Ben: Eleven Months

Yes, another month has flown by. This one was a busy one too, with lots of new experiences and a fun vacation!

Ben is about 22 pounds now and getting taller by the day. He has cut 4 teeth and is working on 4 more. So we have lots of swollen gums, rough nights and are looking into buying Orajel stock. With these new chompers and more interest in table food, Ben has been trying lots of new things to eat. He now eats what parts of the school lunch that he can and we supplement his meals with baby food on the days they are serving hamburgers and the like. On hamburger day though, we got a note on Ben's care sheet that he "ate lots of hamburger bun and French fries". Way to go, buddy! A few days after that he ate a ham and cheese sandwich. We haven't found much of anything that Ben hasn't liked which is great.

Ben is cruising a little more now around the furniture at home and working on "walking" while holding our hands. His crawling speed has gone from quick to lightning speed in the last month and he still loves crawling upstairs to the playroom each evening with Mom and Dad. Ben likes to wave all of the time now except when we ask him to (of course). He waves to Mom during dinner time and waves to Dad while he is mowing or grilling. It is quite funny.

We haven't had much progress in our signing, but Ben is working on saying some words and it is so exciting! We have had a repeat or two of "quack quack" when we talk about our rubber duckies and Ben started saying "ba" for ball. He will say it when he throws a ball to you or when he finds one in his toys or in a book. It is so fun! We look forward to seeing what is next!

Ben had lots of new experiences this month when we drove to the beach in Destin, Florida. We made the trip over two days and he did so well in the car. We got lots of beach time while we were there. Ben loved the ocean and we would take turns holding him in the water so he could splash around. Ben tolerated the sand and learned to like it a little more after he realized we could play with it. He wasn't so sure about it sticking to his hands so we kept water nearby to rinse off as needed. We tried to eat out mostly at lunch time to avoid crowds and work more easily into Ben's schedule. He liked all of the different places and really enjoyed getting bites of French fries and crackers along with his lunch. He was quite the trooper and seemed to have lots of fun too. There are lots of pictures in the links section under Month 11.

We look forward to celebrating Ben's first year soon! We hope all is well with your families.