Seeing things from a new perspective

We've been working with Ben to help him strengthen his back and tummy muscles so he can sit up, since he seems to hate missing out on anything. I think he'll be less frustrated once he's able to sit up and play with toys, or just see what's happening around him.

Today I put him on the couch next to me while I changed the cover on the Boppy. I laid him down against some couch pillows so that he was reclining somewhat. But was he satisfied with that? Nosirree, Mr. Ben pulled himself forward so he was sitting up. First time for that! I think he was pretty darn proud of himself, too.

He is still, however, very bitter about having tummy time.

Kisses!

Ben is now giving kisses. Sure, they're saliva-riddled and not necessarily on the mouth or cheek area, but today he leaned in, pulled my face toward him and just gave me big giant wet ones. Either that, or he was trying to eat my face, but I'm pretty sure he was being lovey and wanted to kiss me like I'd been kissing him. What a sweet little guy we have!

Future Olympian?

Rachel has taken a great interest in watching the Olympics with me, from the opening ceremony to many of the athletic events. She's watched everything from swimming to diving to rowing to beach volleyball to gymnastics...whatever has been on, she's watched it. I've had the TV on a lot in the last week and a half, but I figure it's okay, because the Olympics are a special event. And it's toward the end of summer break and Rachel is going a little stir-crazy, so this helps to keep her occupied.

When we first started watching, Rachel said "I wish I could be in the Olympics some day." So we talked about how she might be if she chose a sport and started working really hard. She really enjoyed the swimming events in particular, but she also has paid a lot of attention when the female gymnasts are on, asking questions about how they are. After the women's individual all-around was done and the medalists were receiving their medals, she asked me to put her medal on, so I pantomimed that. Then she said "Flowers, please." I handed her the bouquet of imaginary flowers, and she turned and held it over her head just like the gymnasts had done.

So who knows? Maybe in 12 or 16 years, we'll have our own little summer Olympian.

Pathetic

It's pathetic how little we've posted this time around. It feels like we hardly ever have time for that, when I don't think that's actually true. We're just filling the time in other ways, but I want to do better with documenting things that are happening with Ben and Rachel so we can look back on them some day like I've been doing with Rachel's early months.

So, here's a "potpourri" of short items to get us a little caught up:

- Today is a banner day! Ben drank a 2-oz. bottle of formula, the first time he's successfully eaten from a bottle since he was born. He's had a few millileters here and there, but so far had soundly rejected bottles. I gave him a bottle about an hour and a half after he'd last eaten, and he sucked it right down. Granted, he spit up afterward and had the hiccups, but I'd guess he spit up probably half an ounce or so. Now I'll have to get busy pumping and see if I can get him to keep taking bottles a few times a week so that I can actually be away from him for longer than a few hours, thus making grocery shopping much easier. Plus, then James and I can actually have a date now and then on our own.

- Rachel has inherited her dad's penchant for making up songs, and creating lyrics to songs that already exist. Example: "Mighty to Save," which she sang this way:

Mighty to sing, our God is mighty to sing,
Party, party party party...

(The second line is in place of "Forever, Author of Salvation.") Although she's not far off, I suppose. Heaven probably *will* be like the best party ever, so I guess God would be the Ultimate Partier.

- Ben is getting to be quite the talker. He's making a lot of different sounds now and really enjoys it when we repeat after him and try to match his sounds and facial expressions. In fact, we went to the zoo last week, and he spent most of the day either sleeping in his stroller seat or hanging out in the Baby Bjorn, facing away from me. That evening, after I had fed him for the last time and was putting him to bed, he just wanted to talk and talk and talk. James thinks he was telling us all about everything he'd seen that day. I think he'd just missed the face-to-face contact we often have during the day and wanted to catch up.

- Teething - I think that's already happening. He's been a Droolosaurus for probably 3 weeks now. Of course, Rachel drooled for a couple of months before we actually saw a tooth appear, so I don't anticipate seeing anything before another month or two passes, but we may be seeing a tooth break through on the early side of the range of 4-7 months when most babies get their first.

- Growing - At his 2-month appointment (when he was actually about 10 weeks old), he was 23 1/4 inches long and 14 lbs., 1 oz.! I was surprised to hear he was that big. His next appt will be at the 4-month mark, and it'll be interesting to see if he's kept up the pace or if height or weight has slown down at all.

- Developing - Besides all the chatting, he's started grasping onto things, like a little blanket with ribbon tabs on it that my brother gave him or little stuffed animals. He's also noticing toys and that levers and buttons do things and is trying to make them work, although his coordination isn't quite there for some of what he tries to do. Then he gets frustrated and upset, but I imagine he'll figure things out soon and will enjoy seeing the cause and effect. Last week, I showed him a lever on the Fisher Price aquarium in his co-sleeper. When you press it and let it go, it makes a starfish spin around. He immediately turned towards the aquarium and started to try to do it himself. I took his hand and made the lever work. The next day, when James put him in the co-sleeper, he turned toward the aquarium, took hold of one hand with the other, and tried to make the starfish spin! Smart little guy :) He rolled over front to back in the middle of July, and just yesterday, he made it almost all the way from back to front. I admit, I don't give him enough tummy time and I need to get better about that so he can strengthen his muscles and work on rolling over and pushing up. But he's doing pretty well nonetheless.

That's probably enough for now, although I could certainly go on. I'll try to post some photos today or tomorrow and start getting caught up on that. I'm also putting photos on Facebook, which is easier to upload (when it works) than putting them here, so you can always see them there.

Troy-Bilt 1, Uniden 0

vs

You know you're a parent when you hear the thrashing sound, stop the mower and

• The words 'Dang it!' come to mind first.
  
• And then you think 'Oh yeah... I saw her leave that there.'
• And remember that you thought at the time 'That's not a good place to leave a walkie-talkie.'
• And 'I ought to pick that up.' 
• But then didn't.

Poor little guy did not stand a chance.

Young Republican

There's hope for this state afterall.

Not sure how or why, but Rachel knows who Dino Rossi is. Every time she sees him on TV, she exclaims "Dino Rossi!" and asks us to turn up the TV. Ironically, most of the time she notices him, his image is appearing in an attack ad by our current lame-duck governor.

We wonder if she likes him because he has the same name as the original purple dinosaur, Fred Flintstone's pet Dino.

We've been teaching Rachel to cover her ears and sing "la la la" when commercials play, though lately every so often she asks us to unmute a commercial, announcing, "It's ok, this commercial is for kids."

*sigh*