Miss Moose Mouse

Time for some lists, lest I forget these things...

She is 13 months, and here is where she is right now:

Words she can sign:
more, all done, milk, up

Words she can sign with help:
please, eat, bath/wash

Words she can say:
Mama, Dada, Ben (den), night night (nigh nigh), up (uh), dog (wuh wuh), light (ait), ball (ba), school bus (bu). She has tried Granny, Nana, and Papa before, too. But I don't think I have heard her try Grandpa yet...though that is a tough one!

Body parts she can ID on either herself or others:
belly, nose, hair, mouth...and sometimes toes and eyes

Animal sounds she can make:
elephant, dog...and sometimes frog and duck

Other "tricks":
-She can give high-fives.
-She can give kisses, though they can be a little wet:)
-She can go get a book when we ask her to.
-She can get her jacket and shoes when we ask her to. If she sees her shoes randomly, she will stop what she is doing and bring them over to me, then sit down in my lap and expect me to put them on her:) She does the same thing with her little, purple jacket.
-She can shake her head no.
-She has recently gotten a big kick of out of turning in a circle. Now that she is walking well, she likes to challenge herself, I guess. She will just randomly start turning in a circle, and then laugh and laugh about it! She will stop, look at me to make sure that I am watching, and then turn and laugh some more:)
-She is still a little bit of a dare devil...the picture above is proof enough!

Favorite foods: CREAM CHEESE!!! Yogurt, popcorn, veggie puffs, strawberries, pears, cheese, Pesto Cavatapi pasta from Noodles and Company, and Broccoli and Cheddar soup from the St. Louis Bread Company. She will still eat some purees, so we keep giving them to her, to increase her vegetable count. She still likes carrots, sweet potatoes, and green beans this way.

Favorite person:
Still me:) She LOVES LOVES her mama still. We will be playing throughout the day, and at random, unexpected intervals, she will just drop what she is doing and come right over for a huge hug. It is the sweetest thing. Makes my "job" as the mama so completely rewarding. She loves lots of other people, too, but I have to admit that I am still her favorite holder/playmate/snuggle partner/etc.

$1000!!!

Today Ben was having his quiet time in his room. (We make him rest/play in there for an hour each day in place of his old nap time.) Well, at some point, he got a little creative and found a floor board with a few splinters in it. Instead of just leaving it alone as his parents would have wished, he decided he should pull up the loose pieces of wood.

So when Aaron when in after the rest was over and discovered that the wood had been "improved" by the 3-yr-old, Aaron sternly told Ben that he couldn't do that again, and that it was damaging to the floor. Ben looked up with a 1/2 defiant, 1/2 apologetic look. So Aaron added, "Now you owe me $1,000 dollars."

Ben stood quietly for a few moments before sweetly asking, "What's $1,000 dollars Daddy?" while eying the $1.75 in coins sitting on his dresser.

I somehow don't think we are ever going to get our money. :)

Benner

A couple of cute stories:

1. He is getting so much more grown up these days. And mostly, it is wonderful and amazing to watch, but it also brings challenges with it! Lately, we have been having a bit of an issue with following the rules that Mom and Dad set, and not "back-talking" when we don't follow the rules. Sometimes it is deliberate, and sometimes it is just cute!

Like today, we were playing the the sandbox outside, and I asked him to keep the sand in the box after I noticed him flipping some of it out of the box. He had been having trouble with this all morning, so I hoped that he would be better with it in the afternoon. But, sadly, it wasn't to be.

After about 2 min, I saw him flipping sand out again, so I sternly said, "Benjamin! If I see you flip sand out of the box again, you are done with the sand box!"

He looked up at me with the most sincere expression and said, "Ugh! Just don't look over here then!!"

Such true words! If I didn't look at him, in his mind, then we would both be happy! He could flip sand, and I wouldn't be frustrated by seeing it flipped out:)

2. Even though he is getting to be such a big boy, he is still so little sometimes. I don't know why, but several times today he has asked me to snuggle him. Because I know how precious these moments are, I have been trying to be good about, when he asks this, to drop whatever chore I am doing, and just wrap him up in a huge hug, and snuggle him with all my attention, love and focus. His sweet, soft, little arms wrap around me, and we just enjoy snuggling!

3. His language and description skills continue to develop at a lightning pace. He tells such grown up stories now. And he is comfortable talking to adults as well as kids, most of the time. He is really starting to have some good form to his stories, and is getting better and better at including all the right details.

Our parents-as-teachers person came over today, and she was chatting with Ben, and he started talking about trains (still his FAVORITE subject in the whole world), and he started to tell her the story of when Aunt Gigi and Uncle Martin took the train recently, and how it was running late. He went into all kinds of detail about what might make the train late. He finally decided that it was late because of grass on the tracks (not true at all), and it was just so amazing to hear him think through so many details. He also told her about riding the zoo train with his Aunt RiRi and cousin Anna recently too. Such a strong memory for trains!!

