Doodling

Ben drew a picture of himself on the MagnaDoodle that he got for Christmas.

He also drew a picture of the "Nanamobile" for Nana. Nana, this picture is for you.

Funny Boy

Notice Ben's "bicycle helmet." Ben's imagination has been in overdrive lately.

He's constantly trying to figure out language and he's been experimenting with his accent. One day last week, he asked me if baby Jesus was a "him." I said he was. Then he asked me if Strawberry was a him or a her. I wasn't sure so I asked Ben whether Strawberry was a boy or a girl. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Strawberry is a horse." He did later decide that Strawberry is a "him horse."

When he just wants a small amount of something, he'll say, "Not a whole much."

Sunny Winter Days

One of the best things about living in the South is that sometimes you get a 70 degree day in the middle of winter. We've had two this week. We were so happy to play outside Friday and Saturday. John got to play too on Saturday.



All the playing wore Mollie out. She fell asleep in the swing.

Pea Green

Mollie did not enjoy her peas at lunch today. She did eat what she didn't smeared on her face and in her hair, though. Now I have to go scrub her.

Personal Hygiene

I brushed Mollie's two tiny little teeth for first time this morning. She wasn't very excited about it. She didn't want to open her mouth.

Ben has become very independent since he started wearing underwear. He needs "privacy" to use the bathroom. Sometimes we don't even know he's in the bathroom until he runs out naked from the waist down. This includes his socks which he says might get pee on them. He can get everything off, but can't get it back on.

He no longer sits in a booster seat at the table.

He wants to blow his own nose, which is a disgusting mess since he just holds the tissue in front of his nose and blows. The clean up requires assistance even though he does the actual blowing by himself.

Dinner Time

Mollie is eating mashed bananas. Since I added applesauce to her diet last week and mashed bananas this week Mollie no longer thinks that green beans are delicious. She gags when she tries to swallow them.

Mollie is cutting her first two teeth on the bottom. I attempted to take a picture but you can't see them even zoomed in.

Daddy Time

Ben and John had fun playing together Saturday.

They played with Play-Doh.

John made this car. Ben said he made fish.

Win Win

Notice Ben's pants. This morning he was determined to wear his Nana flag shorts. I said no, though, because he has a bad cold and I wanted him to keep on his warmer pajamas. We compromised by wearing both.

Friday

Ben is feeding his horse Strawberry a pretend waffle. I told him he should give Strawberry an apple because horses like apples. He replied, "Horses also eat horse seed."

One evening this week, Mollie was not content playing on a blanket while I cooked supper. I stopped in the middle of supper preparations and pulled out all the pieces of the exersaucer which were stored in a couple of different places and put it together. It was worth the effort. Mollie is enjoying a toy where she can sit up and play.

It was completely chaotic today while I fixed lunch. Ben really wanted me to play Wednesday night supper at church with him (His favorite game today -- We sat in chairs at the coffee table and ate pretend food) and Mollie alternated between yelling happily at the toys on her exersaucer and yelling in frustration because she couldn't make them do what she wanted. I broke down and decided to turn on the TV. I said a brief prayer that I could find the Praise Baby DVD since Ben hasn't watched it in at least a year, reached into the stack of DVDs, pulled out the box and thankfully the DVD was actually in it. This was the first time I had ever intentionally put Mollie in front of the TV. She watches it some when Ben is watching, but I've never sat her in the bouncy seat and actually directed her attention towards the TV. Ben had watched that Praise Baby DVD at least 100 times by the time he was 7 months old. He enjoyed it today, calling out everything he saw -- flowers, bubbles, letters, etc.

Flu Shot

Mollie got her second flu shot today. She only cried for a minute. She's been happy and smiling most of the rest of the day.

Ben laid down by Mollie while I had my camera out. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get a pic of them together. He didn't want his picture taken so he stuck his finger in his nose. He thought it was very funny.

Although John put the Christmas decorations in the attic Saturday, Santa made another visit to our house today. Ben asked me to put Mollie in Santa's lap. According to Ben, Mollie wants a little bitty bottle of Germex for Christmas. Ben loves Germax (as he calls it). I've had to place a one squirt a day limit.

Milestones

When John put the Christmas decorations in the attic, he also put away the swing and brought down the high chair. Mollie is enjoying being at the table and part of the conversation during meals.

After a week with no accidents and lots of trips out of the house (yesterday we went to Penneys, Hobby Lobby, and Wal-Mart and used the bathroom at all of them), I decided Ben should wear underwear to church. I made sure his Sunday School teachers and the nursery workers knew. I was nervous the whole time. He stayed dry and clean. They said he went to the potty four times. I guess he was worried about having an accident, too.

Still Christmas

According to Ben as long as the Christmas tree is up, it is still Christmas. And I admit that our Christmas tree is still up. We're still singing Christmas carols, wearing reindeer antlers (I had a pair on when I took this picture) and Santa made an appearance at our house this morning. All of Ben's friends got to sit in Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Most of them wanted monkey clocks. Today should be the last day of Christmas since I plan to take the tree down tonight after Ben and Mollie go to bed.

It was warm enough today that we played outside for about 45 minutes this morning. Mollie and Ben are wearing the hats they got from Aunt Connie for Christmas.

Ben was very busy working outside. First he blew some leaves.

Then he did some gardening.

He did take a few minutes to slide. His fleece pants are slicker than jeans and he went fast down the slide.

Beautiful Day

I could see the sun shining on the swingset through the living room windows this morning. Ben NEEDED to go outside and play. I was so set on keeping Mollie well for Christmas that I have not taken them outside to play in ages. According to the weather channel it was 57 degrees, sunny, with light and variable winds. I bundled Mollie up against the cold. It turns out that 57 degrees, sunny, with light and variable winds is HOT.

Mollie got to get out of the stroller and swing.

Ben promoted to the big boy swing.

I didn't push him very high because he looks like he could fall out any minute.

Mollie ate green beans for the first time today. She was way less dramatic about it than Ben. She gobbled them up and then yelled at me when the bowl was empty.

Ben had a potty milestone yesterday. He made his first trip out of the house in underwear and did a great job. He wanted to wear his underwear to Wal-Mart. I was hesitant but agreed. I put an extra pair of pants in my bag and we headed out. I took him to the Wal-Mart restroom halfway through our grocery shopping and didn't give him his usual cup of juice in the cart. He made it home dry and clean. I guess church is the next big hurdle. I think we'll try a Wednesday night first. We aren't having Wednesday night church this week so that will give us one more week to practice.

The 1st Day of the Year

Ben, Mollie, and I began 2011 at home. John went to the hunting camp and we were invited to go to Jackson, but I decided not to go anywhere. Ben and Mollie were just getting back on track from travelling for Christmas. Both of them slept and slept Monday and Tuesday.

Cowgirl Mollie riding Ben's horse Strawberry. I heard Ben and Emalee had a big argument last week about whether Ben had a horse at his house. He insisted that he did meaning his rocking horse Strawberry. A rocking horse didn't count to Emalee who has a real horse.

We were looking at our 2008 blog book today to see pictures of Ben's first Christmas when he got Strawberry. While looking at all the pictures of Ben with food all over his face, I thought, "Mollie is a much neater eater than Ben." Then she smeared sweet peas all over her face.

I have a similar picture of Ben covered with bright orange carrots.

John teaching Ben how to dunk his cookies in milk.

Lesson learned.