Leaps and Bounds

We can hardly believe it. Benjamin is 9 months old! It seems like just yesterday that we were cleaning up spit-up, doing 2 loads of laundry a day and trying to figure out what happened to our lives. Oh, that WAS yesterday. I mean, it seems like ages ago that Ben was the curled up in a little blue blankie, staring up at us with his chubby, jaundiced face, as if to say "Now what are you gonna do with me?" He has obviously grown so much since then. His 9-month appointment with Dr. Atiyeh was uneventful, which is a good thing. Ben is doing just great. He is solidly on the charts at 18 pounds (10th percentile) and his constant eye contact was an indicator to the doctor that Ben is very social and ready to communicate. We need to continue to read to him daily, move toys out of his reach so he'll learn to crawl for them, and keep up the good work. (Ben might be in the 10th percentile for weight but I do believe that Kevin and I are hovering near the 75th percentile for decent parenting....so far.)

We miss those "Benji in a Blanket" days sometimes. Looking back, that was so easy compared to what we face now. I can't believe we ever complained about having to hold him for 45 minutes at bedtime, or having to change his clothes 3 times a day. At least back then when we changed him, he just layed there and yelled. Now, Ben squirms and kicks and rolls and twists around AND yells, and that is just getting him on the changing table. And this monster has lungs! I often ask him "Why are you yelling? Mama and Papa never yell at the baby." He hasn't taken to that logic just yet. And I'd surely trade the current jumping, standing, scratching, stretching for the remote, pull at the earrings and hair, suck on the cell phone, incessant 'gotta move' behavior for just 5 minutes of curling up before bedtime. I mean, wow. This guy is ready to go, with or without us. The pictures I included this time show him "kissing" Auntie Stephanie's chin. Trust me, you don't want a Benji kiss after you have already showered. With Grandma Fran, Benji is ready to do something - who knows what but that mischevious little grin says it all. And the next pic is Benji enjoying the taste of Grandma Gloria's necklace.

Last weekend, we took Ben to Gravelly Point, the park just at the end of National Airport's runway, where you get an up close and personal view of planes taking off and landing. Ben loved it and has now decided to smile whenever he sees or hears airplanes. He seems to recognize them in books, and during our outdoor workouts he is fixated on the sky as one passes overhead. To encourage this hobby, we took Ben to the Air and Space Museum. From the main level, he was not as inclined to look up at the planes, but once we found a vantage point from above - he was in heaven. We knew that Benji would change right before our eyes; we had no idea it would be this much fun to watch.