places around the yard.  Winter never actually arrived, so these peas have been growing for a month already.  I think the snails (or something!) actually got this little pea plant.  The radishes are starting to leaf out, the flowering trees are starting to flower, and there are new leaves to see on the roses (which I never got a chance to prune), the herbs, and the wee little bay tree we planted last year.

Projects

At a church women's retreat last fall, one of the women brought a whole car load of hula hoops for us to play with.  So we let go of our inhibitions and learned to hula hoop together. Don't ask how long it took me to be able to keep the hoop up.  It probably helped that we were all inspired by the woman who brought them--she did all sorts of cool tricks with a hula hoop and made it look downright elegant.  Apparently hula hoops are the hot thing in Nashville right now. (hello, Waco!)

So she promised to host a hula hoop making party, and last weekend we cut plastic tubing, fused it together, and used colorful tape to wrap it all up.  Someone asked me if JB would want to try out the hula hoop, and I said that he would scoff when he saw it.  But I brought it home, and he said, "Alright! A hula hoop!"

Benjamin does not so much like the hula hoop. He thought it was funny for the first 30 seconds of watching me do it, but then he got bored and decided the hula hoop was getting more attention than he was.  I'll just have to put it away and take it out when he goes down for his nap.

Benjamin likes daddy's projects a lot better.  He's been helping daddy with the patio for months now, moving rocks, lightening the soil with a little added sand, and showing us (over and over) that there is no possible way to make a patio baby proof.

Just in the nick of time, JB installed this baby swing on the porch to keep B out of trouble.  You can't keep this boy away from a swing.  I don't think I've seen him happier than when he is swinging high at the play ground, laughing out loud.   

There is also this one other project of mine that Benjamin has enjoyed recently--chocolate cake for JB's birthday.  I think the picture below is B eating black beans, not chocolate cake.  

Benjamin also helps with an almost daily project:  he gets pretty giddy when I tell him its time to do the laundry.  This week he climbed all the way into the dryer with the whites.  

So many of the good pictures are already on facebook that this post seems sort of an afterthought, but I think I have some from our camera that you haven't yet seen.  The outdoors pictures really come out the best, don't they?  It almost seemed like we wouldn't get a hike in the mountains this year with the weather and sickness working against us, but we made it up on maybe the coldest day of our time in NY.  We even saw a few snowflakes. Of all of the beauty around us, Benjamin was, not unexpectedly, most interested in the pinecones and leaves and bottle caps closest to his eyes.  The mountains are beautiful, but this time around I have to say I was most interested in watching my little penguin march around in his snowsuit.  

Our trip included a last minute trip to Beacon, NY where we met Benjamin's Aunt Amy and explored the Island of Misfit Toys.  Seriously, it was a strange playground where it appears people had donated/abandoned all sorts of toys.  Benjamin could have played there for hours.  

The highlight of our time in NY was being in the ultrasound room with Sara and Sean when they found out they are having a boy.  I cannot WAIT to meet young Jack when he arrives in May.  I kind of wish we could skip to the stage where he and Benjamin can play together.  Benjamin has so much fun with them; I know they are going to be great parents!  

Drums were the theme this year for Benjamin's Christmas in NY.  He can't get enough of Sean's bongos, and he plays with the two percussion sets he got from his aunties and uncles all the time back here in NY.  We have so many great percussion instruments for kids now that I'm thinking about having some of the other toddlers we know over for a music party.  We'll see if that materializes now that classes are starting again on Monday.  

When we got back from NY we had a week before we went up to SS for the New Year and second Christmas.  I don't have my own pictures of that, but we couldn't have asked for a better weekend.  With escargot, roast duck, and champagne to ring in the New Year, how could you ask for more?  

We are not looking forward to taking down our tree this year--it's been a great Christmas.