September 23, 2010

Pouring pouring pouring p-o-u-r-i-n-g rain today.

Ben is definitely a Vancouver baby. The rain didn't even faze him and while everyone else went inside, Ben wanted to sit outside and play in the sandbox. Luckily there were two patches of dry seating for us to hang out on while we had a snack.

Then Ben wandered around outside for a bit before finally deciding to head in... much to the relief of his California mother who still hesitates leaving the house when it rains!

September 22, 2010

Today we went to Costco with Ben's friend Catherine and her mom... and look at the magic that happened!

I'm not sure I can really write anything about it because my mind 100% occupied by squee-ing at the cuteness!

Babies holding hands! Ahhhh!

September 21, 2010

It was pouring rain today so Ben and I spent the afternoon at the mall. Ben had a fun time wandering around while pretending to talk on the phone (ha)... which this was supposed to be a picture of... but well, obviously, it's not... and um, I really don't know what to say about this, and it's the only picture I have from today... so yeah... uh... it's the thought that counts... yes... hm...

September 20, 2010

Happy Birthday Auntie Celeste!

Today was Ben's first day of music class. Well I thought it was a music class, but it turned out to be more of a dance, run around flapping your arms class.

Ben was not impressed and decided it was better to just lay on the floor.

Oh man was that class horrible. LOL.

September 19, 2010

Yesterday I spent WAY too much time making Ben's trick or treat bag for Halloween... but it was totally worth it-- the pumpkin is Ben-sized and totally amazing!, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, I had filled it with candy to make sure it didn't fall apart... and to take some pictures. I finished it after Ben had gone to bed so he hadn't seen the final product until this morning.

And when he did discover it this morning, Ben was in love. Hello magic bag of candy!

Ben will have this for breakfast, thank you very much!

September 18, 2010

Another fun day out with Auntie Celeste. And what better way to end the day than by sitting on Ben's favorite step!

September 17, 2010

When Auntie Celeste is here, we go to new places, like the yarn store!

Ben did great there... he was fascinated with the packages of knitting needles and thankfully did not run around the store grabbing balls of yarn and throwing them. (I am pretty sure that if we had stayed there 10 minutes longer, chaos would have ensued.)

Here Ben and Auntie Celeste are posing with the yarn that will soon be a new Ben sweater!

September 16, 2010

Auntie Celeste is here!

She brought fun things for Ben... like a new hat...

... and a webcam!

Ben liked the webcam so much he dragged it all over the house and was really hmm... shall we say, "disappointed" when he was told he couldn't bring it into the bath with him.

Yay Auntie Celeste!

September 15, 2010

I signed Ben up for another gymnastics class... this one is by Vancouver Phoenix Gymnastics and meets a few blocks from our house.

At first Ben was like, Where the heck are we?, but then once he saw the gymnastics stuff inside, he was ready to go!

This place is larger and everything is taller and higher and covered in squishy mats. It was quite the workout (for us both!) and we both took a very long nap this afternoon... phew.

September 14, 2010

Here's Ben working on a puzzle. This is his cat and dog puzzle I bought because one of the cats looks like Smudge!

We just started doing puzzles and I'm impressed with how fast Ben picked up how the whole thing works. Genius.

September 13, 2010

Ben and I take a trip to Costco every week/week and a half to buy our gazillion eggs, jug o' milk... and then whatever else I find tempting, lol. Ben munches on samples as his "afternoon snack" and today Ben hit the jackpot of all Costco samples-- the creampuff!

The creampuff was one of Ben's first Costco samples and it was just a big of a hit today as it was back then. As a bonus, here's baby Ben devouring his first ever creampuff sample back in the day. Aw baby Ben.

September 12, 2010

It's Sunday... which means it's Roast Dinner Day at our house! Mmm... roast.

In England, I've been told that people usually have a roast on Sunday nights (beef roast, pork roast, chicken, etc). Rick and I agree that this is an excellent tradition, so we have been trying to have roasts every Sunday. Today we had roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and carrots, gravy... and I also had rice (lol). Ben so far has been a big fan of Roast Dinner Day too!

September 11, 2010

Today we went to a birthday party at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre where Ben went swimming for the first time!

Rick took him in and Ben did great. I wouldn't say that he loved actually being in the water, but he didn't hate it and seemed to enjoy himself.

