Friday, August 27, 2010

Meeting of the minds

Last night was the first time Ben met Avery. Of course Avery was as charming as can be, but when Bekah held her up for Ben to see he took a look at her and said, "Go outside!" Apparently he wasn't impressed.

A little later I held him while my dad held Avery and he was a bit more interested. He touched her tiny toes and he kept saying, "Baby!" He can also say, "Avy," because we've been working on it for months.

Right before we left I held Avery. When Ben stopped chasing the dog and noticed he freaked out a little. He said, "Milk! Milk! Go outside! Home! Home!" I'll say anything to get you to pay attention to me! So, overall it went pretty much as I expected.

The other exciting event of the evening was that Ben finally said, "Uncle Ian." He's been saying "Aunt B" for months, but we couldn't get him to say Ian, which naturally frustrated Ian a bit. But at dinner we were treated to a chorus of "Uncle Ian, Uncle Ian, Uncle Ian."

The kicker is that when Ian said, "Can you say Uncle Nick?" Ben said it right away.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Only a few of you will understand this

The other night the three of us were driving home and Heath and I were having some inane argument. I won't get into the details, but I will say that I was obviously right and he was obviously wrong. Hey, it's my blog! :) However, as anyone who knows Heath knows, he won't stop arguing... well, ever. So he made some point which, to him, was the nail in the coffin and he said, "Pwn3d!" Then he said to Ben, "Can you say P is for Pwn3d?" And, of course, because Ben's in a serious parrot stage he said some toddler version of "P is for Pwn3d."

Heath managed to keep the car on the road, but just barely for all his whooping and celebrating.

For the uninitiated, "pwn3d" is basically an internet way of saying, "You suck. I'm right."

Monday, August 23, 2010

I will always have gum

I pulled my first all-nighter in a looooong time last night. But, it resulted in this:


Avery Geneva was born 8/23/10 at 3:48am. She was 7 lbs 13 oz and 21.5 in. Bekah had roughly eight hours of labor and did awesome. I was so glad to be there to support her the way she's supported me. Ian was a total champ. He was a wonderful partner and didn't show any nerves the whole time.
Both Bekah and Avery are doing wonderfully. She looks like Bekah's grandfather! Genetics are crazy things. I'm so excited to be an aunt! She's an adorable little girl and it's going to be great watching her and Ben grow up together.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Well, you're not wrong...

This morning Ben and I were fighting the daily struggle of fitting his t-shirt over his head. When his face finally popped through he looked at me and said, "Big head. Big head."
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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Score!

Last night we went to Red Lobster with Ian and Bekah. Heath teases us about how as a family we always have to go there or Olive Garden, so my grandma sent us a gift card. She's an enabler!

So, despite bringing several toys to distract Ben, the dinner went pretty much like any dinner out with a toddler goes. In other words, not great. He was whiny at the table so Heath and I had to tag team taking him to the lobby or outside to run around (mostly Heath, since he's still the favorite and when Daddy's around Ben wants nobody else). When our food finally came he was fine and chowed down on his macaroni and cheese (a Red Lobster specialty), but as soon as HE was done, dinner was over.

Eventually we got the check and when Ian looked at it he realized the waiter had only put his and Bekah's food on there. So we flagged him down and explained the check situation. Then he told us that an anonymous person had paid for my, Heath's and Ben's meals because they were so impressed with how we handled Ben. We couldn't believe it! That was probably $50! I've received free drinks a couple times because a person bought the entire bar a round, but never a free dinner!

And we retained our Red Lobster gift card!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Reunion

Last Thursday through Sunday Heath and I were in Indianapolis attending GenCon. It's a gaming convention where people get together and play board games, card games, video games and role playing games. We met our friends Arianne and Jeff there and had a blast hanging out all weekend, playing games and meeting some idols.

While Mommy and Daddy had a weekend away, Ben stayed with Oma and Opa. The last time we'd been away from him this long was in November, when we went to Hawaii. He was only 14 months old at the time and though he did fine while we were gone, after we got back he held a little grudge against all the grandparents. So it's no surprise my mother was a little concerned that the same thing would happen again.

When we walked in the door on Sunday afternoon Ben's face scrunched up and he started to cry. My mother was quick to say, "This is the first time he's cried all weekend!" He seemed unable to run over to us, but when I knelt down next to him he threw his arms around me and held on for dear life. I was exhausted from the weekend and happy to see him and very happy that he didn't push me away in favor of Heath, so I joined him with some crying of my own.

For me, missing Ben is a novelty. I'm with him so much that I never have the chance. We're more like college roommates living in a tiny dorm room. We have days we're the best of friends and we have days we're on each other's last nerve. And I have to admit, I didn't miss Ben much this weekend. I was glad to be away, doing something I wanted to do, doing something fun for me. And I know Ben had fun, too. Who can resist a weekend of being spoiled by your grandparents? But in the end, the best part of a trip is always coming home. Though that doesn't mean I won't go next year!

I'm including this picture not because it has anything to do with Ben, but because it is freaking awesome:


 Me & Wil Wheaton

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

All those hours of Dinosaur Train are paying off

It seems like Ben learns at least one new word a day. His vocabulary is growing exponentially. Friday's new word?

Brachiosaurus.

No joke.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Conversations with a Toddler - Part 3

Me: Ben, do you want a drink?

Ben: Yeah.

Me: Water?

Ben *shakes head* No. Monkeys.

This will be funny if he becomes a mathematician

Heath has been working on numbers with Ben. So when they're playing they're always counting things. Heath will say the numbers and Ben will repeat some of them. And when Heath gets to 10 he always says, "Yea!"

Last night I was giving Ben a bath and he has letters and numbers that stick to the side of the bath. So I was grabbing ones that floated by, sticking them to the side and saying what they were. At one point I grabbed eight and then Ben said, "Eight, nine, 10, Yea!" Then he started repeating, "Ten, yea! Ten, yea!"