Ben Prepares for the 2028 Summer Olympics

That's right, Ben is preparing now to compete in the 2028 Summer Olympics.  It may seem like a long way off, but Ben will be 19 by then and if he really wants to compete for the gold, its never to early to learn how to swim!

At seven months old, Ben attended his first swimming lesson last Saturday at our YMCA.  He took to it with no problem at all - not a fuss or a cry - just lots of chewing (I believe that tooth was starting to come out on this day).   Ben participated in all the swimming activities his first day there.  We started out by singing some songs and splashing in the water.  

Then we went over to the side of the pool to have them experience jumping in the water, then immediately turning around to climb out.  (For obvious safety reasons, the start teaching this now.)  Ben went under water for the first time here.

Then we all swam around the pool for a while.  We would throw the toy out a bit, and then let Ben reach for it and 'swim' toward it.

We also did the back stroke...

And then swam around some more...

Then the instructor helped Ben go all the way under and swim underwater to me!  It was amazing!  He didn't mind it at all - in fact I think he liked it!  I think Ben is going to be a water baby.. (His Daddy loved to swim as a kid too!)

We sang some more songs and splashed in the water some more...  and then had a good nap.   Mommy is going to get in the pool with Ben next Saturday.  We can't wait! 

Breaking News - Ben has a tooth!

We can't believe it - but we saw a little white tooth peeking out in the past few days!  Its official - Ben's first tooth is coming in!  Here he is after his bath trying to show off his new tooth.... 

He's very proud of himself...  and he should be! 

(We swear its there on the bottom middle, even though you can't see it in this picture.)

I will continue to follow this breaking news story and update you all on the progress of Ben's tooth!  As always on this blog, I swear to bring you the tooth, and nothing but the tooth. 

Leaps and Bounds!

I know its been a few weeks since I've updated the blog, but its been quite a busy time...  But Ben has still been growing and developing new skills in leaps and bounds!  We can't believe how much more mobile, interactive and alert that he's become recently.   At seven months, Ben has grown out of just about all his clothes and we had to start buying him 1 year sized clothes - and we're not even sure that they will last us very long now.  He's even fitting into a few 18 month sized outfits already. 

Ben no longer wants to lay back in a bouncy seat - he has to sit up all the time now.  And sitting is only a temporary thing...  He still can't quite crawl forward yet, but he's close... very close.  He'll do the "butt scoot" to inch his way forward.   He also loves playing with all his toys.  Put him on a blanket surrounded by all his little toys and he'll keep himself entertained for quite a while.

Ben LOVES his new jumper..  when he gets going, you would think that he might just launch himself out of there! 

He's also drinking out of a sippy cup now... he's doesn't sip much, but he figured out how to do it immediately.  (I haven't tried a beer mug with him yet, but I'm sure he'll figure that out just as quick)

In addition to the sippy cup, he'll also grab a water bottle any chance he gets... 

Not only is it tasty, but it makes great noises too!

As you can see here, he still doesn't have any teeth yet, but they're coming soon! 

Ben has also started eating some little rice puffs too.  He loves these things...  He doesn't quite have the ability yet to pick them up and get them into his mouth every time, but he certainly doesn't give up trying.  I'd say he's running at about a 20% success rate.

When we pick him up after he's eating/playing with the puffs, some will be stuck all over his belly and legs and he'll be sitting on the rest of them.   He's having so much fun with them, so we don't mind cleaning him up one bit!

Probably one of the cutest things that he does now is how excited he gets when he sees any of his family members.  Whenever he sees either Jill or I after being away for a while, he just gets SO excited - he smiles, laughs, waves his arms and jumps up and down!  Getting a welcome home like that just doesn't get any better!  He also does this for Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Donna too!

Grandpa & Ben...

Ben loves falling asleep on Grandma...

And I think Aunt Donna gets just as excited to see Ben...

We can't believe how much he's grown in just the past seven months. 

I just wonder what is in store for us next...

