My Typical iPhone Photo Dump

It is probably pretty obvious by now, but I take about a zillion photos of Ben every day.  I can hardly ever bring myself to delete them, either.  My phone serves as a reminder of all of the fun (and sometimes not so fun) things we did each day, and I never want to erase them :(

 

Anyway, here are the latest:

 

This weekend, we had an issue with some of our electrical wiring.  We spent approximately 7 hours trying to figure it out ourselves on Saturday.  Much to our frustration, we got super close to fixing it, but not quite 100%.  (Unless we wanted our hall light controlling the power to all three of the bedrooms) ;)  I have to say, we did learn a lot just by messing around with things and trying to figure out what the problem was.

 

Maureen and Vitaliy came to our rescue today and after 30 minutes, everything was back in working order :)

 

Here was Ben's attempt at "helping" daddy:



Ben is the first one to clap and throw his arms up for "TOUCHDOWN".  

 

Popcorn Snack.  He couldn't get enough.  So much so, that even when he broke to drink some water, he was holding a piece of popcorn at the corner of his mouth so he could eat some immediately when he finished drinking.

 

Story time:

 

I snuck into Ben's room after seeing him laying strangely in his crib.  He was so totally passed out with his mouth wide open that I had to snag a picture.

 

Grumpy in the car:

 

Ben had a meltdown the other morning over something, but when he finally calmed down, one, BIG crocodile tear remained.

 

First time eating cereal with milk and a spoon!  He was so careful!

 

 

My work from home days have been switching around a bit lately, and I've managed to work from home on a few Wednesdays - AKA Garbage Days!!  Ben and I got out for an early morning walk and stalked the garbage truck around the neighborhood.  

 

At the park, this is Ben (and Greg's) favorite game.  Greg will pretend to accidently get kicked by Ben each time he swings forward, and they will do it over. And over.  And over.  And Ben will just about die laughing each and every time.

 

 

There were a few kids hiding inside this tire making silly sounds for Ben.

 

Over Labor Day Weekend, we had the Nikonovs and the Cougans over for a BBQ.  The kids were thrilled to have their number 1 playmate in the house :)

 

Kitty hunting with Maeve.

 

Took a trip to the beach and threw rocks:

 

Dragging a broom around the garage.

 

Playing with cars (Greg's from when he was a kid) and tools with dad:

 

Painting with Mira and Maylee (at Callie's):

Who Wore it Better?

Ben?

Or Madonna?

 

A little back story here:  Ben has randomly started putting things down his shirt.  The other day, he grabbed these bottle lids out of a drawer and put them down his shirt.  I couldn't stop laughing, which of course amused Ben :)  

Meal Planning: Week of September 9th

Review from last week:

I'm such a fan of spaghetti squash now, and apparently so is Ben.  He sat on Greg's lap and ate bite after bite (with the "big" fork).  So satisfying.

The chicken tortilla soup was another hit for the whole family, and I was able to enjoy it for lunch for a few extra days!

I seriously wish I could make buerre blanc sauce and put it on every dish, but that amount of butter just isn't right.  (Unless my Mother in Law, Marcia, is in town cooking for us, in which case calories don't count and we just sit back and ENJOY delicious, buttery meals) :)  Anyway, we occasionally will make it to go on our fish and it's so good.

 

We also had major success with the Chicken Mole recipe!  I had mine with roasted brussels sprouts w/ pine nuts and prochiutto. 

 

 

This next week will be an interesting one.  I'll be away at a work retreat on Monday and Tuesday night, returning too late on Wednesday to worry about cooking anything for dinner.  Combined with our plans to travel up to Bellingham this Sunday to spend the day and have dinner with my friend Kate and her family and a wedding reception next Saturday night, that leaves only a few nights to meal plan.

Since I'll be working from home on the days that I am not away at the retreat, I figure I'll throw together something delicious for Greg and Ben to have on Monday and for left overs.

