October pics

It is my Friday morning off, Ben is still sleeping at 8:30 (awesome), so I decided I needed to catch up on some random pictures from this past month.  First off, I need to address Ben's current hibernation.  Last weekend he slept until 11am and 9am - no waking up at ALL.  I didn't know what to do with myself, I can't remember the last time that he didn't get up after 7am. I REALLY hope this sleeping schedule sticks around for awhile! Ben is repeating all we say, yes he has repeated s-h-i-t, bad time to be repeating us in the midst of football season :) He has really developed his language and amazes us with words he learns at daycare.  We were reading one of his books and it had an alligator and I asked whats that... he tells me "algater"... we had never gone over that word and he just whips it out on me! He waited forever to actually start talking (which really scared me, thought we would have a mute child) and since he decided he was ready to talk, its been a constant river of words from his mouth.  Things are always on Ben's terms... daycare cracks up because Ben is such a character and really when he is ready, he'll do it, can't force him. As I was telling a friend of mine, Ben is on the upswing of terrible 2's and I am loving this goofy, sweet hugging & kissin stinker! He has become very "lovey" and the tantrums are few, but I know to not expect this to last but for the time being Ben is hilarious and we are loving every minute with him! 



John seeded the lawn and put peat moss down... of course Ben couldn't keep his hands off of it

 


It's DIRT!!!

 



Cruising on my bike

BUSTED! Holding daddy's iphone hostage in our shower



Watching OSU stay in the game vs. Nebraska (in 1st half)



Poo Party

I will spare you and not be posting any pictures of what happened this afternoon.  John picked up Ben after lunch today because at 3 was the Devon (my work) Halloween extravaganza.  Ben was "sleeping" and gets up at 2:30.  When I open the door to let him out, the aroma hit me like a cow patty.  Ben had taken off his diaper and marked his entire room with his poo-poo.  I'm talking ALL over. Sheets, bedspread, pillows, carpet, and books.  The poor Splish Splash book took the brunt of this party, it appeared he drop the turds on that book!!!!! I can't believe this has happened. He walks out and says to John "poo-poo room". Uumm yes you are right, it is a poo room in which you obviously had a poo poo-party in! Not to mention, it appeared he aimed straight for the bedskirt with his pee, which in turn soaked part of the mattress and box springs (the water proof mattress cover of course isn't waterproof on the side!)

Christmas Shopping

My favorite new word from Ben... "pickle machine" but really he is saying "big ole machine".  That is what he called my Kitchen Aid mixer. 

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JOHN!

Ben has started calling his daddy, well by his name John :) It's never just a normal voice level, he likes to yell it.  I love it... finally John feels my pain (I was "meme" forever to Ben).

Down and Dirty

Oklahoma red dirt kept my boy occupied for a good 30 minutes - he acted he discovered pure gold, gold that he wanted to swim in and rub all over his face and body!

Word World Bash

I realized I forgot to post Ben's party pictures... so here they are! I took a zillion and as always found it hard to post only a few.  The theme was alphabet and Word World - Ben's most favorite show in the world. It airs on PBS and might be the cutest and most educational show created.  The show spells all the characters and objects, thus has taught Ben to spell. 

Ben was napping while we set the table up and when he woke up he got so excited to see his CAKE. This birthday was the complete opposite from last year for Stinkerman.  Last year he was shy and didn't know what the heck was going on.... this year, he couldn't drag enough of his friends into his room to play! However he still didn't catch on to the whole idea of opening presents :)

Regatta Festival

Friday night we headed down to the Oklahoma River to the Regatta Festival where John and his co-workers competed in the Corporate Rowing Challenge.  3 months of practicing at 6am, John and his team put their muscles to work, only to be screwed by being placed into an advanced category (bc one of their rowers had competed for 2 straight years) and came in last :( Besides that fact, we all had a great time.  I was hesistant to take Ben by myself since he loves to run, so my mom joined us. And yes, I never thought I would EVER do this, but I put a "leash" on him.  I had no choice. I had visions of him running off and getting snatched or running straight into the river. In the end, Ben was great and we really didn't even have to use the monkey tail, he held our hands.  He was by far the cutest kid in the crowds :)  Thanks to Devon and Chesapeake for creating the regatta park, it is actually really nice and something fun and new to see in OKC.

Never easy to get a family pic!

Ben and his "nonnie" - out of the blue he started calling Grammie, Nonnie?!



View from bridge at the finish line



Uuuumm what should we do now Nonnie?

 

Checking out the action from peep hole on the bridge

"Hi Daddy!" (guy in the middle waving at us)

Mommy works at D-E-V-O-N... he loves to spell Devon and forever would say "Dozen" but finally caught on and now says Devon. 

Oh my gosh, it's a Ram! Ben loves humans in animal costumes ( remember my Easter bunny post...)

High five dude!



Having so much fun playing with the big kids



This and That - 2 years

Another year in the history books for Ben! I'll try to make it this short, here is what he has been doing:

Stats: 28 lbs / 35 in (50% percentile for both)

Likes: Outside, bubble baths, his trucks,  riding his new bikes, slides, books, the alphabet, Pistol Pete, Scooby-Doo snacks, pretend talking on the phone, pulling people around to where he needs them to come too, STOP signs, repeating and learning new words

Would rather avoid: gettting changed (diaper and clothing), veggies, mornings prior to 7am, going to bed

Ben made the switch on his own terms to his big boy bed in early September.  We set it up in our guest bedroom (which was planned to be his big boy room) and gradually he would go in and play on it.  Then one night when we said time for bed, he went to that bed and it has been love (kinda) since then :)  Each night I expect the feel of little hands grabbing me as he climbs in bed with us, some nights he comes, others he stays in bed.  I'll post pictures of his new room eventually :)



Pushed his frozen Gogurt pop on his nose

 

"Asson" came to see me!! And brought me an awesome toy

"Yeah I'm busy making Allyson play with me in my room"



Airplane! Right as he got up on John's feet  he says "Awesome"



Couldn't get enough of airplane one night after work



He would back his rear up to Allyson, so she'd drive the truck on his back and head