The life and times (and photos) of Benjamin Chalkley Beeson.
Want to answer all those questions your kids ask like "Why is the sky blue?" Click to order Steve's new book! (And he took the
photos on the cover. . . isn't he talented?)
Here are three animals in the Bug's repertoire: the snake, the hippo (which are kinda smushed together in this video) and the coup de grace -- the monkey. He has recently started doing dinosaurs too. . .
This is a video from a few months ago, when the Bug was a year old. It was the start of a variety of tricks he could pull off . . . of course he didn't necessarily perform them ALL that well, since he was on film. . . but it's still fun. These days we have lots more party tricks. Indeed, I think he even learned how to walk finally today!
Pacifiers are out. Water is in. He has discovered water. Banging it in the bathtub, on the shower floor, in the pool, in the cat's bowl (we try not to think about that time we caught him lowering his mouth to the bowl and drinking), and in this fountain last weekend at Elizabeth's Memorial Day party.
I have no great excuse for not posting here in awhile. . . but I must say that the baby's big growth spurt (read: sudden increase in neediness) has certainly taken its toll on my productivity. The last few weeks have been an interesting mix ranging from -- at one extreme -- the desire to sell my child on e-bay, to the other extreme of being impressed that he is the smartest child in the world since he can wave bye bye. And maybe if I strain my ears, that "ba ba ba ba ba" babble might just be saying "bye bye" too. Maybe.
He's made this real switch in terms of communication and memory -- and again this has its ups and downs. It's charming that he remembers his grandparents and gets excited every time he sees them; it's less charming that he remembers exactly where the cat food bowl is and sets straight off to go play with it, even when you put him down on the floor somewhere where he can't see it.
He's moving everywhere -- still dragging himself along commando style, as opposed to a true crawl, but he can get anywhere. He has mastered the art of feeding himself cheerios. He has mastered the art of playing the music box in his crib over and over and over. He has mastered the art -- ok, he's learning the art -- of singing/shouting along to the music.
And, magically, wonderfully, he started clapping his hands yesterday in imitation of the sign language sign for "more" to let me know when he wants more food. Unfortunately this has not completely stopped him from whining for more food if he still thinks I'm taking too long, but communication has begun!
Throughout all of this, however, it's nice to know that some things stay the same. We take a "Music Together" class every Wednesday morning, which is one of those classes that if you aren't a parent would drive you insane with its cacaphony (the teacher, Miss Amy, literally dumps a pile of tambourines and maracas in the middle of the room and lets all the kids grab one to bang away on) but that is somehow (slightly) more tolerable when one of those spastic children is your own. Of course, the Bug -- his new singing skills not withstanding -- has his own unchanged priorities. . .
It's a hard award for which to choose a recipient. The baby is always cute. Steve is always doing the dishes, getting up in the night when the baby cries, and doing all the laundry. We have lots of grandparents who babysit regularly. . . But the reward this month really just has to go to Sherman.
Sherman is the 16-year-old cat who puts up with the baby, even as he inches forward, ever closer, ever nearer, with jaws open wide. . .
The baby has taken incredibly well to eating. . . In fact he gets all squirmy and happy and kicky while waiting for his next bite. We are -- per doctor's orders -- waiting about three days between introducing each new food to make sure he's not allergic to it. He now eats rice, oatmeal, mangos, apples, butternut squash, sweet potato, and -- to my utter horror -- bananas. I really don't even like to be near bananas, but Steve loves them, and apparently it's sort of a de rigeuer baby food, so we diligently mashed them up and, of course, he adores them.
On the other hand, I couldn't wait to give him avocado. Now THERE is a food that's fantastic. And it's mushy and yummy and looks like the perfect baby food as well. Avocados were going to be the new banana, baby.
Last Saturday night, Steve and I went to his 20th high school reunion. It was too good for words. It was very fun to be an outsider just watching the scene: the artsy boy who wanted to prove he was now cool, the cheerleader who wanted to prove with her sexy dance moves that she was just as attractive as she was in high school, the charming quarterback-turned-school-principal who did a reprise of his high school singing routine by grabbing the microphone and crooning "Thank God I'm a Country Boy." I loved watching people's outfits to figure out just what they thought was the best thing to wear to their reunion (it ranged from white rabbit boas to tight jeans to cocktail dresses). I was the only woman in the room who hadn't had her hair dyed within the previous 48 hours. And I can't pretend that it wasn't fun to dance with Steve and help him show off in front of everyone too. (The word in the ladies' room was that he was "lookin' good. . . ")
But really the best part was that not only did we have a fun date, but it was our first time leaving Ben to spend the night somewhere. He's fallen asleep elsewhere before, but we've always gone to collect him and take him home -- which means we don't want to do it too late, lest we disturb him or that he not sleep well outside of his crib. In this case, Ben was going to sleep at Steve's parents in the Cadillac of Pack 'n' Plays that they bought him (complete with spinning mobile and nature sounds) and we spent the night there in the guest room when we came home. We stayed out until the mind-bogglingly, partying-it-up-late hour of 1 AM. Quite unprecedented.
All of which is the preamble to the fact that the whole thing was clearly a success, as Ben had a great time with his grandparents as can be seen on this video in which he squeals up a storm.
Steve and I visited with his friend Lisa yesterday and she laughed as she told us that we were falling into the classic parent-trap of videoing our child when really he wasn't doing anything whatsoever. I don't know WHAT she is talking about. The fact that Ben can now kick AND hold something at the same time (he just started holding things this week) clearly means he is the smartest baby in the whole world. I could watch it forever. . .
You might think that the fact that Ben can kick up a storm isn't so interesting. . . but actually I could watch it forever. Watching him stare at his hands is also very good stuff.