Monday:  Creamy Crockpot Tomato Soup.  Perfect for the boys to have with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Thursday: Chicken Gyros

Friday: Minute Steak with Fried Egg and Warm Arugula Salad

 

Another Vocab Update

 

It has been a few weeks since I gave an update on Ben and his speech progress!

 

To start, we had our follow up appointment with the Ear Doctor.  The fluid that was in his ears before has completely cleared up, and the hearing test proved his hearing is perfect.  This was such a relief.  Greg had a lot of ear problems as a child - lots of tubes which resulted in scarring and long-term (but minimal) hearing loss...or, you know, "selective hearing" that I think a lot of husbands suffer from - so we were both relieved that Ben didn't have the same issues that would require the tube procedure.

 

We are continuing to meet with Ben's speech therapist an average of one time/week.  The majority of our meetings focus on different strategies to help encourage Ben to talk.  It's pretty interesting how some kids (like Ben) can get through an entire day without really NEEDING to say many words.  We generally give him milk and food before he has an opportunity to ask for it and we know exactly what he wants and doesn't want by the way he points at or runs away from something.  When we ask him a question, he will generally answer with "uh huh!!" or "no ma".  So one focus is on attempting to create situations where he will have to ask us for something.

 

Another strategy we have learned is to "OWL".

 

 

“OWL to Let Your Child Lead”
Observe
Wait
Listen

Research has shown that children learn language best when they are allowed to lead a conversation and communicate about what interests them. The OWL strategy will help you follow your child’s lead so that he’ll be more likely to stay in the interaction with you and get the practice and feedback he needs to build his communication skills.

(From http://www.hanen.org/Programs/For-Parents/It-Takes-Two-to-Talk.aspx)


With that said, Ben continues to surprise us with words and sentences when we are least expecting it!  A few weeks back, while playing in his room, Ben brought over his now-snug bear suit and gestured that he would like me to put it on him.  He then started to pull shoes out of his shoe bin and tried to put them on his feet.  He then stated very clearly, "put shoes on and go bye-bye".

He has regularly been saying "up" and "off".  Last weekend he said "close the door".  In the car, he will point at the door and say "this is a door", or to the road and say "this is a truck".  (He often will point to items and say "this is a _______").  He said "nana" for banana, and "open" referring to the car door.

Another new trick of his is to repeat several words we say in a row.  For the LONGEST time, when babies months younger than he is would do this, Ben would essentially REFUSE to repeat a word after me.  Suddenly, a few weeks ago, he would repeat 10-15 in a row, including some words he had never tried to say before.  He now happily agrees to do this with me every day.

He still is not at all interested in saying animal sounds and has never attempted to sing, but he LOVES when we do them for him.  Yesterday in the car, Greg and I both were singing the alphabet song to him at the same time and Ben thought it was HILARIOUS and awesome.  I also noticed that he loves to hear the birthday song sung, as it is usually sung as a crowd of people, so we will try to simultaneously sing songs to him more often.

I'm eager to discuss his speech development with his doctor later this month at his 2 year check up.  While I still do not feel like he is talking as MUCH as some of the kids his age, I also can recognize that he likely talks MORE than some of them.  And he definitely talks a lot when he has something specific to say :)

Nature vs. Nurture

 

I remember one of the Sociology classes I took in college focused in large part on gender roles and stereotypes.  We learned all about how little boys are often told how smart and tough they are, are dressed in blue clothing, are handed trucks instead of dolls, and how all of this can influence and shape their ideas of what they should like and how they should behave.  Nature vs. Nurture, if you will.

 

Call me a hippie if you want, but I can remember thinking that when I had kids, I would be open to encouraging them to play with any toys they wanted.  How I would want to encourage my son to be loving and sweet and gentle, and if he wanted to play with Barbie's, then bring it on!

 

In many ways, I still feel this way.  While Greg and I may joke about it, how he would prefer if I not encourage him to "be a wuss" (whatever that means), I find it so fascinating that Ben's preference in toys and his behavior in general seems to have already been established.  Like, from birth.

