Ben likes brushing his teeth

Tonight, after the kids had a before-bed snack, Jackie got up and wanted to brush her teeth. I got her set up in the bathroom, and went back into the dining room. Now, Ben had been hoarse all evening (Tiffany said from screaming all day). Jackie followed me into the dining room, and bed noticed she was brushing her teeth. He started saying “tee...tee” in his deep but hoarse little voice, and pointing to/rubbing at his teeth. Then he pointed at Jackie, who walked out of the room back to the bathroom. So he was telling us that he wanted to go brush his teeth with Jackie.

Taking out the trash, and other news

Hello everyone, I was standing in the kitchen holding Ben, who had a tea bag wrapper. I put him down, and to my surprise he toddled his way over to the trash and put the wrapper in there! Then he took it back out. And put it back in the trash. At that point, I cut him off and washed his hands. But still, I was impressed. It was particularly endearing given how he walks, with his legs fixed in the shape of a horseshoe and his arms up in the air. In other news, Ben had his second bath tonight, and again Jackie was a good girl and didn’t jump around too much in the tub. Ben was fussy getting in, but after that he played in the tub for about 20 minutes until his feet were wrinkly and I took him out. He had a fantastic time splashing in the tub and bobbing up and down. He stood up and walked around too. The light-up duck toys were his favorite part; he showed one to me with such a scream of excitement it almost seemed to pain him. Oh, and Ben ate like ten to fifteen tortellini tonight, in a heavy cream sauce with bacon. Man, he can really put it away. -Don

Something new

So Ben did something new last night during dinner. Jackie, not wanting to eat as usual, was standing next to Ben (who was eating, as usual). Ben was eating some muffin that Nunni and Pupi made over the weekend. He was taking bites, and then holding the piece out for Jackie to take a bit too. He did this with his water too. Another thing Ben likes to do is use his sippy cup for eating. For example, he’ll put Cherios on the top of the cup, lift the top of the cup to his mouth, and then eat the cereal off the top off the cup. Silly boy. -Don

Bath time

So I gave Jackie and Ben a bath together tonight, by myself as Tif was at a meeting at church. Now, Ben hates water. When I turned the bath water on, Ben half-stumbled, half-walked out of the room into the office. And when he walks, he looks like he’s just gotten off a horse. I found him sitting in the corner in the dark crying. Poor boy. The other night I had put Muppets on for them to watch, and he started wailing when the menu screen came up with Animal on it. He’d bee-lined for me, and whimpered his way through the show’s intro, eventually calming down. And today, I brought the vacuum in to clean the floor under the kitchen table. He was scared of the vacuum, being careful not to get near it. Later, after I tied up the cord around the back of the vacuum, he starting wailing as soon as I started to move it (the power was off). He’s a sensitive boy. I should also mention that I put Ben on the slide for the first time today. He kind of smiled and giggled a little. After he few more slides, he liked it so much he was trying to climb up the front of the slide. -Don

Our Six Month Benaversary

So this past Sunday at 9:35 am was the official six-month Benaversary. I am especially glad he made his debut six months ago and didn't wait any longer than he already had. Now we didn't do anything fancy to celebrate the day; we just wished him a happy birthday like we do each month on the 20th.

Tuesday was our six-month well-Benjamin visit so we have all of his latest stats. And thankfully it isn't quite time for a new car seat, but I believe it will be in December when we go for his nine month visit. So are you ready for the fantabulous Ben stats? Benjamin is 27 1/2 inches tall, that is 2' 3 1/2", and he is 18 lbs 10 oz! I am quite pleased with his growth and the doctor is pleased with his progress as well. He had grown 2" in the last two months and gained 2 lbs 10 oz. Now on to a little about what Ben has been up to over the last month.

It took a while after that first roll, but about a week ago Ben started rolling around on the floor. He doesn't really go anywhere and he isn't quite flat on his belly (usually one arm is in the way) but he does roll trying to reach for toys to play with. He sort of rolls back and forth onto his side and then onto his back and sometimes nearly flat on that little belly of his. I am thankful for every day he remains stationary so I don't run myself ragged chasing after two little ones up to no good!

