It's hot.

Like 100 degrees hot.

But Ben seems to stay pretty cool.

Seventeen months old!

Tyler and I loved having a baby in the house, but let me just say, having a toddler is so much fun! I can tell Ben is getting to the stage where I'll be saying "You can do that?!" on a daily basis. For example, even though he can babble with the best of them, he is definitely learning effective means of communication. He's started putting his signs together for "more" "please". You've never seen a kid get another cracker so fast!

Ben's new words:
hot (hot food, hot car, hot oven - he knows heat)
hot (hat)
dah (duck)
dah (dog)
dah (dinosaur...you see, it all depends on what he's looking at on these...)
ow-ide (outside)
ma (milk)
ma (more)
sease (please)
ow (out, as in the command for Zoe to back up)
duhnoooo (no - can't really type it how he says it...gets his lips in the smallest little "o" shape, pouts out his lip, furrows his brow and shakes his head...precious)
uh (up)
papaya (the fruit. I fed it to him the other day and asked if he could say it. As it turns out, he can!)
nack (cracker, snack)
ch (chip)
eye (eye)

And he can't say peanut butter, but he sure can eat it!

...or wear it...

(This is what happens as a result of licking PB straight off the cracker!)

And he knows his shapes! I drew a circle, triangle and square on the bathtub (with special markers that have made bathing a happy time again), and asked him where the circle was, not expecting much of a response. Well, he showed me by pointing right smack in the middle of it! Then he did the same for the other two shapes. I was so excited and had Tyler come in to see our genius. Tyler was very proud,with cheers and high fives, and then started working on colors. Setting that bar high, Ben. Fortunately, so is his daycare, who tells me that they are currently working on learning the "ABC's". Wha?

Another thing he's just about mastered are body parts. Loves to poke you directly in the eyeball, up the nose, in the mouth, etc. to point out parts. And he's very proud of his own...

...especially his belly button!

He likes to climb on chairs, "draw" with pens - both of which can be a little unsettling - jump and stomp, and make really funny faces. But even though he seems like such a big boy, I know that he is still a baby in many ways,

and that is just fine by me.

"Happy Fathers' Day!"

That's really the best I can do for a Fathers' Day post. Tyler is galavanting around the NC/TN mountains and riverbeds doing man things, my dad is working, so we traded voicemails, and Tyler's dad is in Canada, and we missed each other on Skype. So, I'll leave it to the WWW to send a message to the fathers in my life - thank you for what you have done and continue to do for our family. We love you!

Ben and I have had a nice, r e l a x i n g weekend for ourselves! Saturday morning was our second swim lesson, and even though he's not quite up to par on the actual skills, so to speak, Ben smiled the entire time and only fussed when it was time to get out! We've seen a bit of hope that it will translate to happier times in the tub...which is all I'm asking for at this point.

Then after a quick stop at the playground with Kelley and Carter (also in swim class), it was home for lunch and nap. Later on, we moved to the deck to have some fun out in the late-afternoon sun.

"Show me your belly, Ben!"

One hand lifts shirt, the other proudly smacks his belly.
Enjoy that move while it's still cute, Bud!

Soon, Kelley and Carter joined us and we eventually cooled off in the A/C.

Keeping the mind sharp with an abacus and literature.

So studious, these two!

Amy and Simmons hosted a fun cookout that evening, so Ben and I gladly accepted the invite for food and sandbox time. Well, in Ben's case, just the sandbox...What food? What other kids? Ben was happy as a clam to sit in the box and move sand around for the entirety of the evening. Mr. Rodney even taught him to make a sandcastle!

Caught in the middle of a sand transfer.

Finally I lured him away with the promise of baked beans (?!), but his interest quickly waned and he joined Hope and Travis to balance up the register.

A late night like that should lead to an late morning, but Ben tends to fly in the face of conventional wisdom when it comes to that theory. Which is why it was easy today to capture moments like this (on the way home from church):

and also this (when I was sitting instead of carrying him):
He did rally for a time however to work in the pool.

A great weekend with my little man! The big one just got home from the wilderness...I'm sure it won't be long until the little one tags along on these trips, which I know will give the big one the happiest Father's Day yet!

