"I did it!"

I thought I'd add this first video. Ben was being really cute and looked ridiculous in his pj's and sandals. The reason it's cut off with me sounding like my breath was taken away, you ask? Well, that was the sound of a tennis ball getting plunged into my side from my dear husband who thought he'd just "throw it towards us." I still have a bruise. We had to have a little talk about safety with the Chuck-it throwing tennis balls near your wife and child. I think he learned a valuable lesson!

"I did it" is Ben's new favorite phrase! He will sit and put together his block puzzles and after each piece clap his hands and yell out "I did it!" He'll unvelcro and velcro his shoes and yell "I did it!" It's pretty funny and adorable!

Other new developments, he is insisting on eating at the table. At first it was pushing his high chair up to the table. That had worked for a couple of weeks, now he's insisting on sitting in a regular chair (see Brian's picture below). We went out this morning and bought a booster chair. Hopefully this works.

I have continued with part time which is nice although have been extremely busy until this past Sunday with the benefit I was working on. It was a major success. We had over 350 people attend (expecting 250) for the brother-in-law of a friend of mine who sustained a C5 spinal cord injury (now quadriplegic) in a diving accident. We raised a lot of money that will hopefully help in all his injury related costs. Glad it's over, though it was a lot of fun.

So, now that that is over we're gearing up for summer fun! Lot's of travel plans and gatherings making their way onto the calendar. We're planning to meet my parents this Sunday for Mother's Day at the beach. Ben will hopefully make me breakfast and be a good boy that day for some beach fun!

We're planning a weekend at the cottage with friends over Memorial Day, a girls weekend in Chicago that includes Billy Elliot tickets, a trip to Richmond to show off Ben a bit more, and then 10days in Hawaii! All in all, sounds like a good summer to me!

Other recent Ben developments:
* Healing from multiple illnesses (but when isn't a 16month old sick!?!)
* I think he's working on more teeth. So far he has 12 including 4 molars, but he's been drooling a lot and chewing on EVERYTHING again! Also, a bit on the grumpy side this week. Very sensitive.
* Sleeping well at night. Bedtime has worked it's way back to about 8:30 or so. But generally we are playing outside and eating dinner later, too, with the weather getting nicer.
* Eating habits: some days eats anything you put in front of him. Other days, he throws whatever you put in front of him onto the floor.
* CRAWLING UP ON EVERYTHING! He has discovered that if he crawls up on the kitchen chair, he can then access the kitchen table. He has also crawled onto the desk. And I've had to move the chairs away from the upstairs railing as I have seen him think about it. He knows it's wrong, too! If we walk in, he quickly will get down. When does a child's conscious kick in?

All in all, other than the scaling walls, he continues to be a very good kid!