Ben Turns 17 months old!

Tomorrow on 8/20/08, Ben will turn 17 months old. In these past 3 weeks or so we have seen alot of changes in Ben. It seems that he has lost the "baby look" a while ago and he is turning into a little boy. The term "toddler" does not seem to fit sometimes. Ben is the kind of kid that wants to do almost everything himself, when he wants to do it. If he is not ready, he will let you know it. If you are not ready for him, he will let you know it.

This past week he has learned to feed himself with a spoon or fork. We put the food down in front of him and he will put the spoon in his right hand and scoop the food up from the bowl and feed himself. While he does that, he will grab food with his left hand and feed himself also, but mostly just spreads it all over his face:) When he is finished, he takes the spoon, remaining food and the bowl and drops it on the floor.... We can only work on one thing at a time. It has really freed some time up for me and Ana to actually enjoy our dinner without having to sit right there with Ben. We also have taken the bottle away from him but I don't even think that he realizes it is gone.

Ben's vocabulary has gotten a little bigger also. He regularly says yes (usually in the form of "yeah"), truck, plane, jet,cat, mom, dad. He has a friend that he met at the park named Titus who is turning two this week and Titus' vocabulary is pretty advanced compared to Ben's. It really shows me how much Ben will grow in the next 7 months.

Ben loves going to the park.....actually I am not sure if he likes going to the park more than I do taking him to the park. I pick him up from Sharon's (our babysitter...also known as Grandma Sharon) house and take him to the park everyday. Ben has become a little daredevil. He doesn't have much fear anymore. He loves the swings and any slide he can find. He walks up the high platform and goes down the big twisting slide. Unfortunately this week, he has discovered the joys of eating sand......I'm trying to cure him of that one quickly. The park is kind of like therapy for him and me. I let him just run pretty much where he wants to go as long as it is safe and I think it helps him with his independance. He gets to interact with other kids and he feels free. Me, I get to relax and let the stress of the work day evaporate......plus the weather is always good. Ana will meet us on her way home and then we go home to eat dinner.

So, Ben at 17 month is ALOT of fun and I think it is gonna get better.