Ben is also sitting unsupported quite well. His balance has gotten much better over the last month in the sitting position. He can sit and play for several minutes before toppling over (usually backwards). Ben likes to sit but standing is still his favorite position. That means I am not getting a lot done these days as Ben is still not too proficient at standing. However he is beginning to learn about moving his feet while standing so once his balance improves I think he will be cruising all over the place. Jackie didn't do much cruising, but I definitely think Ben will. He already knows that he needs to be fast to keep up with Jackie, so I think he will do whatever he needs to to start moving around with her.

This past month was the advent of the next phase of growing up: solid foods. (And by default: solid poop.) We had been given the green light by the Doctor at the four month check-up, but decided to hold off a little while before giving Ben his first bite. After several episodes of Ben trying to help himself to our dinners, we finally decided we needed to start on the solids. It was a good decision because Ben was pretty determined that if we did not willingly give him "real" food then he would take it himself. He had quite a grasp on Don's bowl of pasta the night we finally relented! Ben has done quite well with his solids. He even liked rice cereal which Jackie never really liked. I guess Jackie still doesn't eat overly well, maybe Ben will be our big eater. But he especially likes his yellow vegetables: carrots, squash, and corn with sweet potatoes. This past weekend he really ate well. Ben ate half a jar of squash for dinner and then still had some milk. I was amazed at how well he did! Don has posted some cute pictures of Ben's first feedings, so check them out under the photos tab.

I'll post more about Ben when we get back from Texas in a month.

~Tiffany

Vignettes of Benjamin

Since it has been a while from the last posting about Ben, I thought I would write a few little vignettes about what he has been up to.

So the best story recently, happened Saturday night while we were over at Nee's apartment for dinner. (Now remember that Nee is a 93 year-old Sicilian woman, who does/ says what she wants. She has after all earned the right.) I had Ben laying on the couch and was changing his diaper. Nee was sitting across the room facing the couch and apparently looked over just as I was placing the clean diaper under Ben's little bum. "Look at that fat ass," Nee exclaimed. And just in case we had not heard her the first time, she said it again in response to a question my father-in -law posed. I apologize for the language but in all fairness, that is an exact quote. The whole group of us burst out laughing and Don lamented not catching it on video.

And for all of you wondering if Ben has rolled over yet; the answer is yes. Ben rolled from his back onto his belly on Thursday the 13. We had just come downstairs that morning and I laid Ben on his back on the playmat while I changed Jackie and got her breakfast together. I looked over just in time to see him resting on his side almost all the way over reaching for his pacifier. I started to look for the video camera but couldn't find it and so grabbed my camera instead. I took a few pictures before I realized I really needed to use Don's fancy camera. All the while I was cheering him on to roll the rest of the way over. And when he did, it didn't startle him. Ben was just smiling up at me as proud as he could be. Or at least very excited by my attention which was soon divided with Jackie as she got a little jealous of my praising Ben. And in true Foster fashion, he hasn't rolled over since. Once is all it takes to prove you can do something!

Don and I were discussing dinner options for the week and Don mentioned Carbonara. Ben gave him this great big smile. And so now Don and Ben have a little game of Benny Carbonara. The look on Ben's face is so cute, but it only works for Don. "Do you want a little Carbonara?"

Don likes to spend time in the evenings and weekends finding ways to make Ben smile and laugh. Recently one of the things that really gets Ben going is singing and dancing with Daddy. Don will sing a song (sometimes changing the words to make it about Ben) or hum a tune and hold Ben under the arms moving him to the beat of the music. Sometimes there is a little chest shake or other fancy dance move as well. Ben finds this little game quite funny and he will give his daddy little "huh, huh-s." I will try to catch some of it on video soon before the funny breaks.

Ben's most recent accomplishment is standing by himself. Now don't get too excited, he isn't pulling up yet- just standing. I can place him on his feet next to the trunk and place his hands on top of the trunk and let go. And Ben can hold himself up for quite a while. Now I do have to make sure his little legs are not too far apart and I do lean him just a bit forward (mainly because our balance is still a little off,) but he can stand all by himself.

I will also try to post other cute little Ben stories as they happen, but you know how it is. Sometimes life gets in the way of our intentions.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

So as far as a toddler is concerned if you go to bed early because you are extra tired, it doesn't mean you need to stay asleep until your usual wake-up time. Jackie headed to bed a little earlier than normal last night because she was exhausted. So after her 10 or so hours of sleep she decided it was time to wake-up and have some milk. Pay no attention to the fact that it is 6:30 am; I'm a toddler and I demand my needs be met immediately. So Don, who was getting ready to leave for work, brought up her milk. Only Jackie did not want Don giving it to her in her bed; Jackie wanted Mama to give her her milk in our bed. Deluding myself with the thought that she might settle back into sleep if we appeased her and thinking some Jackie cuddles might be nice, I sleepily agreed to give her her milk in my bed.

The Jackie cuddles were nice, but they lasted briefly longer than it took to drink her milk. She laid down just a little past the time it took for me to take the rest of her milk back down to the refrigerator and climb back into bed. Then, because she could sense that I might be right and she might fall back into dream land where everyone belongs at 6:30 in the morning, Jackie started to play. For you see at this point in Jackie's life we have become rather attached to a few items. And whenever we are tired or just need a little comfort, we bring these things along. That really means when Jackie was placed into bed for her milk this morning, I should have said that Baby, blanket and Olivia (the Piggy) all fell into bed with her. Thus when fear of actually falling back asleep set in, Jackie had friends along to entertain her. I let Jackie play quietly beside me while I tried to catch a little extra sleep. Ben had finished his early morning snack around the time Jackie requested hers, so I knew he would sleep for another hour and a half or so and thought I might be able to rest during that time as well. Unfortunately, Jackie had other plans.

As I drifted in and out of slumber, never fully asleep but not what I would call fully awake either, Jackie entertained herself. But that gets a little repetitive after a while and she needed to find something else to do. So Jackie would lay down, and get up, and crawl around the bed, and talk with Baby and Olivia, and pat my arm in an effort to stay awake. She would drift between these activities while I drifted between sleep when she realized that Ben was sleeping in the basinet at the foot of the bed. This sparked a new idea. Jackie could entertain herself with Ben. At first she just pointed to him and exclaimed about his presence while I shushed her to keep from waking him. Then after moving on to something else she returned to Ben. Only this time I was asleep and Ben had woken up. So I hear her talking to him and him laughing at her and I can sense she is near the foot of the bed but not quite where she is. I sit up, and there she is. . . not at the foot of our bed at all, instead she is at the foot of Ben's bed. That's right she had crawled into his basinet, which is barely big enough for him, and was sitting just at the end of his folded up legs. They both thought it was quite funny for a two-year-old to be in the basinet with her four-month-old brother; they were having quite a nice time together. All I could think of was that basinet tumbling off its hinges to the floor and a pile of Ben-Jackies underneath. So no, I did not run down the stairs to grab the camera and shoot a few pictures of the scene and thus condone it by documenting it (Jackie thinks the camera means something is good and deserves repetition). Instead I jumped to the foot of the bed and pulled Jackie out as fast as I could. Sensing this was the end of any rest I might have attained this morning, I crawled out of bed just before 8 to "start" the day.

I don't think Jackie will be permitted any more early morning, half asleep Mama cuddles while the basinet sits at the foot of our bed.

~Tiffany

Curiosity

So I was looking through old blog posts and stumbled upon one Don had written with Jackie's two month check up stats. That piqued my interest as to how big she was at four months. It turns out she was 13 lbs 6.8oz and 2' 1" tall. When you compare that to Ben's 16 lbs and 2' 1.5" tall, she seems like a light weight. I guess size all depends on perspective because thinking back to Jackie at four months I felt like she was so big. And she was if I compare her to where she was after losing all that weight in the beginning, but she was not if I compare her to Ben.

Benja Moose

So last Monday (July 27) we took the four month old Ben to the doctor for his well baby visit. We were all curious to see how he has been growing and it turns out we were right. Every time we look at him, he is a bit bigger. He is now (drum roll please) 16lbs even and 25 1/2" long / tall (however you look at it.) He is a Benja Moose. For those of you who can not remember our "little" Benjamin was only 7lbs 9oz and 20 1/2 " long at birth. That is a lot of growing in just four months. I guess all I can say is he sure does think Mama makes yummy  milk. We are very pleased with the progress he is making and it is rewarding to see him doing so well.

Now that we have the business of growth out of the way we can move on to more exciting things. What is more exciting than a 16 pound baby, you ask? Well the things that baby does, I say. Ben is the mellowest little fellow I have ever known. Two months ago when Ben had his first round of immunizations I was impressed by how little he cried. This time he cried even less. He only received two shots this trip and he didn't cry at all with the first one and only let out a fuss over the second because his pacifier fell out. That is definitely doing his brave. He also travels well. Load him into the car seat and he just chills no matter where we go or how long we are gone. He might fuss a bit if he starts to get warm but other than that he either sleeps or just plays with the toys on the seat. 

There have been a few times lately where Jackie decided to pull Ben off of his playmat while I was in the kitchen. I had no idea she had done this until I walked into the room and he was laying in the middle of the floor. He just looked up at me and smiled. Ben had made no fuss over her moving him at all. But it seems that Ben adores Jackie so much that I don't think it would matter what she did to him, he would still smile at her. I hope they can maintain a good relationship throughout their childhoods and lives. 

Ben is also becoming quite impressive physically. He loves to be stood on his feet and to hold himself up while grasping your fingers. He has done this so much that he has rather good balance and only sways after standing for a while. He is definitely grabbing onto objects now but instead of just holding onto them, he is learning to maneuver them to his mouth. I think his favorite pastime at the moment is penguin wrestling. We have these little stuffed penguins with different textures and colors and I will sit one or two of them on the floor near him while he plays. He likes to grab onto them and hold them against his chest, sometimes gnawing on them while he holds them. So to me it looks like he is wrestling with them. 

Ben has gotten close a few times to rolling from his back onto his belly. One time he was sucking his finger and refused to stop so he got stuck just short of rolling over. I think within the next month he will be rolling all over the place. He might also be scooting around everywhere. He can move himself all over his playmat like a little crab. Every now and then he will start to fuss because he has found himself stuck with an arm under the entertainment center. It sits next to the playmat and he will start pushing himself along with his feet, leaving his shoulders on the ground and wind up caught. Jackie was always content to stay in one place as long as she didn't feel left out. If she could see you, she would play quietly by herself on her mat not feeling the need to explore outside of it. She accepted her boundaries as they were given to her. Ben feels the need for adventure. Instead of fussing until you move him, he simply moves himself. Maybe he has already established that he will need to keep up with Jackie so he better start learning how so he won't be left behind. 

~Tiffany

Ben's latest Stats

So we took Ben to his two month well baby visit on June 1. He has grown so much over the last month. He weighed 12 lbs 15.5 oz just over a week ago and was 22 3/4 inches long. That means that by now he is well over 13 lbs and will probably double his birth weight (7 lbs 9 oz) by  the end of his third month. And at that point he will probably weigh about half a Jackie. I think that is fairly impressive.

He also got the first full round of immunizations at his check up. He did his brave for each of the three needle pricks. He hardly cried, it was more of a "hey, that hurts people. Don't do it again." And then he was quiet. He had stopped crying after the last injection before I could even pick him up. 

And Ben is doing so well that we don't have to go back to the doctor until his four month well baby visit. 

Ben has also started smiling a lot. Those baby smiles are so wonderful and we also get wonderful little coos. Ben is also grabbing onto his toys and getting enjoyment out of them. He especially likes the little animal shaped chimes hanging on his basinet and laying on his back on the play-mat. Mirrors and lights also capture his attention for long periods of time. Ben is really starting to show us his sweet little personality and it is rewarding to see him blossoming.

~Tiffany

Ben's One Month Visit

Just a quick update on Ben. We had his one month Dr's visit on Monday. He now weighs 9 lbs 14 oz. Well really now he weighs more than 10 lbs because the other weight was from Monday and he grows more everyday. We saw the Dr. a calendar month before, so he was able to calculate how much weight Ben is gaining each day, he came up with a little over an ounce. I'm so proud of my growing boy. And everything else checked out ok as well. So we go back in a month for the first round of shots.

Amazing Ben

So as I was sitting in the living room writing the las post, Ben did something amazing! Don had just finished changing his diaper and decided to give Ben some tunny time ( only the second or third tummy time he has had). I sat watching him lifting his head up, which is the point of time spent on the belly, and he started to squirm a bit. All of a sudden he rolled himself up onto his side and I thought he was just going to chill there or maybe roll back onto his belly when he rolled the rest of the way over. You got it, Ben rolled over and he isn't even a month old yet!!!!! Ok so he will be a month old on Monday but he isn't that old yet and even if he was it is still amazing to roll over at a month old. He worked so hard on rolling over that he needed to eat so we have not tested to see if he can duplicate his feat, but I am sure he will be able to. He had rolled onto his side from his back earlier in the day so I bet he can roll from his tummy again.

Life since Ben came home

We have had a busy three weeks since Benjamin came home from the hospital, but they have been a mostly good three weeks. I sat down a week ago to write this post and then Jackie woke up from her nap and I am just now getting back to the post. 

Life with a second child is definitely different and crazier than life with one child. And I think it is a harder transition to two children from one than it is from no children to one. Jackie has for the most part been very good with Ben. She spent the first week mostly just fascinated by his feet and hands, and she understands she needs to be gentle with him. Even if she doesn't always remember exactly how soft gentle always is. Jackie has become more loving toward Ben as he gets older: she likes to give him hugs and kisses and likes to "hold" him. When Jackie holds Ben she wants his bum resting in her lap but she is too little to understand the need to hold any other part of him, like his head, so I hold the top half of him so she can pat his head or touch his hands while she "holds" Ben. It is pretty cute. This week she has also started giving Ben kisses and hugs on a pretty regular basis.

Whenever Ben cries, Jackie points to him, looks at me and generally says Ben although Jackie's "Ben" does not have a hard "n" sound at the end. If we are in anther room than Ben when he starts to make noise she runs toward the room he is in while doing the above. She wants to make sure I can hear him and will take care of whatever he needs. She does not like to hear him fuss. And yesterday (4/17) when we were getting ready to leave the house, Ben started crying in his car seat and Jackie tried to put his pacifier in his mouth. Mind you she was holding the nipple and trying to put the other end in his mouth but it was pretty cute. It was also the first time Jackie seemed to understand what the pacifier was for and use it appropriately. Before then Jackie was just fascinated by it because she hasn't seen a pacifier since she was three or four months old. So she would pluck it out of Ben's mouth or grab it from wherever we left it and look at it or stick it in her mouth.

I'm sure everyone would like to know what the progression of Ben's weight has been. He was born at 7lbs 9oz and was discharged from the hospital at 6lbs 15oz. That Monday we had a visiting nurse come and she weighed him at 7lbs 1oz and on Wed. at 7lbs 2.5oz. Thursday Ben had his first pediatrician visit and they weighed him at 7lbs 3.5oz. Two weeks later (or the Wed. before Easter) Ben was weighed again at the hospital when he went for his "procedure" and he was a whopping 8lbs 5oz. That made all the sleepless nights a little more tolerable. I am so thankful that breastfeeding is going more smoothly than it did with Jackie. It has been nice to spend the first month mostly at home and not in and out of the Dr's office and the hospital like we did with Jackie.

And Jackie and I are getting a little more used to life with just us and Ben during the day. The very first day the three of us spent alone was fairly traumatic for Jackie and I, Jackie especially had a rough time. But we have sorted life out and Jackie is getting more patient and I am getting better at doing things for Jackie while Ben is eating (which seems to be most of the time). We even made it out of the house a couple of times in the last week. I think I am finally getting the hang of being a mother of two and Jackie is getting the hang of being a big sister. Now if we could just get a little more sleep all around life would be good.

~Tiffany