Ben in October

Ben is going to be 9 months old on Wednesday. It's hard to believe it's only been 9 months and it's hard to believe that it's already been 9 months. He's a having a rough time right now because his top incisors are coming in and they're hurting him dreadfully -- and they're taking their sweet time. But during the day he's still his silly, playful self. He seems to be very popular at daycare and can bully the older babies. Not difficult when you're at least 30% bigger than any of them!

First Fall

Ben has had some adventures this fall. He has been moved into daycare and seems to love the other babies and the teachers there. He also had his first cold and a case of the croup. But he survived and remained cheerful through it. That boy is a nicer person than either of his parents.

He's perfected crawling and is moving on to standing. He loves pulling himself up on furniture. And he's fast! Chasing him around the apartment is wearing us out!

Baby Ben

The bear cub survived his first week in day care with flying colors. Momma was a whole 'nother issue. He had lots of fun playing with the nice people and babies at Isabella, where he is known as Baby Ben to differentiate him from a little boy in the toddler room. He is eating like a horse, crawling all over the place, and learning to pull himself to standing on the furniture. Yikes!

The Republic of Benedictia

So this is Benedict and his mom's last week together. We're milking every moment that we can. This means lots of time on the swings, lots of picnics in the park, and lots of practice crawling!

The Baby Express

Ben has had some exciting times. In the past 7 days he's figured out how to sit himself up and lay himself down. He's also invented a form of locomotion that involves launching himself forward and face planting into the carpet. It's inconvenient, but it works. His second tooth broke through so the trauma is over on that front until the next one decides to make an appearance. Finally, carrots and apples have become part of the menu. To be honest, he's not really thrilled by that development.

Benzelbub

Ben has had an exciting week: he spent time at the lake with Gran and Da; he perfected the fine art of getting up on hands and knees and began work on rocking back and forth in that position; and he did lots of fussing because it appears that tooth number two is trying to come out and play.