Linds and Thad: Happy Birthday Benjamin

I love my little blue-eyed, toe-headed, rosy-cheeked, toothy-grinning baby!

I swear this kid's mission in life is to remove all of the door stoppers in the house, pop off the little black rubber tips, and pop them in his mouth like Buddy the Elf does with cotton balls. Every time I turn around, he's got a rubber tip in his mouth and somewhere close by, a black spring lies on the ground.

And he knows exactly what he's doing, too. The second he sees me coming toward him with my finger outstretched, he puckers his mouth and pops that tip right into my hand.

Benjamin is the best little boy in the world. He:

- screams higher than most girls that I know, including Analyn. It raised my blood pressure quicker than just about anything else.
- does this scream when he wants something, when he's agitated, just for kicks while I'm in the store ... etc.
- sleeps through the night (when he's not sick).
- wanders around the house, entertaining himself for most of the day, which is awesome.
- is very low maintenance.
- eats pretty well, but doesn't like any liquids but breast milk and apple juice.
- says "ma-ma" and "da-da", and I think he said "Ana" once, but we're still working on replicating that.
- is going to be walking any day now. He can take up to 4 steps before he loses confidence and drops to the safety of his knees.
- loves to take baths.
-loves to follow Ana around and try to play with her.
-is way more adventurous than Ana was at this age. He climbs up on everything. Must be a boy thing.
-loves to pull out plugs and nightlights, and door stops.
-loves smooshing his face into anything soft and cozy, like blankets and pillows.
- when he's tired, he dives into pillows and blankets that are laying on the ground, buries his face in them for a minute, then rolls over onto his back, legs and arms limp at his sides, and grins up at you with a lazy, silly grin. He's just asking for a belly rub and a good tickle. Which I do. And he giggles like crazy.
-takes two short naps, doesn't love his new toddler car seat (Ana's old one), is getting to be a pro at crawling up the stairs, but not down yet.
- loves snuggling with his mamma, and crawling to his daddy when he gets home from work.

I made his chocolate cake and frosting from scratch. It was a first for both. I was a little worried when, at the end of the cooking time, the cake still looked like jello. But I stuck it in for longer, added a bit of extra milk to the frosting, and let me tell you something. It was DELICIOUS. Dense, rich, chocolatey flavor, and creamy frosting. Yummm!!!