I love to see the temple...especially with Christmas lights!!!

Little Mark

I really think Ben looks like Mark in this shot. Maybe just the fact that his head is so big it fills the whole hood nicely.

Little Concert Master

He can now play the piano all by himself! He definitely favors the lower notes. I think he has grown a little recently.

Super Ben!

He is getting faster and more evasive than ever before.

Our First Christmas Wreath

I made a wreath out of some foliage used for our ward Christmas party decorations by bending a wire hanger into a circle and attaching the branches with grocery twist ties. My fingers are a little rough from handling the prickly pine and I'm not sure I would do it again, but it was worth doing once!

Then after completing it I had to come up with a way to hang it. We don't have a door hanger! How do you hang a wreath without a door hanger?

Light bulb!

Fill your stockings with pine cones so they balance out and attach it to the other side :)

Solves my problem on where to hang our stockings...

My favorite

Yes....Ben is my favorite little boy :)

As soon as I stepped into the room his already-forced binky grin got bigger I had to grab the camera!

Is he not your favorite, too?

Ben's steppin' up!

Ben climbed both flight of stairs today....that is quite a feat for a first-timer!

Here he comes!

...a little distracted...

Last step!

Round two:

Good Morning!

It seems nap-time has gotten a little more difficult since he learned how to stand up in his crib. If he isn't sleeping he's up at the rail!

...and lights up every time he sees us walk through the door.

Drinking from a cup

Ben enjoys drinking water from our cups. I thought he just played with it, but the other day we gave him just little amounts at a time and he sure is drinking it! He does it by himself...leans his head back and all!



I have yet to capture him crawling on film. But it's coming!

Some things I've learned...

*Ben only wants banana. Trying anything else will only terminate his desire to eat anything at all.

*Ben will eat peas if it's mixed with banana.

*Clean up the apartment before I go to bed. Or it won't get done until the next night before I go to bed and the mess will have quadrupled. Just start a new day fresh...

*Take walks often. Ben loves it. I love it. My friend Amelie loves it.

*The mouse in the dark corner is not actually a mouse...but a gray furry ball of lint.

Moving forward!!!

Yesterday on the grass at our Halloween picnic Ben inched forward for the first time. Since then he is going at it more and more. I set him down next to his toy box and went into the kitchen area. A few minutes later I peaked around the corner and found he had crawled inside it!

Happy Halloween!

Benjamin was a cute little dragon Halloween Night. I remembered last minute I had a traditional Chinese dress in my craft box. I thought that worked out well! Like Mulan and Mushu

I thought the pumpkin we carved turned out so cool! Mark etched out an amazing tree while I carved leaves and a bat for a pumpkin face.

So Ben loves sticking things in his mouth, right? He has been putting his whole binky in his mouth and I can't help but laugh out loud!

He's clapping!

Recently Ben has been so entertained by us clapping. It intrigues him so much. So we'll hold his hands and clap, clap in front of him, and sometimes even clap while he holds our hands. Yesterday both Mark and I were in the living room studying while Ben was playing with his toys on the floor. We heard little pat pat pats and Mark turned around...he's clapping! He's been going at it all day. If we clap, he'll clap...anytime. So great!

The new Benjamin Britten, I mean Brinton

Each day is so exciting with a new baby around. Ben does something everyday that I am so impressed with or proud of. We realized his love for music, specifically piano music, from the time he was a wee little guy. We have often sat him on our lap while we play or just let him go at it. Well the other day a spark of geniousness came to my mind. Piano lessons. I took the tray off his highchair and put him right up to the piano! He loved it. It has now become part of his morning routine. He'll play happily for at least 10 minutes. My real intent initially was to keep him occupied while I do dishes or fix breakfast. He would just pound everything and anything with both hands. But I am so amazed at the progess he is making! He has discovered the individual keys is now pushing one key at a time, sometimes two alternatively. I love how he's so inquisitive. These really are like piano lessons...exploratory level of course. We just might have a little Chopin on our hands...or the next Benjamin Britten ;)

Ben's laugh

Don't you just love his laugh?! He gets so giggly when he's tired. This octopus is Ben's favorite bath toy...basically anything he can fit entirely in his mouth he loves.

First Peas

Benjamin's First Peas

Wide mouth frog

A little belated (April 27th) but this is a must see!

First Post!

So this is my first post on my new blog...dedicated to share the daily joys of life that come with having such a cute baby boy around. I mean let's be honest, he's the main reason anyone wants to keep in touch, right? I completely understand. Mark and I don't change much from day to day, but this boy...everyday he's making some new discovery or mastering some new skill. The latest is his attempts to crawl and his fascination with balls. You can tell he wants to scoot and move around but ends up only going backwards because he is lifting on his hands but his legs just flail. He gets so frustrated. So we've helped him realize he can put his knees under him by squeezing them together. He's been trying! He laughs and smiles so big when you help him stand up from the sitting position. And we all know how his smile and laughter lights up world :) I was sitting with him and throwing the ball against the kitchen door and he loved it...he was so intrigued. He then tried to do it himself! So cute. He's such a little boy.

I've taken a lot of pics and videos...I'll post some soon. For the moment, we are going to eat cinnamon rolls and watch conference while he naps :)