 

Ben's favorite type of play is physical.  He wants to be chased, thrown around, and tossed in the air.  He loves to dump ALL of his toys out and then run them over with his motorcycle.  He could watch truck videos all day long.  He could sit in the car for hours, pushing buttons and pretending to drive.  He loves to scream and torment the cat.  Sitting quietly with a book is very rare.  And while he enjoys coloring, it usually turns into him throwing his crayons across the table and laughing when they hit the floor.

 

 

 

 

However - this kid is also VERY sweet and gentle.  He will still usually give me hugs and kisses when I ask for them.  He recently started hugging, kissing, feeding, and tucking in his stuffed animals.  He still loves to "get cozy" with mama and dada (snuggle-fest before bed time).  He will bring lotion to me requesting a "baby massage", (essentially my putting lotion on him and singing "baby massageeeeeeee", something I have done for him since he was a newborn.

 

My hope is that as he grows up, we can continue to influence a gentle, loving and in-touch with his emotions side of him, as his love for ALL THINGS DIRTY AND BOY undoubtedly continues. 

 

Could not love this little boy more.



Meal Planning: Week of September 2nd

Just a quick review from last week:

The only meal I was particularly excited about was the chicken pot pie I made.  It was so amazing, probably in part because I never have made a pot pie before (or any kind of pie).  I didn't expect it to turn out, but it did!  Callie shared this recipe with me.  I followed some of the advice in the comments, and cooked the chicken and vegetables in chicken broth instead of water, and made extra "sauce" to keep it from being dry.  If I had known how easy pre-made crust would be to work with, I would have started making pies a long time ago!

 

On to this week!

 

Sunday: Spaghetti squash, meatballs and vodka sauce!  The meatballs are frozen and the vodka sauce is canned.  We are planning a big day of cleaning, yard work and closet organizing on Sunday.  It is Labor Day weekend after all!  Something tells me I will not be interested in doing a lot of food prep that night.

 

Monday: Sauteed Cod with Lemon Buerre Blanc sauce and roasted brussels sprouts.

 

Tuesday: Chicken Tortilla Soup (crock pot).  My friend Robin sent me this recipe a long time ago.  (I went through my email archives looking for recipes from friends today) :)

 

Ingredients:

 

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans
• 1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (12 oz) can beer  (or 1 can chicken broth)
• 2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning**
• 3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts  (1lb of chicken tenders)
• shredded Cheddar cheese
• sour cream
• tortilla chips

Directions:

Place the onion, kidney beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer or chicken broth, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker.  **Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend.  Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients.  Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.

Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips

**Taco Seasoning:

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Wednesday: Left Overs

 

Thursday: Dinner at Jess and Becca's new house!

 

Friday: Slow-Cooker Chicken Mole.  Rachel and Peter served this last weekend at the Gender Reveal party, and I know that Greg has been dreaming about it ever since :)

 



Ben on a BOAT



On Sunday, after nap time, we packed up the car with a picnic and a spare set of clothes and drove down to meet Jamie and Collin at the boat launch.  We had been trying to find a day that worked for all of us all summer, and finally found one that worked! 

 

Several summers back, boating with Jamie and Collin was a regular occasion!  We would often drive down in the morning and stay on the lake until the sun was setting. 

 

But over the past couple of years, schedules got a little busy, Ben came along, and it never was quite as easy make this type of plan happen.

 

Ben is now approaching the age where days like this can be doable again, even if things need to be modified a bit :)  We figured he would either LOVE being out on the water, or he would HATE it. 

 

Lucky for us, Ben absolutely loved every minute of it.  And WE loved that he could stay totally contained in the boat since there wasn't anywhere he could run off to!

 

Ben got to help bring the boat into the water:

 

 

And help drive the boat:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And at the end of the day, he was wiped out completely: