sharing.

When Sophie is with other dogs, she can get pretty aggressive - not in a mean way, just in a 'hey I'd like your toy so I figure I'll just take it from you' kind of way. Sophie + a submissive dog (like Molly, my Dad and Suzanne's dog) = Sophie ruling the roost.

Which is why I'm pleased to see how good she is with Ben. Don't get me wrong, sometimes she nibbles playfully at his feet, or thinks he's playing with her when he crawls quickly around the house - but for the most part she's an angel. I love her.

Oh, and also? We do clothe our son. It's just that I feed him his breakfast in his diaper because he likes to squish his bananas between his fingers, and then in his hair, and all over the place. It's just an easier process sans clothing.

harrisburg

Chris has to be out in Harrisburg for work for part of this week, so Ben and I went and met him yesterday. We also spent time at Aunt Kelly and Uncle Joe's, where we saw cousins Lizzie, Jackson and Hannah. Uncle Bri and Aunt Ashley let us stay at their place last night. It was a great visit and we had lots of fun.

We had breakfast at a Bob Evans this morning outside of Harrisburg. Ben had a massive crush on the waitress and was trying his best to show off and impress her.


Here's a pic from this afternoon. Ben and Sophie both really like the drumsticks from the Bee-Bop Band set that Uncle Jason & Aunt Tara gave him.

pug.

Ben takes naps and so does Sophie. She gets to laze around and sleep on the rug without worrying about whether she'll get poked or prodded or climbed on.


This is our favorite thing she does - wherein she tries to get as low to the ground as possible. Soph.

birthday aftermath.

Here's what our dining room looked like this morning, when Sophie, Ben and I were getting the rest of Ben's birthday gifts (toys) out of their packaging. Tomorrow's trash day, so I was excited to get things organized into baskets. He was overstimulated and crawling from toy to toy, but he had a ball.

Sophie has a hard time respecting Ben's personal space. If she could eat him, she would. Not in a mean way, but in a wow-you-smell-good-and-your-feet-are-delicious kind of way. He tolerates her, but mostly because he's not big enough or strong enough to really fight her off just yet. In the last picture, she has his foot in her mouth, giving him delicate pug-nibbles. I promise.

saturday morning.

Ben and Soph, sitting out back on the steps. I wanted to get a picture since Ben's wearing a shirt with a pug face on it, but it's kind of hard to see. Ben would carry this red ball to the ends of the earth, if he could. It's his favorite.


Also? Ben likes to get bruises. On his face. The problem is, he isn't really all that bothered by falling down. He picks himself back up and continues on his merry way without much fuss. In these pictures, you can see the bruise he got just this morning, while he was throwing himself around like a crazy person on our bed. He faceplanted into his baby monitor, which he likes to play with sometimes (it makes noise and has lights: a winning combination).

the kids

First, a quick picture I took of Ben yesterday. He let his Phillies cap stay on his head for a record 2.2 seconds. It's worth noting, because he hates anything on his head (I'm anticipating trouble this winter when I try and make him wear his knit beanie). Notice also how crooked the hat is. He doesn't let me adjust it or fix it or make it look good. So I should be happy with what I've got here.


Here's a kind-of-lame video I took today of Ben and Sophie. Not anything out of the ordinary. Sophie is so good with him.

There is a moment about 23-25 seconds in where you see my unabashed dorkiness that I have with Ben. It's hard to contain my smiles when he's smiling and laughing and enjoying life so much. But because I'm a cynical, jaded adult, I don't always allow my inner child to come out like it does when I'm with my son. I figure I can leave that part in and you won't make fun of me too much. If it's worth anything, I still get red and break out in a sweat when I watch the clip.

And my favorite part is about 45 seconds in, when Ben realizes he's got Sophie's fur in his mouth.

videos.

Ben and Sophie are fun to watch. They each play with their own toys. Sometimes Sophie tries to get Ben to play with her, but he's not really interested. There's too much to see and do. Here are a two videos from playtime today. By the way - the soccer ball Sophie's playing with? I bought it for Ben, but she's trying to claim it.






And here's another from today. Notice how Ben reacts when he sees his handsome face on screen.

baby pool

Chris and I cleaned up out back this morning, and Ben was patient with us. We rewarded him with a nice dip in his pool...


He tried convincing Sophie to join him, but she wasn't too interested.

saturday.

We had a nice day here in South Philly. After Ben woke up for the day, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Chris got to push Ben in his car for the first time. Ben had a ball. Its so fun watching him.

Then this afternoon Chris blew up the baby pool we got for Ben. It's bigger than it looked on Amazon, so we had to move our patio furniture out of the way to help it fit out back. While I fed Ben lunch, Chris used the pump to blow up the pool and fill it with water.

It's nice that there's a little canopy over the pool, so Ben wasn't in the sun too much.


He loves the water. He also loves Sophie, so he tried convincing her to come into the pool with him.


But as usual, she was having none of it.


We love seeing him happy. He's a fun kid. Below, you'll see the smile we love.


If you look closely, though, you'll also see the reason(s) that Ben's pediatrician suggested we make an appointment with a pediatric dentist. Two of Ben's top teeth came in with some enamel missing. Not only is the enamel missing, but they're kind of gross and discolored. I'm pretty bummed about it, but it's how they grew in. I heard that sometimes the antibiotics that babies are given in the NICU can discolor teeth, so maybe that's what happened here.

No amount of brushing on my part can get rid of this. It's a shame because the teeth are just going to become more and more noticeable as he gets older. The one good thing is that they're his baby teeth, and they'll eventually fall out. But I hate the fact that people might look at him funny once they see his teeth. But yes, I am completely aware that this is a very small problem in the grand scheme of things.

So now you know my 'secret' - I haven't mentioned The Teeth here because I'd hoped they would eventually be pearly white like his others. And you can think good thoughts for us when we go to the dentist on 7/25, if you wouldn't mind. When I made the appointment, the receptionist said, 'umm, we usually don't see children until at least two years old....' so we'll see how the dentist is with a squirmy 11 month-old.

video.

So I took a video today of Ben and Sophie. Like most of the other videos I've taken, this is in our dining room, and Ben's playing with his Leap Frog table. I just want everyone out there to know that Ben does see other rooms of our house, and I do take him for walks, and he does play with different toys. It's just that this particular one keeps him busy for long enough for me to take a video.

It's long, and maybe boring, but it's of Ben and Soph, peacefully coexisting.

independent

Ben wasn't really interested in adhering to any sort of 'schedule' yesterday. I suppose a 'schedule' makes him feel oppressed, mannnn. So he wasn't interested in napping, so much. At least not in the morning. I had to carry him around on my back in his carrier a bit while I got errands done around the house. He complied.


Afterwards I brought out a toy he hasn't seen in awhile. It's the aquarium gym given to us by Sharon, one of my teacher friends. The last time Ben saw this toy, he couldn't even roll over. He wasn't interested in it then so much, but today he had a ball with it.


Yesterday afternoon, he made up for his lack of sleep and let me get some cleaning, and packing, and laundry done. Sophie likes Ben's naptime because that means she can recharge, too. Though, sometimes? She's mopey without her friend.

finally.

YouTube decided to cut me a break today.

Below, you'll see what happens pretty much every morning after Ben's breakfast. I feed him and then put him down on the floor to crawl around a little and hang out with Sophie. He's gotten good enough at crawling that I can't leave him alone for a second. Just this morning he was on our bed, with the two of us, and he still managed to almost crawl off the bed. He's fast.

Sophie also likes this time of morning. She's already stolen part of his wheat bagel from his hands, and now she gets to lick his toes. And just so you know, I don't condone this sort of behavior all the time, and yes, Ben will be bathed and scrubbed this evening. We do have manners in this house, I promise.

technical difficulties

So, Ben is crawling! How far he crawls depends on how much energy he has... It's been so fun to watch him. I have taken several videos of him crawling, but I can't seem to get them uploaded to YouTube at the moment. Instead, I'll give you a couple of pictures from the other day.

Below, Ben in his I'm-not-yet-awake state, stares out the window.


'Okay, mom, enough of this picture-taking. You can let me out now.'


And below, Ben and Soph.

Ben's dojo.

Because Chris and I are slackers, it took us forever to hang anything on the walls in Ben's room. Actually, that's only partly true. We're slackers, but we also hate committing to hanging anything on a wall. What if we don't like it in a week? What if the positioning is all wrong? What if, what if?

Anyway, I wanted to show you Ben's room. I first took the camera in today as he was waking up from his nap, so you can see again the bright smiling face I walk in to see every day. My son is a goon.


On his bookshelf that Uncle Tommy made, we've got books, of course, but also a plant that I'm trying to nurse back to health, Ben's monitor, a print we're still looking for a frame for, and his twilight turtle. It's the coolest thing ever.


Then there's the quilt that my Nanny made for him hanging on the wall next to his window.


Here's the cross stitch Uncle Joe made for Ben, hanging above his changing table (yes, I need to put a cover on his changing pad):


Above Ben's crib, two more prints from Thumbtack Press, and pictures of some family members. I printed out all of the pictures that I have in my possession or on my laptop, so if you are not up there and would like to be, please send me an email (liz@chrisandliz.org) with a picture of you and yours. We want to collect as many pictures as we can! We're also going to put a friends set on another wall. So please send me your pictures! If you need my mailing address, email me.


And on another wall above the crib, two prints Chris and I found at urban outfitters. We think they're cute for a little one, and below them hangs 3 hooks. Ben's winter hat and Phillies windbreaker are hanging there, along with his orange hooded sweatshirt.


We hope you've enjoyed the tour. But before we go, Ben and his best pal, Sophie. He taunts her, she is dejected, and yet she comes back for more.

it's all happening

So I'm going to try and get some video of Ben soon... He is so close to crawling. He brings one knee forward and then gets confused about what to do next. We even brought out the video camera the other night but he was tired from trying to crawl.

Here, Ben and Sophie play a gentle game of tug-of-war:



And below is the scene you'd see any given night of the week after 7pm. All three of us (Chris, me, Sophie) on the couch and exhaling loudly after a long day of work and Benjamin-minding, and, in Sophie's case, begging for food and barking at leaves. Chris and I will try our hand at a crossword while we watch a Phillies game or some terrible movie on IFC. And we'll give Soph the attention she craves.


In the lower left of the picture, you have a glimpse of Chris' frightening foot. That is his foot in a state of relaxation. Sometimes I'll glance at it in a certain light and I'll recoil. I'm just waiting for the day when Ben sees it and cries.

videos

So I mentioned that Ben's feet are like Chris'. I tried to take some video of Ben's while he was eating tonight. He usually wiggles a lot while he's eating, so I thought you'd be able to see how funny his feet are. I wasn't incredibly successful, but I have documented one of Sophie's favorite hobbies: licking Ben's feet.




In the video below, Sophie is pretty intent on getting close to Ben's diaper (yes, he needed to be changed). I like that Ben's aware of her and just puts his hand behind him to keep her at arm's length, like, 'not now, Soph.'