Saturday, June 02, 2007
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Thought I'd throw a quick note out and list all the ways Benton can communicate. He's quite the communicator.
Actions:
- Benton can smile and melt you.
- Benton points at interesting things.
- Benton can throw a tantrum like the best of them. He can cry at the drop of a dime, and he's pretty good at the back-arching thing.
- When asked "How old are you" he raises his index finger and shows it to you.
Words: (roughly in the order he first said them)
- Mama
- Dada
- Doggie
- Vaccuum (or as he says it "Va'um")
- Meow (in response to "what does a kitty say?")
- Arf (in response to "what does a doggie say?")
- Ball
- Key (means Binky)
- Key (means Goldfish cracker)
Signs: (we've been teaching him signs because they are easier to use to communicate than words at this age. Links are for the ASL version.)
- Milk
- More
- Drink
- Please -- Instead of circling his chest, he rubs the back of his head.
- Up -- Benton doesn't point, exactly, but moves his whole hand upward
- Light -- he's particularly cute when he does this one.
- Help -- seems to only want to use one hand.
- Bath -- again with the one hand thing.
- Book
- Dance -- Benton has his own sign for this. He waves his arm like "safe" in baseball...but with just one arm.
- Thank you -- He takes his hand to his mouth, but kind of leaves it there for now.
- All gone / All done -- a particularly cute one...holds his hands palms up by his head and shrugs...
Smart baby.
Monday, April 23, 2007
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Hi everyone,
Benton turned 1 year old Sunday, April 22nd. We had a party with his friends and their parents and it was fabulous! The kids had a great time for 2 hours without any major breakdowns...pretty impressive for a group of 6 under 4 years old (with 4 of them under 17 months.)
Benton's buddy Beck brought his dad, and his dad brought his camera. The result is below.
Thanks to James at www.alderbrookimaging.net.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
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Well, Benton had his first major spill. And second.
The other night Benton, at 2 in the morning, decided to chase the kitty cat. The big problem with that is that Benton, at 2 in the morning, is usually in Mom's arms in bed. For whatever reason this night he got away without mom waking and crawled right off the bed onto the floor. Ouch. Daddy was downstairs working on the computer and was quite startled by the thud.
Benton was scared, but didn't even end up with a bruise. Tough kid.
A few days later Benton decided he'd stand up in the bathroom at the edge of the tub (on the outside.) He was standing on our floor mat (towel) leaning against the tub when he lost his footing and went face-first into the edge of the tub. He cried, mommy and daddy comforted him and he was fine. However, there was a brief moment of panic...because he cut the inside of his lip on one of his 400 (8) teeth and bled a little. But he was fine just moments later.
He's a boy. There's no question about it.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
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Africa didn't know Benton could crawl. Africa is our house queen...
Africa knows Benton can crawl now. She keeps a safe distance.
We didn't think it was necessary, but Benton was introduced to snow in Yakima over the Christmas holiday. Astoria doesn't see a lot of snow but this year we've had several inches on the ground for over 5 days! It all melted today.
The day after Christmas Benton decided to give mom and dad a fun gift. As it turns out, it was fun for uncle Dale, aunt Lori, Grandma, Grandpa, aunt Brenda and cousins Caleb and Ally, too.
Around 11 in the morning the day after Christmas Benton decided that a USB cable was so important, and looked so fun to play with that he crawled across the living room floor to get it! First time crawling and it's after a piece to a computer...
He's a chaampion crawler already. Just two days ago he crawled up all 19 stairs in the gallery to get to the loft! Crazy.
Here's a shot of him crawling for the first time in our house.
Benton had fun on his first Christmas. He had just learned how to tear paper up a few days before (thanks to some urging from mom) so he had no problem digging into his presents.
Thanks to everyone for the fun gifts!
Monday, December 11, 2006
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Santa stopped by the gallery today and the whole family managed to grab a picture with him. Happy Holidays everyone.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
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Dad speaking for Benton: "What was on that spoon? Yuck! Peas are gross."
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
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Dad talking for Benton:
Today is Halloween, or as dad calls it, "All Hallow's Eve," because he's a little bit pretentious. Mom and dad learned a few days ago that downtown Astoria sponsors a trick-or-treat fest and many of the merchants participate by handing out candy on the sidewalk in front of their business. They prepared by stocking up on some delicious candy.
This morning I heard my mom and dad panic. Apparently they had spoken to a neighbor who has been through the downtown trick-or-treating experience and shared some information that Mom and Dad weren't ready for. Mom and Dad in their infinite wisdom were prepared for about 100 trick-or-treaters but the neighbor lady says that we could reasonably expect--based on the day of the week and more importantly the clear weather--2,000 to 2,500 kids.
Egads. Mom ran to the store and bought tons more candy (they haven't given me any yet.)
I learned something about retailing, too. I had Dad hold me outside on the sidewalk while the trick-or-treaters passed by and a few people would notice me. I wasn't happy with that so once I got cold Dad wanted to take me inside, but I wanted to watch the people more. So I convinced him to put me in the window--the storefront window so I could watch everyone. I was very surprised to learn that a baby in a storefront window is apparently "the cutest thing in the world" as everyone said. I was the same baby, just sitting in a window rather than sitting on my dad's lap, and suddenly I became 50,000 times cuter.
Very interesting.
Happy Halloween.
Benton