It's been awhile since I gave an update on how much Benjamin is growing and learning these days. He is so full of character and personality. It is so much fun to be around him all the time. Bear with me, this will probably be a long post!
Benjamin has started to make the connection between sign language and words. We have been watching the Baby Einstein sign language DVD for months and he is now starting to use the signs a lot. He knows "more" and uses it when he wants more food or more time in the bath. He knows "all done" and "ball." Actually, he was watching the DVD yesterday and I was sitting with him and helping him make the signs and I stopped for a minute to get a drink and when I turned around Benjamin said, "Baa" and did the sign for ball. Woo hoo! It was so cute and I was so excited to hear him speak AND do the sign. There is some concern that babies take longer to speak when they learn sign language, so I was glad to see and hear him do both at the same time. New signs we are working on are milk, bath, and please. I'm sure he'll understand those soon!
Benjamin is also turning into quite the little athlete. He has loved to throw and roll balls around for months now. But just a couple weeks ago he learned how to kick his ball around the room. It was really neat to watch him learn to kick the ball after he did it once by accident. He was just walking around the living room and his foot hit the ball. He watched it roll and then went right for it and started kicking. At first he was kicking with his right foot and if the ball happened to be in front of his left foot he would still try to kick with his right one. It was so funny! He figured that out pretty quickly though and now will kick with whatever foot the ball is in front of. He now plays soccer with anything that will roll when he kicks it- the ball, his bottle, toy cars.
One of Benjamin's favorite things to do is "look" for Dad. Often times Jonathan will come home from school and go back to our bedroom to get some more studying done. After a little while I'll ask Benjamin if he wants to go find Daddy and he gets excited, claps his hands, and runs for the baby gate blocking the way down the hallway to the bedrooms and point down the hall. He'll let me lift him over the gate then he'll run down the hallway to our bedroom and bang on the door. He also likes to watch for Dad from the living room window. As soon as he sees Jonathan get out of the car he'll bang on the window until Jonathan looks up and waves. It's so cute and I'm so glad Benjamin loves his dad so much! "Dad" is officially Benjamin's first word too. He uses it correctly when he sees Jonathan or sees a picture of him. My favorite is when the front door opens and Benjamin yells, "Dad!" and runs for it before he even sees Jonathan. Too cute!
Benjamin also loves to watch videos. He has figured out how to turn on the DVD player, turn on the TV, and change the channel until it gets to the right one to show the video. We're having a fun time trying to keep the TV off and let him only watch a half hour or so of a video each day. We already moved the DVD player up another shelf and are now looking for something to block the TV buttons from little fingers who like to push them.
Benjamin also loves to go out in the car. When I'm planning on taking him somewhere, I'll ask him, "Do you want to go for a ride in the car?" and he gets this big grin, grabs his blanket (because he won't wear a jacket in his car seat so we wrap him in a blanket instead) and heads for the door. I can't ask him if he wants to go until I'm ready to walk out because he gets too impatient if we don't leave right then. I guess I'm not the only one with cabin fever these days. I'm so ready for spring!
Benjamin and I start "Mommy and Me" toddler swim classes tonight. We'll let you know how those go. I'm sure Benjamin is going to love it.
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