4. Speaking of his love for trains, he loves telling people that he is a "fan of trains" and how Molly is a "fan of dogs". When we see a dog go by, he will yell, "Look Molly, a dog-dog, your favorite!"

No joke!

No April Fool's jokes here, just a couple of quick notes:

1. Thanks to everyone who helped me try to get the wedding picture turned...but particularly to our good friend Steve, who finally just turned it for me himself and emailed it to me again. Seriously, when did I get so bad at this stuff?? It's practically a miracle that I can actually figure out how to blog. Thanks again, Steve!!

2. Molly is walking! Not "oh, I can toddle a few steps if you are near" walking...but "get out of my way and stop trying to hold my hand, Mom!!" walking. She has got it now, and is good to go. But thankfully, she will still let me hold her often when she, Ben, and I are outside playing or on a walk, so I still get sweet cuddles. She loves to walk, but isn't quite as insistent about it ALL THE TIME like Ben was. He wouldn't let me hold him again for months after he really got it, so I love that she still will.

3. Ben is officially dropping his nap:( I won't lie...this is a dark day for me. I still have him take a "rest", which we BOTH need, but he doesn't fall asleep. He just rests in the bed for a while, and then plays quietly in the room for a little bit more. He is not 100% done with napping. If I tell him that he needs to sleep and leave him toy-free, he will still fall asleep, but then he will be up at night to 10 ish, which is WAY TOO late and annoying! He is actually asleep right now(hence the free time to blog for the first time in 2 weeks), but Aaron and I have a choir rehearsal tonight, so I knew he would be up late and would need sleep in the day to make it to bed time. But most days now he does not nap. The only bright side is that he goes to bed without a peep at 7:45 ish on non-nap days, and sleeps like an angel till morning. At least there is a silver lining to the dark cloud!

Uhhh...does anyone know how to help me get the picture in the previous post turned upright? Please email or leave me a comment if you know how to help!!

Us at Aunt GiGi and Uncle Martin's Wedding!

(aren't we so good-looking?!!)

The wedding was absolutely wonderful!!! Aunt Gigi was stunningly beautiful and pretty-much the PERFECT bride, and Uncle Martin was a very handsome groom! The day was amazing and the ceremony was so meaningful and lovely!

Ben was a delightful, little ring-bearer. He was a little nervous at first, but he and I talked about the fact that we were all a little nervous to walk down the long aisle, but that he didn't have to go if he didn't want to. However, if he did feel brave, he could just walk down next to the sweet flower girl, and he could watch for our good friend Jen the whole time, and just walk right to Jen.

He walked up to the doors to head down to the aisle, looked at me and said, "I will be brave, Mom. I will carry the pillow and be brave." And he walked down perfectly holding the pillow up, right to Jen who scooped him up, and he sat down and looked so proud of himself!!

He did have one little hesitation...the first time that the flower girl dropped a handful of flower petals on the ground. He was walking right beside her, and he stopped in his tracks for a second to look at her and to check out the petals. You could see the wheels turning in his head. Something like, "Well, that was unexpected...but she seems to know what she is doing, and no one else seems upset by the fact that she just threw stuff all over the floor, so I guess we are all OK here and I can just keep going."

It was so sweet!

And Molly also did wonderfully well. She looked beautiful and sweet in her little dress...a perfect match for Ben being so handsome in his tiny suit.

She was with Granny and Grandpa for a lot of the day (who were the real superheros of the day, taking care of both kids for the vast majority of the day), but during the middle of the ceremony, she decided that she just had to have Daddy hold her. So Aaron, even though he was at the front of the chapel by the piano because he was singing, just picked her up, and she sat happily in his arm for the rest of the ceremony...through songs and all! It was so sweet!

It was really such a wonderful day!

Congrats to Aunt GiGi and Uncle Martin!

These boot were made for walking...

So, just a quick update to report that: Molly CAN walk, she just chooses not to let go of my hand most of the time:)

She is so sweet, and I know that this time is passing so quickly, that I really don't mind at all that she isn't ready to let go most of the time.

But it is so funny to me the times that she will just randomly let go and take a good 25 steps without a second thought. She does it all the time in the backyard, which is even funnier to me because it is so uneven and treacherous out there. But when we are in nice, open spaces, she still waits for me to come up to her and hold her hand. And I gladly do! Once or twice a day I wish she would just go for it, but the vast majority of the time, I am embracing and enjoying these last few days when her experience of the world is directly tied to me being right with her still.

In no time at all, she will be off! My big, little girl!!