Backyard Water FUN

After Ben's water torture earlier in the week, he wasn't sure about getting in the swimming pool. When I stood him beside it, he started to whine. I called out to John to "do something to make it fun." I expected John to spash or pour water in a bucket; instead, John got in the pool. He said that the water was very cold so we added a bucketful of hot water from the bathtub then put Ben in with John. And Ben had fun.



Below is John's new four-wheeler trailer. He bought it this afternoon. I know a four-wheeler trailer sounds like a terribly boring purchase, especially for me; however, I'm actually excited about it and have been encouraging John to purchase it. Now we can all go to the camp. Before, we really all didn't fit with the four-wheeler. John's truck is so old that eventhough it's an extended cab it only has two doors. It is very, very hard to get a carseat in the backseat. And then even harder to cram in John's hunting gear, gun, Ben's pack-n-play, etc. Our plan is to put a trailer hitch on the Durango and pull the trailer with it.

What's for Supper?

Last night John and I had hot wings for supper so I heated Ben some canned ravioli. You would think that with this much sauce on his face some of the ravioli actually went in his mouth. As far as either of us saw, only one piece of pasta went past his teeth. All the rest he smeared around and then dropped. I chose this picture because if you look in his mouth you can see his shiny new back tooth that hurt so bad coming in.

Dragging his toy behind him

Ben has never figured this push toy out. Before he could walk, he had no interest in it. Today he "discovered" it and all afternoon he dragged it along behind him wherever he went.

Lunch in the Park

John wasn't able to come home for lunch today so Ben and I picked up McDonald's and had a picnic at the park. With all the choices of slides and swings, his favorite thing to do was climb up these steps. Up and down we went. He could go up the first tiny step by himself and would push me away if I tried to help him.

Backyard Waterboarding

It's hot and sunny this afternoon so I thought it would be a great afternoon to play in the water. I planned to get out Ben's pool, which he's been playing in dry with balls. However, when I went to get the pool out, the shed door was locked. I tried all the keys on my key chain and 15 other random keys I found around the house, but none of them opened the shed door. Who knows what those keys fit. I'm pretty sure one of them on my keychain is for the front door of the house the Lockes sold three years ago. Anyway, I was set on playing in the water so I got out the Elmo splashmat I bought at the end of season last year. Here is Ben innocently waiting for the fun to begin. Although he looks a little concerned even then.


I hooked the water hose to it and turned on the water . . . full blast. Ben may now have an opinion on waterboarding.


He is now traumatized and cries if I sit him on it even if the water isn't on. I had my camera ready expecting happy pictures. I obviously snapped a couple before I rushed in to rescue him.

Bed Time Routine

Since Ben stopped taking a bottle about a month ago, we've developed a new bedtime routine. For the first year, John gave Ben his last bottle, then I put him to bed. Now after supper, I brush his teeth and wash his face, put him in his pajamas, then John reads to him. Sometimes Ben steals the book midway through. I just pass John another book and he begins again.

Alternate Uses

The weather ran us inside, it's about to storm AGAIN. I seems like it's rained every day for a month. We were having a really good time playing with gifts from Cara -- 100 balls from Christmas and a swimming pool from Ben's birthday. Ben was very busy filling his beach sand buckets with balls.

Update

Ben is feeling better. He still has a cold, but I don't think his teeth are hurting as bad. He's suddenly discovered driving cars. A Tonka 4-wheeler kept him entertained during lunch at Pizza Hut. Here he is driving a Matchbox car that was John's on the floor under the desk while I was checking my e-mail. I grabbed my camera to take a picture of him laughing and petting Hal, but once I got my camera, of course neither of them would participate. If you're not familiar with Hal, he's our cat, and he has some personality issues.

Red Wagon

Every boy needs a red wagon. This one is Ben's. He doesn't actually have it yet, but we'll get it soon. PawPaw restored Zac's Radio Flyer wagon for Ben. Cara took this picture so that we could see it. Doesn't it look great? Thanks PawPaw. We're going to have lots of fun with it.

Not Mexico

Ben and I had a good time in Perdido Key with Aunt Connie, Cara, Tom and Lauren. Ben enjoyed playing in the sand. He seldom actually managed to get any sand on his shovel, but he liked trying to move the sand from one bucket to another. Eventually, he gave up on the shovel and started using his hand. Wednesday afternoon it was finally warm enough for me to brave the pool. This was Ben's first experience in a swimming pool.

My back is burned. I forgot to put sunscreen on the top (not shocking since I always mess up my sunscreen.) However, I did a much better job putting on Ben's sunscreen. He didn't burn at all.

We got back yesterday afternoon. I'm a little slow posting these pics (but not as slow as Rachel who has been back from D.C. for at least a week and hasn't posted pics yet. (-: Sorry Rachel, I couldn't resist teasing you.)

Sleeping

How can this be comfortable?