What he definitely did like was collecting toys from the big pile in the corner and bringing them to the pool and then sitting at the edge playing with them. It reminded me of when I asked my mom why the bottoms of my bathing suits were always fuzzy and she said it was because I sat on the steps of the pool and played and never actually went into the water. Haha.

Anyway, we had a great time at the party, happy birthday to the birthday girl, and we'll definitely be back!

September 10, 2010

This afternoon, Rick's work had a bbq at Stanley Park.

"Forget the burgers, this is what Ben wants!"

And why stack blocks when you can stack soda cans? Probably classy with a K, but also extremely awesome, no?

Awesome it is!

And another thing that's awesome, huge firetrucks you can pretend to drive. Ben loved this truck and didn't want to get off.

September 9, 2010

Ben invented a new game for himself today.

Step one: Put down a piece of a paper found in mommy's purse.

Step two: March with hands behind the back to the paper.

Step three: Stand on the paper.

Step four: Do a happy feet dance on the paper!

Step five: Repeat.

Ben was highly amused by his new game and couldn't stop smiling the whole time!

September 8, 2010

Today is Ben in his booster seat day!

First up, this morning, here's Ben playing with some bananas and one of the trains from Thomas (I suppose at some point I will need to learn their names since it seems to be a mom of a 2+ year old boy requirement) with his eyes closed!

Ben calls bananas "mama" too. Hee hee.

And for lunch today Ben and I had some Japanese takeout- oyako donburi, beef sushi, and milk tea... yum yum.

Ben really wanted to "use" the chopsticks and even managed to position them correctly to pick up a piece, but then he gave up, threw one on the floor, and decided to just poke the sushi instead. LOL.

September 7, 2010

Here is Ben hanging out in his room reading Goodnight Moon. He likes to flip to the pages with the kittens on them and say "nahhh."

Ben doesn't talk much still, but he is getting good at picking up animal sounds! So far he does cat (nahhh), dog (woof), wolf (howl), snake (hissss), cow (moo), chicken (cluck), and rooster (cacacaca). He also does bunny by wrinkling his nose/stink face and fish by moving his mouth like a fish!

September 6, 2010

It was pouring rain for most of Labour Day today, but that did not curb Ben's desire to leave the house by any means... and all our usual haunts were closed for the holiday.... so we went to Starbucks... coffee for us, sugar for Ben!

Here Ben is enjoying his special pumpkin muffin treat with cream cheese frosting. I think this trip was Ben-approved!

September 5, 2010

Today we went to the park to visit the ducks again. A woman and her two kids were feeding the ducks, so Rick and Ben were able to get up close to a whole bunch of them. Ben never tries to touch the ducks, he just stands pointing and taking it all in, just happy to be so close. It's very cute if I do say so myself.

Ipo got to walk around the park too, but we stayed behind since Ipo might be too "friendly" with all those ducks around. She was curious about them as well!

September 4, 2010

For a while, Ben has loved wrapping himself up in blankets, but could only do it while playing on our bed or if there was a random blanket on the couch. But now, he will go into his room and bring one of his Ben-sized blankets out to snuggle with in his chair. He tries so hard not to drag it on the ground either!

September 3, 2010

Playdough has recently become a big hit with Ben.

He likes to press cookie cutters into it, squish it into molds, and poke it!

September 2, 2010

Woo hoo! We are back in classes at Jump Gymnastics! Here's Ben eagerly awaiting class to start.

Ben is now is JumpOne. It's more structured than BabyJump and they have the kids doing circuits on the different equipment.

He has a new teacher named Sarah, who he loooves. Sarah would show all the kids what to do and actually go on the equipment, which in Ben's eyes made her the coolest person ever. And when it was his turn to do things, Ben wanted her to help him, not me, lol.

It's good to be back!

September 1, 2010

Here's a nice photo of the top of Ben's head as he excitedly plays with cars at the Westside Family Place.

Ben really likes having routines, so as apart of our daily routine, we've been coming here every morning. It's the perfect place for our AM trip since it's close by (Ben is known to fall asleep in the car if we go more than 20 blocks away from our house) and we both enjoy munching on the baked goods upstairs for a snack! Plus if it's a grumpy Ben day, he is easily distracted here and not constantly yelling at me if we were to just stay home. :)