Sunday, January 20, 2013

Ben turns 2!!

Ben's 2 Year Stats
Height: 35 in ( 2.4 in increase in 6 months) 60th percentile
Weight: 26.5 lbs ( 1.7 lb increase in 6 months) 30th percentile
Our poor little guy was sick on his actual birthday.  He had a runny nose, cough, and fever off and on for 4 days before I finally took him in to the doctors the day after his birthday.  The verdict- ear infection.  Hooray for antibiotics!  Two days later he had perked up enough that we decided we could invite some family over to celebrate (in spite of a huge snow storm going on).  Cupcakes, ice cream, and presents--what more could a two-year-old ask for?  
And this little boy is learning to smile for the camera!  

Too bad he spent most of the song trying to pull down his sleeve.  Love his smile when we said his name though.   

He's showing Uncle Sammy and Aunt Lara (via face time) how old he is.  He learned how to hold up two fingers pretty quickly.  I think I only showed him once or twice.  
The party guests... minus my mom and brother who came a little bit later for presents.  
Present time


This was one of his favorite items (a stick horse that makes sounds)- thanks Grandma Kelly!  His current favorite movie is Tangled because of the horse, Max.  In fact, he calls it the "horsey movie" by signing horse every time he sees the case or wants to watch it.   


Since then, McKenna has pretty much taken over the horse and named it Angus from Brave.  Someday he'll get it back.  

With Dan's parents
These light up bouncy balls were also a huge hit.  
We also got him this bike which he's been riding (and by riding I mean, Flintstones style) around the house.  The seat also has storage a surprisingly large capacity in which he hides many little objects.  

  • I'm so thankful he's always been a good eater and sleeper!  
  • His language has finally started to develop.  During the month of December alone, he picked up 8 words.  So now, his total is... 8 words. :)  Mama, daddy, uh-oh, woah, ow, Nenna (Kenna), me, and diaper.  He can also sign 25+ words.  At his check up, the doctor said if he has about 20 words in the next two months we shouldn't need to get him evaluated (for speech therapy) again.
Here's a video of his talking.  I remembered to have him say all of them except for "Nenna."
*Since I started this post he can also now say "Hi" and "baby."  
  • He loves to do things McKenna never would have done at this age.  Because he sees her doing it, he wants to.  For example, he loves to color!  
  • He's really been into building things.  Stacking blocks and putting together lego-duplos.  
  • He's not too fond of getting his diaper changed or getting dressed lately.  It's kind of a wrestling match most days and I'm sweating and angry with him by the time I'm done.  But I'm sure glad this is only a phase.  
  • He loves his daddy and pretty much signs/asks for him all day.  However, he's been asking for "mama" more and more at bed time.  
  • Ben and McKenna have been getting along pretty well since Christmas with all the new toys to play with.  He's even figured out the sharing and taking turns thing pretty well.  
  • They still love to tease each other... Too bad that's NOT a phase.  Right? 
  • He loves music singing songs.  
  • He's started to be pretty expressive as well and makes the cutest faces.

We just love having this boy in our family SO MUCH! 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Ballet

We put McKenna in a Ballet class mid October.  She goes once a week and absolutely LOVES it!  






I love watching McKenna and her teacher seems wonderful with little kids.  My observations tell me she's on a pretty average skill level in the class and follows the teacher's choreography pretty well.  :)  Can't wait for her recital in March! 

New Year's Eve!

We did what most parents of small children do and celebrated New Year's Eve around 8:30pm with noise makers and poppers.  We lasted less than 10 minutes outside since the temperature was in the teens!   




Ah... Good times! 

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Kids- Photo Dump

At Fashion Place Mall.  
Yummy ice cream at Sizzler!  
 They can be so cute together! 

 Preschool Christmas Party- decorating cookies. 

 More snow play

 Ben's really been into building lately.  
 Poor little guy also took a tumble off his rocker in his room and fell right onto the rim of his trash can.  You can see the red line across his face.  
 These dress up pictures may come back to haunt Benny someday.  But I sure love them! 



 We gave Dan's mom a picture collage of each of her grandchildren holding a letter to spell out "Merry Christmas."  These were the two pics of my kids!  

I've mentioned before McKenna likes to put on "shows" for us.  Here she is singing some Christmas carols.  The last video is my favorite because she totally makes up the words.  



Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We spent Christmas "Adam" (Dec. 23rd), at Mantua with all the Webster Fam.  I forgot my camera, so you'll have to enjoy these few pics I've gotten from other family members.  
We had a yummy finger food dinner including a chocolate fountain for dessert. We played Christmas Family Feud, thanks to Dan's sister Brynn and her FB friends that were surveyed. :)
Christmas Eve morning, we all woke up and did our family gift exchange and had a delicious breakfast! It was so fun to all be together...pretty sure this may have been the 1st or 2nd time we've all slept over at Mantua together.
All the grandkids (+2 more...that we know of...on the way in 2013)
When we returned to our own home later on Christmas Eve, the kids opened one present (pajamas).


Then we watched the Nativity, set treats out for Santa (McKenna said Santa wanted waffles this year), and then put the kids to bed and Santa got to work.  

The next morning was so fun to open presents!  McKenna is at such a fun age where she's so excited and thankful for every little thing!  My mom, dad, and two of my siblings were able to be here.  

McKenna surprised us all when she opened this present from my sister and said, "It's a kaleidoscope!"  I had no idea she knew what that was or even how to say it correctly!  She said she learned about it in Preschool on the day they learned about the letter Kk.  (Thanks Swa!)

The problem Ben had with opening presents was it hard for him to be patient for the toys that were "some assembly required." 
 McKenna got this Cinderella dress and continues to put on "shows" for us quite often.  
The best present and reaction was McKenna getting her new bike.  She first got a helmet from my parents.  When I asked her if she had a bike to ride when she wore the helmet, she said, "No, maybe next Christmas."  Such a sweet and patient girl!  She was thrilled to turn around and see it to say the least!  

We uploaded her reaction to youtube. Not a great angle from which to see her facial expression, but you get the idea...

We enjoyed our traditional German pancake breakfast with apple cider syrup and then we played, napped, snacked, and had lovely Christmas dinner "feast" as McKenna called it.  We also visited my mom's parents later that evening.