What's in a name?

This weekend we moved around a lot of furniture in an attempt to baby-proof the house. I have a feeling it's an ultimately futile gesture, as Ben will probably find the one thing we didn't think of and topple it onto his head, but c'est la vie.

This included getting rid of an old bookcase from our room and transferring the books onto two smaller bookcases in the guest room, which I did this morning. One of those books was one I got when I was probably 12. It's called What's Your Name? A guide to first names and what they mean. I got it to use as a generator for character names in my stories and I noticed that I'd gone through and highlighted all the names I liked. Just out of curiosity I turned to the section of boy's names starting with B. To my surprise, I had highlighted "Benjamin."

Teething sucks

The subject says it all. It's been a tough week in our house. Ben got his two bottom teeth a week ago. I don't know if his top two are coming in now or what, but he's been sleeping badly and yelping in his sleep and the crabbiness has increased significantly. I have no idea why the top two would be so much worse, because the bottom two weren't that bad.

Poor Uncle Ian and Aunt Bekah had to bear the brunt of it last night. They baby-sat while we went to trivia and apparently Ben was screaming a good deal of the night. Even while eating, which is unusual.

Of course, the great fear is that it's not related to teething and it's something else entirely. I feel so bad that he's in pain and can't tell me what's wrong. I might have to make a worried new mother call to the doctor tomorrow.

Double Trouble

Wednesday night I watched Colin while Beth, Pat and Heath were at hurling practice. We've babysat Colin many times, but this was the first time I had two kids by myself. Since Colin's almost three and pretty independent, it was fairly easy. For example, when I asked him to take off his shoes before he got onto the couch he said, "Oh! Yes," as if he was remiss in not thinking of it himself. He was content wandering around Ben's room while I cleaned up Ben's poop explosion and even though he said he wasn't hungry for dinner and wanted to go outside, when I asked him to sit with me while I ate, he ended up eating most of his spaghetti.

There was one moment that had me worried, though. We'd already eaten dinner and then played outside. It was getting dark and cold, so we came back inside to "watch something," as Colin put it. I put disc one of The Weird Al Show into the PS3 because it's about the kid-friendliest thing we own, plus it's AWESOME. In order to do that, I had to take out the Rock Band 2 disc that was already in there. Then I made the mistake of telling Colin the truth when he asked what it was. We often play Rock Band when Colin's around and he loves it. So of course he wanted to play. But it was getting to be time to feed Ben and I didn't feel like moving all the toys to set up the drums, so I said no. This set off a bought of whining. And I don't know if it was because Ben spent all evening watching Colin in awe, or just because he was getting hungry, but Ben started whining at that point, too. I couldn't help but just sit back for a second, smile to myself and think, "This is my future."

Conversations with a baby - Part 1

Scene: Ben and I are sitting on the living room floor. All around us are scattered the victims of Ben's less than gentle playing. Currently he is gnawing on the nose of a stuffed dog.

Me: Is the doggy delicious?

Ben: *gnaw gnaw gnaw* Awowwowwowaaaaa.

Me: Oh, really? What does the doggy taste like?

Ben: Arrwowoooo.

Me: You say it tastes like chicken? That's odd since you've never tasted chicken. It must be universal.

Aaaaaaaaaaand... scene!

Kiss Army

Ben has started a new thing which at once is both cute and painful. I'll pick him up and then he'll kiss me. But he doesn't know how to properly kiss yet, so basically he just licks my cheek or chin. When I realized he wasn't just doing it because he was hungry and had become a zombie baby who was trying to eat my face off, I was very touched. "My baby boy wants to kiss me!!!" Cue the warming of my heart.

However (isn't there always a "however"?), to get leverage for this "kiss," and to bring his face close to mine, he has to grab something. And the only things within grabbing distance are things on my body. I never realized how much loose skin I have on my neck or how very much it can hurt when tiny fingers dig into my scalp and pull my hair.

And now that he has teeth, there's a whole new dimension to the kiss. Not only do I get a face full of slobber, but I also get very tiny, but very sharp points in my chin. Still, baby kiss!

Aha moment

Six months in, I think I've adjusted to motherhood pretty well. But every so often I get hit with a realization about it that just stops me in my tracks. The other day I had the thought, "I am someone's mother."

And right about now YOU'RE thinking, "Yeah, no kidding. Are you hitting the Valium already, Katie?"

But it's not just about giving birth and caring for a baby... It's about all the things attached to the idea of "mother." All the stuff people blame on their mothers, or credit to their mothers. All the stories they tell about how their mothers affected them or warped them or ruined them. It's mind boggling that now I am that person to someone.

I think I was a pretty good kid. I always got up on time, I did my homework without being badgered and for the most part I followed the rules. Even so, I realize now there were things I did and said to my mother that were awful and ungrateful. The thought of Ben doing or saying those things to me, after all I've done and will do for him, breaks my heart. Then I feel even worse because I've probably broken my own mother's heart.

I suppose that's just something you have to live with as a mother, knowing that your kids won't "get it" until they have kids of their own. By then you're probably over it and you can gain satisfaction by wallowing in their guilt and spoiling their children.

Chomp, chomp

Last night we discovered Ben has a tooth! Heath was in the kitchen feeding Ben rice cereal when he yelled, "Come in here!"

"Why?" I asked.

"Just come in here!"

So I walked in there and he told me to look at Ben's gums. And there it was, a tiny bit of white sticking out of the pink. We were both excited, so we kissed Ben and congratulated him on his great achievement. He seemed unimpressed and more concerned with why Heath wasn't feeding him anymore.

Then this morning I noticed that he actually has not one, but TWO teeth coming in on the bottom. My little boy can grow teeth! I'm so proud!

Giggling Ben

Remember a few weeks ago when we took Ben to the playground? Here's the video I shot of Ben giggling. If you have a heart condition you may want to take precautions because this is quite possibly the cutest thing EVER.

You have to be able to sit before you can sit on the Supreme Court

Doing Yoga

Mugging for the camera

I can sit on many surfaces - even dead grass!

Just chillin' and droolin'

Must... consume... all... toys...

The cutest picture of Ben to date