Like Father, Like Son

Slide!

Ben is such a big kid! He loves to do so many things by himself - at the park now, he climbs the stairs, crawls to the slide, and goes down all by himself... and then does it all again! Our favorite part of that video is his little giggle as he goes down the slide.

Ring, Ring!

The only phones we have are our cell phones, and they never ring because we always have them on silent. I'm really not sure how he knew what to do with this phone... haha! He must have a good memory - the last time we played with this phone in front of him was months ago - probably when he was 9 months or something!

Mother's Day

Building

Ben has been knocking things down since he could move his arms. He loves knocking down towers, taking apart lego blocks, taking out puzzle pieces - he loves tearing it down! Last weekend Ben started putting his "mega-bloks" together! He suddenly realized that he could take them apart and put them back together, and he did it over and over again!

Just yesterday, he realized he could stack things up! He stacked his blocks over and over again, sometimes adding a different toy to the middle to see what would happen. I was able to get a video of him stacking up his blocks this morning:

Family Photo!

We had our pictures taken with Matt's parents while they were here for Ben's birthday, and we finally got the pictures back! We busted open our frame and scanned ours in, but we didn't want to destroy their frame, so for now you'll have to take my word for it that their picture with Ben was great!

Baby Steps

Ben took his first steps the day he turned 13 months old, but it took awhile for us to get it on video! They're still little baby steps, but he gets so excited when he does it by himself.

Happy Easter!

We had a quiet Easter at home this year - and Ben found his first Easter eggs! We hid a few plastic eggs around the apartment in places he likes to go, and put little things inside of them. One had Cheerios, one had crumpled paper, one had socks, and some had little toys. It was fun to watch him notice the eggs and try to get them open!

We tried to get him to wear his bunny ears again like last year, but no such luck!

Happy Easter!

Birthday Weekend!

Grammy and Grandpa came to celebrate Ben's birthday with us! They got in on Thursday, and the fun started right away. Ben was so excited to see them that he decided not to take his second nap so he could stay up to greet them as they walked through the door! They brought hugs and kisses and some balloons from Gigi!

Our guest list was small, but our celebration was big! We brought the party everywhere that weekend! We went to one of Ben's favorite places - the swings! He had a great time, as always!

We also celebrated with the animals at the Bronx Zoo, where Ben pointed at all the birds, and was startled by the sea lions!

Monday was the big day! First we surprised him with the kitchen being decorated for him! He smiled at the happy birthday sign, and liked the balloons a lot.

We sang happy birthday, blew out the candle, and ate cake! Somehow I cut off the first half of the song...

And after we blew out his candle, it seemed like he was thinking "Wait... did you guys really just blow out my candle? I thought I was going to get to do that!"

He seemed to really like the chocolate frosting, and thought the cake was alright - but his real favorite were the rainbow sprinkles. He picked those off the cake as fast as his little fingers could!

He's getting much better at opening presents and cards, and needed only a little help to get the presents out.

What a great weekend, and great first birthday! Happy Birthday, Ben - you are so loved!

Happy Birthday Ben!

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One Year Old - 23 lbs. and 29.25" tall

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Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday, dear Benjamin!

Happy Birthday to you!

Wow, one year old! The time has gone so quickly, while at the same time I can't remember a time when he wasn't a part of our little family. He is such a sweet, funny, happy, smart little boy and we love getting to watch him grow and learn every day. We love you with all our heart, Ben - Happy Birthday!