May 30, 2010

Happy 16 Monthday Ben!

All of a sudden Ben has started to take a 5-6 steps at a time! He also will squat, stand, take a few steps on his own, and then stand there for a bit, before finally grabbing on something or sitting back down. We've been doing the walk between mom and dad thing more often now and finally were able to catch the walking on video! Go Benjamin!

May 29, 2010

We went to Kokopelli today for a late snack. Ben usually plays with the Little People sets, but today he was really into the train set and actually moved a little train around the track! He was very pleased.

May 28, 2010

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Here Ben is enjoying a grape popsicle, which we had bought from when he fell. He was totally uninterested in them then so Rick and I (and Ipo) ended up eating most of them, but he took a liking this afternoon. Holy cow that was a messy snack.

May 27, 2010

Last day of the camping adventure.

Oh shoes, endless hours of entertainment, especially when you're outside with no tv.

Ben has figured out how to undo the velcro and yank it off his foot... he still needs help putting them on, but he's getting closer to being able to do that by himself too.

All aboard the Ninky Nonk, it's time to go home!

May 26, 2010

Except for the first day, it rained the rest of the camping trip sooo Ben got to play inside the tent instead the rest of the time.

Here Ben is in front of Alice Lake... playing with his shoes, lol.

May 25, 2010

While camping, Ben mastered the zipper. Before he could move them up and down, but someone would need to hold it taught for him. Not anymore! Master escape artist in training.

This the campsite... hello Mazda5... whoever thought you would in the forest on a camping trip?

May 24, 2010

While I was in Victoria, Rick took his mom and Ben camping up at Alice Lake.

It didn't rain the first day, so here Ben is enjoying playing in open air with his favorite stacking toy and some Lego Duplos-- which apparently are huge legos that aren't choking hazards. In the background, behind Rick's head is Ben's Ben-sized beach chair!

May 23, 2010

Well I don't have any pictures of Ben today. Why? Because today is the day that I abandoned him to go on a girls trip to Victoria with my friend Alexis and her friend Alice.

So instead, here are pictures of Ben in the babyswing at the park from about a week ago... it's a tribute really. A couple days after this, the swing was broken and when it was finally replaced, they just put a big kids swing on there. Scandal! We will miss you babyswing. Thanks for the fun times.

May 22, 2010

We went to the Vancouver Aquarium today. I am a sucker for those photos they take of you when you first arrive. How awesomely cheesetastic is this picture! I also decided to get it because I'm pretty sure this will be our only visit for a while as Ben was not so into the Aquarium. He did enjoy the muffin we bought him for a snack though.

May 21, 2010

Visitors arrived at Casa Lamb today! Rick's mom is here and so is my friend Alexis. We went to Granville Island for a snack and to pick up something to make for dinner. I had a gelato and offered to share, but Ben was much more interested in some bread. Mm... bread.

May 20, 2010

So the windows in our house have latches and then these knobs things that you have to loosen in order to use the lever that opens the window. Ben has recently discovered these knobs and here he is trying to turn the one on the front window. I don't think he actually knows what it does, but he is into things that twist on (bottle caps, lids, etc) so he likes it. Smudge likes it too because that will be another way for him to escape and take himself on a walkabout. Smudge pretends not to like Ben sometimes, but it's obviously some kind of ruse to throw me off.

May 19, 2010

Ben is pretty much healed now. Miraculous!

I was trying to write some emails and Ben climbed up and decided it was time for skyping instead. No one was online though since it was like 8 am and thankfully there was no epic meltdown about it.

So remember how I said Ben doesn't like pants? Well now he doesn't like shirts more than he doesn't like pants. He is always trying to take off his shirt... and then yelling at me to take it off for him.

May 18, 2010

Ben and I went to the Play Palace for a playdate and today we went into the tricycle area-- a Ben-first, but his babyfriend went in there, so he decided it must be okay.

Here's Ben hanging out on the big kids tricycle. He couldn't reach the peddles or the handle bars while sitting on the seat, so he would play with the back wheels instead and push himself backwards with his feet.

I think Ben is starting to recognize his babyfriends and it seems like when he sees them, he's like, oh hello babyfriend, fancy meeting you here!

May 17, 2010

Ben is really into the whole pretend sleeping thing. If he's on the couch or bed, he immediately starts covering himself and laying down. His favorite is to burrow under the pillows and the couch cushions. I find it fascinating that he likes to put things over him since whenever I try to put blankets or anything else in his crib, he throws them out.

I can't believe how fast Ben is healing. Babies are amazing. We'll see if there's any scarring after all is said and done.

May 16, 2010

Look, you can't even tell Ben is injured in the first picture, lol.

Here's Ben and Rick enjoying a relaxing Sunday morning. That's Ben's tough guy face in the second pic... grrrr.

Ben's lips are only twice the size now and his chin is healing pretty quickly. He has a big bruise though on his lower lip/chin and it kinda looks like he has a goatee/soul patch.

He was feeling a lot better today and ate a ton since he pretty much didn't want anything to do with food or drinks yesterday.