Tupperware beware!

"Hi, my name is Ben, and I've got OCD." Mr. Organization loves to stay busy with tasks. He's had a long-standing love affair with the tupperware drawer, but the other week, he decided to get it reorganized. And here are the results...

Chubster Chunkerton

Ben's a "healthy" boy, no doubt about that. Although we're never sure what he'll eat at a given meal, there are a few things that we know will always be a hit.

1. Crackers. The boy could (and does) make a whole meal of 'em. Ate half a sleeve of Saltines one afternoon as we tried to keep his favor while cleaning house.

2. Doughnuts. Actually we didn't know that until this weekend, but hey, what are grandparents for?!

3. Sharing with Daddy. Much to Tyler's dismay, Ben ate a great meal of chicken-poppy seed casserole off of his plate tonight.

And while he gets his fair share of activity, he does like to take it easy too! We pulled Ben's old bouncy seat down from the attic to occupy babies during my friend, Jenny's, shower this weekend. Afterwards, Ben decided it would make for a good lounger.

"No, I do not think I'm too big for this chair. And frankly, I'm a little insulted you would imply that I should."

No offense Buddy, we love all your squishy parts to pieces!

We Tried!

Check out Ben's weekend adventures here! He had a doughnut-eating, Grandpa-riding, thumb-sucking, zoo-going, Grandma-snuggling fun weekend!

As for me and Tyler, we "tri"ed to have a good time as well! Here we are, celebrating finishing the Buster Britton sprint triathlon in the comfort and dryness of our own home.

Contrary to what our finishing times may say, I am number one (in transition times at least)!

living life...

has gotten in the way of updating the blog... well, that and my missing (but not gone) camera, whom I figure has gone into witness protection after suffering from overuse. I miss you camera, please come home! (is it a sign of something serious that I keep referring to it like a person?)

You would think that summer at a university rec center would be a slow time for the office. You would think. So much for updating at work...not that I would ever do that... And I'd like to tell you that we don't have much going on to blog about anyway. I'd like to. But we've done lots of fun things and have a rather large weekend planned with grandparents coming to visit, a triathlon to tackle and a baby shower to host! Fortunately the first item on that list will come with at least one camera in tow, so maybe I will have something to share next week after all!

Until then, here are some pictures I did on that yearbookyourself website months ago...because what's a blog update without pictures?!

Our family in the '60s:

my dreamboat

ready for the sock hop!

smarty pants Ben
(Ben actually looks a lot like my dad's old pictures here)

and then there's '80s frat-boy Ben.

looks like trouble

Have a great weekend!

strollin', cruisin', playin' and flyin'

Bad news: my camera has run away from home...or is playing hide-n-seek. Either way, I can't show you what we did last weekend.

Good news: I can show you what we did a few weekends ago when I was too busy doin' to do any postin'!

First up is Doodah Day. Once appointed as Tyler's "favorite day of the year", it's an annual Birmingham festival for all-things Dog that we faithfully attend each year to gawk at the enormity of the Great Danes, the ridiculousness of the costumed poodles, and the sheer number of dog enthusiasts in the 'ham.

Zoe's too excited about her day to pose for photographs

Then we headed to Adam and Lauren's for a delish dinner and playtime for the boys. Mills will now forever be known to Ben as the cool older dude with all the fun toys. Took him for his first Jeep ride after all.

"Yes Mom, I'll wear my seatbelt. I promise."

"Hey, hey ladies!"
(is it any wonder Ben didn't want to come in for dinner?!)

And off they go...

Might have my weekends mixed up, but we also visited the zoo recently! Oh yeah, it was Mother's Day, after the rain, and we practically had the place to ourselves.

Ben's lion, as you know, always says "ahhhh!"

I had my trigger finger ready on video function waiting for Tyler to be impailed by a jet stream at the zoo's water playground, but his good luck prevailed...

...at least for now.

I know I mentioned before what a good sport Ben was during our trip to Massachusetts. But he was so good that the very-serious-about-their-job TSA officials at the airport appointed him as a junior deputy...badge and all!

My thumb-sucking, sippy-cup holding, government official.

That's it for now. "Here, camera, camera, camera! Come out, come out wherever you are!"