Benjamin: 6 months old

Nicknames:  Ben, Ben-Bo, Benjamin Kenjamin, Benja-Kenja-Koo, Hungrykinds

Temperament:  Ben is so happy, cheerful, and social, and becoming more expressive 

Item/Toy we love the most:  activity mat, lillebaby carrier

Item/Toy you love the most:  bee toy, stacking blocks, soft blocks, pacifier

Things we're loving most right now: seeing your personality emerge, watching you learn about food, how well you sleep

Things you're loving most right now:  sitting up, trying big people food, using your hands, playing with Abigail, watching everything

Eating:  Ben continues to eat well overall and is nursing basically 5 times a day most days (6/7 am, 10 am, 1:30 pm, 4:30 pm, 7 pm).  He is still taking three bottles at school for a total of 13 oz and this seems to be working out well. It was nice to be home with him over Christmas break and have a pumping break. He had a little bit of a hard time the first day back at school with his bottles but then he adjusted back to the routine.  

Over the last month Ben went from showing very little interest in solid foods to being extremely excited about them. We started giving him a piece or two of what we were eating and he would actually eat some! This has included things like pancakes, toast, grilled cheese, fruit and other easy to chew items. We are going to start sending him some food to eat at school and see how it goes. 

Sleeping: Benjamin is now sleeping through the night! Shortly after his six month birthday, he learned to roll over from back to belly.  This initially caused more wake ups as he would flip himself off his bed, but then he adjusted (and I adjusted where I positioned him when I put him down). He then decided that sleeping on his back was for wimps and would immediately roll to his stomach when I put him down. After some anxiety on my part, we went with it and he is now sleeping wonderfully on his tummy all night long. He scoots like an inchworm when he wakes up, so he will go from one end of the mattress to the other through the course of the night, but rarely rolls off anymore.  

Playing:  Ben is really fun. He is very smiley and happy and social with us and at school.  He is vocalizing more and will have "conversations" with us sometimes too.  He is sitting reasonably well without support although I still put a pillow behind him. He loves to grab things and we are impressed with his fine motor skills and ability to manipulate things and get them to his mouth.

After learning to roll belly to back in November, he learned to roll back to belly a few weeks later. It actually happened while Abigail and I were decorating the Christmas tree. I had put Ben on his back on the activity mat near us so he could hang out, and then turned my attention to Abigail and the ornaments. After a few minutes, Ben made a noise and when I turned back, he was on his tummy. He seemed surprised and confused but pleased when we praised him and clapped for him. I flipped him back over and he did it a few more times while we could actually watch.  

He is sitting well for brief periods but eventually tips over slowly, usually backwards. He has great fine motor skills and we are consistently impressed about how much he can manipulate and manage things with his little hands and fingers.

He still gets so excited when he sees Abigail and she loves to make him laugh. She is very sweet and wants to give him hugs and kisses and get his attention too. They are starting to be somewhat more interactive together and Abigail also still likes it when we emphasize how much bigger she is. 

Growth:
The biggest growth area this month has definitely been teeth! We started the month with one tooth and now we have 6! He has the top four and the bottom two.  He was fairly calm during this teething period although he loves to bite things. We do meet people sometimes who see him teething and biting things and say that he must be getting teeth soon. They seem surprised when I explain he already has six teeth and have to remind them that babies just like to chew on things and explore with their mouths.  We had his 6 month check up and Ben weighed 14 lbs and 11 oz and was 27 1/4 inches long. He is solidly in 6 months clothes and his legs keep getting longer. 

Ben also had his first bad cold the week between Christmas and New Year and while he was uncomfortable, he didn't have to miss school and eventually things cleared up just before his six month birthday.  

Benjamin: 5 months old

Nicknames:  Ben, Ben-Bo, Benjamin Kenjamin, Sleepykins, Hungrykins

Temperament:  Ben is so happy, cheerful, and social

Item/Toy we love the most:  orange giraffe, activity mat, lillebaby carrier

Item/Toy you love the most:  any toy you can grab, orange giraffe, activity mat animals, pacifier

Things we're loving most right now: seeing your fine motor skills emerge, your smiles and laughter, how you light up when you see one of us, how well you sleep

Things you're loving most right now:  using your hands, reaching for things, playing with Abigail, watching everything

Eating:  Ben is eating well overall and sending an extra small (3 oz) bottle for the afternoon has seemed to help during the week. So Ben is having two full size (5 oz) bottles and then the small one on days when he seems hungrier or I am later, so 3-4 days out of the week.  He is more easily distracted during nursing, and will pop off to socialize with me if I talk while he is eating, so we have tried to focus on having him eat in his room while it is quiet to minimize distraction.  He is not showing an interest in table food yet although he will sit with us in his red chair while we eat and watch us. We have given him an occasional piece of food to explore, like an apple slice or a piece of red pepper, and he has put it in his mouth, but didn't do much else to actually eat it.

Sleeping: Ben continues to sleep well and usually has one night wake up between 7:30 and 7 am, but occasionally had two wake ups right around the time he got his first tooth near the end of the month.  We continue to be thankful for his sleeping skills.  His naps at home continue to be long and fairly consistent but are often shorter and a little more unpredictable at school.  He will still nap on the go sometimes but often will wake up in a more loud or interesting setting. During thanksgiving, he was able to fall asleep swaddled in our bedroom and then stayed asleep while I held him and returned to the excitement so that helped the day go more smoothly!

Playing:  Ben is so social and playful now. He loves it when people talk to him and smile at him and quickly returns these actions.  He is getting so much better with his hands, grabbing toys easily and enthusiastically and quickly trying to put everything in his mouth. He learned to roll belly to back near the end of the month and seems proud of himself (and pleasantly surprised) when he successfully does so. We have just started having him sitting in the little red chair and he has been interested for short periods. He lets us know pretty clearly when he is done.

He continues to love watching Abigail who has learning to make alerting noises to get his attention. I suppose it is good for her trying to be aware of his interest level.  She still likes to sing and dance and is now trying to hand him toys and talk to him sweetly. She has been giving him his taggie blanket and praising him when he grabs the tags and tries to eat them, and she loves to echo all the little things I say to both of them.

Growth:
Ben is pretty solidly in 6 month clothes and seems to be getting longer.  He has one tooth through on his bottom gum and the next one should be coming through any day.

Abigail: 4 years old

Eating:
Abigail still is a fairly good eater but she has gotten pickier and more opinionated over the last few months. She is always looking to see how much more dinner she has to eat before she can have fruit or more often a treat.  For breakfast she likes having peanut butter or butter toast, hot or cold, or cereal, including Frosted Mini Wheats or Multigrain Cheerios. For lunches at school she likes to have macaroni and cheese or a peanut butter sandwich, plus fruit and a gogurt (squeezy yogurt).  She used to like peanut butter and jelly but lately decided that she only wants peanut butter, no jelly.  For dinners, her favorite things to have are tortellini, grilled cheese, chicken pesto, and pizza from Papa Murphy's.  She enjoys almost all fruits, especially berries, and decided her favorite kind of apples are Red Delicious after a taste test at school.  Abigail's favorite restaurant is Panera and I am pretty sure it hasn't changed in the past year.

Sleeping:
Sleeping is pretty status quo around here. Abigail does not nap at home unless she is sick but does nap most days at school. There are some periods when she has a hard time staying quiet on her mat while her friends are sleeping but for the most part she is able to wait until her friends fall asleep and then choose a book or quiet toy until it is time to get up.  At home she has "quiet time" in her room during what used to be nap time. This works pretty well as she has time to play with all her toys and the grownups have time to catch up on all their grown up things.  Abigail usually goes to bed around 8 and is up between 6 and 6:30, although sometimes she wakes up earlier.   Sometimes she needs lots of attention after her light is out (I need water, I need to tell you something, etc.) but most of the time she is able to fall asleep by herself.

Playing:
Abigail has an active imagination and loves to use it to play anything Princesses or Frozen. She recently got more interested in My Little Pony and was excited to get several Pony toys for her birthday.  Several of her friends also really enjoy ponies as well.  She also really likes active games like hide and seek and wrestling with daddy. She still likes reading books and is beginning to memorize good chunks of some of her favorite books.  Abigail has enjoyed going to the park and is very active and confident when she is swinging, climbing and running around.

Growth:
Abigail has grown from our banana baby to a banana preschooler, She is long and skinny and on the tall side for her class. At her 4 year check up, she was 41.2 inches and 35 pounds.

She is wearing mostly 5T/5 clothes, especially in pants, but can still fit into most of her 4T stuff from last winter and is holding on to a few favorite tops in 3T and even 2T (the sleeves are getting really short. Abigail prefers to wear dresses and skirts every day, the twirlier the better!

Communication:
Abigail loves telling stories and uses long, complicated sentences. It is great to see how her mind works. She also loves hearing stories, on repeat, preferably ones from when JP and I were little. We have told stories about daddy getting hurt and needing stitches, mommy throwing up on the plane, and mommy getting a sunburn when she didn't put on sunscreen, over and over again.

Abigail often uses a tone imitating us, particularly when talking to Ben, who she is very loving with overall. When she is mad she is getting better about using her words although this is a work in progress.

happy birthday abigail!

We had so much fun celebrating Abigail's birthday this year! After a lot of consideration, she decided to have a party at the park so she could have another pinata. We ordered pizza and cupcakes and snacks and she decided to wear her Elsa dress and beautiful crown from her dress up things.

We got there and her friends started arriving and quickly dug int o their pizza and fruit. Several other friends also decided princess dresses were a good choice for a praty.

After eating, the kids enjoying the playground and slides as we were at the same park as the year before. We were thankful that daycare friends, neighborhood friends, and even cousins from Phoenix were able to make the trip to celebrate with us!

Then it was time for Abigail's colossal birthday cupcake! She chose to have pink, purple and blue cupcakes with sprinkles and a special giant cupcake for the birthday girl. She loved having everyone sing to her and then loved to dig in!

When she was done she asked me to take a picture of her with her icing lipstick!

Daddy carefully hung the Cinderella pinata and the kids took turns hitting it. But it was pretty indestructible so eventually Daddy had to help it along with a knife!

We waited to open presents at home in general but a few of Abigail's friends did not want to wait. She was excited and got lots of lovely gifts!

thanksgiving

We ventured back up to Phoenix for a big Thanksgiving celebration. Abigail, Ben, and I headed up Wednesday morning and JP joined us after he got off work that evening.

Abigail was excited to see her cat friend Scamper:

We then got down to business and baked up a storm in the kitchen:

On Thanksgiving, Ben woke up early but was able to nap well.

Abigail was excited to be able to have the swings all to herself before her cousins arrived:

Ben got all dressed up for the day:

Abigail had a lot of fun playing with her cousins:

Dinner and dessert were delicious too--our brownies were the first to go!

Before we came back, we got to hang out with Aunt Rebeca and Uncle Billy before heading back home.

Benjamin: 4 months old

Nicknames:  Ben, Ben-Bo, Ben-Bo Ken-Bo, Benjamin Kenjamin, Sleepykins, Hungrykins, Drool monster

Temperament:  Ben is so happy, relaxed, and cheerful

Item/Toy we love the most:  activity mat, teethers

Item/Toy you love the most:  chomping on your hands, animals on the activity mat, pacifier

Things we're loving most right now:  our smiles, laughs, and how happy you are to see us, your cooing noises when you are talking to your animals, your skill at sleeping, watching you learn to use your hands

Things you're loving most right now:  playing with Abigail, playing with your activity mat, starting to grab things

Eating:  Ben continues to be a good eater overall and has handled the transition to bottles at daycare very well. It took a little while to adjust to how much he was eating but he seems happy with 5 oz bottles.  He usually eats in the morning, has two bottles at daycare, then nurses right when we get home and before bed. He usually wakes up once overnight to eat around 3 and then goes back to sleep. There have been a few times near the end of the month where he has seemed more tired than hungry st bedtime so those nights have sometimes ended up with two wake ups, around 12 and 3.  He went through a brief period of being distracted and eating in very short increments but that seems to have passed.  Unfortunately I did get mastitis again at the end of the month which seemed to affect my supply, so I upped my pumping time and added an extra session in the evening and that seems to be working well!

Sleeping: Ben continues to sleep well and usually has one night wake up between 7:30 and 7 am. No complaints here. During the day he usually can't stay up more than two hours.  He still likes a longer nap in the middle of the day that sometimes stretches over two hours and he is usually able to take a longer nap at school. Sometimes he seems to get distracted by all the excitement there though and ends up with a shorter nap.  At home on the weekends he usually takes a third afternoon nap but sometimes this is harder during the week because we are picking him up around this nap time. He will take a power nap in the car some days but other days he just gets tired early.  

Playing:  Ben is getting so much more interactive and social. He loves back and forth "conversations" and repetitive games with some anticipation, like moving closer to his face while making the same sound. He has found his hands and is figuring out what to do with them, reaching for things and grabbing with much more purpose than the random swiping he was doing before.  We see a difference day to day in his coordination and ability to hold a toy and then immediately bring it to his mouth of course.  With the mouthing has come more drooling and biting but it doesn't appear that this is related to teeth, just to being 4 months old.

Ben still gets tired quickly at tummy time but is starting to get stronger. He is not rolling over yet but can get back to his back from his side, which seems like a step in the right direction.  I am sure he will figure it out when he is ready.

His favorite entertainment is Abigail. He loves to watch her dance and tell stories and gets very excited when she plays with him. When I am driving them to school and Abigail is talking to me, Ben looks at her intently from his backward facing car seat and sometimes chimes in with his "oohs" and "aahhs" to join the conversation.  Abigail occasionally can get to close to his face or play too rough but she is getting more used to what Ben can handle.  We are looking forward to them learning to play together more as they get bigger. 

Growth: Ben had his checkup right on the 11th. He was 13 lbs, 5 oz and 25 inches long. He continues to be higher in percentage on length (54th) than height (10th) but is growing well. He got his shots and handled them fairly well.

Ben seems bigger and sturdier and some of our favorite 3 month items are starting to get a little short, so we have been getting into some of the six month clothes, depending on brand.