May 15, 2010

:(

Ben fell off a toy onto concrete today... a toy I put him on. He landed straight on his chin and mouth. Ben was crying, I was crying. Blood was everywhere.

We took Ben to the doctor and she said his wounds were just superficial. His lips are 3 times their normal size, he has a cut on his gums, on the inside of his lower lip, another cut under his lower lip on the outside, and his chin is all scratched up. He still has all (5) of his teeth though, thankfully.

I am traumatized.

May 14, 2010

Soooo before Ben would go to bed at 6:30pm, wake up around 6am, and take a nap at 11. Well, this past week he's decided that he doesn't go to bed until 7:30pm and naps at 12 instead... preferably on me, on our bed.

It was kinda fun to have him sleep on me again... well for the first 30 minutes, after that, having a 30 lb. kid on your chest gets kinda heavy.

May 13, 2010

Yet another photo of Ben and his car. What can I say, we spend a lot of time outside with this car, lol.

May 12, 2010

Usually Ben lunges for freedom as soon as the car door opens, but lately he's been endlessly fascinated by his straps. He has us put them on and off over and over and over and doesn't even try to get out.

Right now he likes the putting together part the best, which is favorable since it would be less than good of me to inadvertently show him how to undo them himself.

May 11, 2010

Ben and I spent the afternoon at the Play Palace again. Ben is obsessed with this telescope on top of the castle climber. But instead of looking through it, he smashes it over his nose and mouth. His nose gets all red and there are these deep dents in his face, especially the bridge of his nose, afterwards. It freaks me out, but Ben doesn't seem to mind. I still don't let him play on it for too long through... because really, ack.

May 10, 2010

Wheee, bubbles in the backyard.

May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day!

Rick took Ben out this morning (so I could actually sleep in!) and picked up breakfast on their way back. Rick and Ben are going camping in a few weeks, so we set up the tent in the backyard for a test run and had a lovely morning hanging out in there. Ben particularly enjoyed the box of chocolates he gave me and wanted to make sure Dad got some too.

Smudge decided to climb the apple tree... and not to be outdone, Ben kept squatting and standing up (and then clapping for himself, heehee) and really looked like he was going to start walking... but then would sit and crawl on his merry way. :P

Ben took a super long 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon and then we all went to the beach. We brought a bucket and shovel and who knew Ben could actually shovel sand into the bucket!

Today was so much fun!

May 8, 2010

Ben may not walk or talk yet, but he is super awesome at stacking. Go Ben!

May 7, 2010

The sun is back (but not the wind, yay!), so Ben and I hung out in the backyard this afternoon. I brought out his car and he loved jamming out to the music and pushing it around the yard. We've had this car since he was 6 months and he still loves it!

May 6, 2010

We recently relocated the cat tree, which means Ben has a new toy!

He first would just drop balls through the hole in the lowest level, like a basketball hoop.

Then he started to put balls into the second tier from the left side... and then he would yell at me to get them out because he couldn't reach them anymore. :P

Today he discovered that if he put them on the right side of second level instead (it's tilted from the move from LA), they would roll out the other side, drop down into the lowest one and then fall through the hole there. Ben was delighted.

Smudge had a good time too.

May 5, 2010

Happy Boys Day!

Ben sat still for about 10 seconds next to his helmet, poked at it...

...and then he came crawling over to grab the camera.

And that was the end of that.

I tried to take more pictures later in the day with his fish flag, but Ben was not in the mood. Oh well. Here's a fun fact: Ben is in the same outfit as last year!

May 4, 2010

Today was Ben's last day of BabyJump and in honor of that, here's a video of Ben climbing up the slide, his favorite thing to do there!

May 3, 2010

Ben is HUNGRY... Feed the Ben!

May 2, 2010

Ben went to a 1st birthday party today and they had a bunch of fun ride on toys for the kids to play with. Ben was smitten with this Push Around Buggy, as the internet tells me it's called.

Everything was fantastic at the party- the food, the cake, the guests-- Ben loved every minute of it! Hooray for birthday parties!

May 1, 2010

We ate breakfast at Jethro's Fine Grub in Dunbar this morning and it was soooooooo good. Ben had a short stack of pancakes, which he happily devoured. I tried to coax some egg into him from my breakfast burrito, but he was having none of it. He did accept pieces of Rick's banana chocolate french toast though.

April 30, 2010

Usually when Ben grabs my camera, he looks at the screen or puts his finger on the lens and wants me to turn it off so it retracts. But today he was staring at the lens instead, so I took a picture. Hello Benjamin.

April 29, 2010

It was sunny and windy today so I decided to bring the tent out to the backyard. Ben was very pleased and crawled in before I even set it up. I didn't have anything to anchor it down with, but it turned out he loved crawling and rolling around in there... like it was a giant laundry basket!

April 28, 2010

Apparently Ben loves playing with pebbles now that they're dry and don't stick to his fingers. He had a great time picking up handfuls, then putting them on the slide, letting them drop between his fingers, giving them to me, throwing them (this was not so good), and shaking his head no and then pretending to eat them.

Yay for sunny weather!