Ben's Stuck in Reverse

Our days of sitting Ben down in the middle of a pile of toys and knowing he really won't move from that spot are coming to an end... fast.   Ben is starting to become mobile.   We've heard lots of stories from people about their kids and how they first starting becoming mobile.  Some kids roll around the room first before they crawl, and some kids might do the army crawl on their belly.  Ben has started out in reverse, and I think that's just fine.   Here's the play-by-play action...

He'll start out by reaching for one if his toys...

Then push up on his arms to get a better look...

Maybe check out his belly...

Then little by little inch himself backwards...

And further...

As you can see, he's very proud of himself.

Ben's first "Official" haircut

First of all, I need to start out by announcing that today is Ben's 1/2 birthday!  That's right - it was 6 months ago today that the Benjamin Xavier Rudyk was born.  We can hardly believe that its been six months already.  And we certainly can't believe how much he's grown, and grown, and grown....  How much more is he going to change in the next six months?  I can't even imagine...

I've been giving Ben haircuts for the past few months, but I'm not very good at it.  My scissors aren't very sharp and I'm not very fast, so every time I comb out some some hair to cut, he moves and I wind up getting just a part of what I wanted to trim.  Hence, he's been sporting a somewhat uneven shaggy, but very cute, haircut.   I've done a sufficient job, but the length on top was getting very long and we had to flip it over the top like the Donald Trump comb-over, so it was time to call in a professional to really give him a proper hair cut.

Here's Ben with his "Shag" before his new haircut...

Jill's friend and beautician, Jackie, offered to cut Ben's hair any time, so we took her up on it.   I've never seen a baby in a haircut cape - it was a pretty funny site.  It looked like Ben's head was sticking out of a black ant hill.

He didn't like this part very much.

But overall he tolerated all the fussing of his hair very well.  In fact, Jackie said that he was the best baby client that she ever had!

At one point Ben started enjoying the experience more and he started smiling a lot more.

I had to wonder what it was it was that was making him happy and what it was that he was staring at.

After looking through all the pictures, I think I realized what it was...

That's my boy!

Thank you Jackie!  Ben looks great!

His first official haircut was a success!

An Unvoiced Linguolabial Trill!

Ben is learning to do new things just about every day and he consistently impresses us with his continual advancement.  This past weekend he started making making some new sounds.  But instead of trying to imitate our voices, my son is apparently copying the noises that we (ok, well, "I") make.  After all, Ben IS a boy...  Ben made his first unvoiced linguolabial trill.  What is an "unvoiced linguolabial trill" you ask?   Well, to put it in baby-speak - Ben taught himself how to "Blow a Raspberry!"

Its very funny to watch him make these sounds.  He takes a deep breath, purses his lips and blows...

I had to do a quick internet search to see if this was something special that Ben was doing for his age.  So here's what I found out.

"Blowing a raspberry or making a Bronx cheer is to make a noise signifying derision (and/or silliness), made by sticking out the tongue between the lips and blowing to make a sound reminiscent of flatulence. In the terminology of phonetics, this sound can be described as an unvoiced linguolabial trill. It is never used in human language phonemically, but it is widely used across human cultures."

"Reminiscent of flatulence"  Hmmm...  I wonder where he's picking that up...    He carried on like this for some time.  Grandma & Grampa were over as well and we all had a big laugh.

So, do you think Ben likes being the center of attention?  Yeah, I think so too...  There's another way he's taking after both his Mommy and Daddy.

Look how proud of himself he is! 

I know I'm very proud of his new unvoiced linguolabial trill!

King Ben and the Babies of the Round Table

I couldn't help but take a picture of Ben at his daycare this week.  He loves that he can sit up and sit with all the other 'big kids.'   He starts each day at daycare sitting at this table with his friends.

Who would know that Ben is the youngest kid there?  The little girl to Ben's left is 6 months, and the two other kids (twins) are about 8 months old.   There are other kids that come to and sit at this table who are a bit older, but they weren't there yet this morning.

The teachers there have all told us right from the start that Ben doesn't like being alone.  If he was in a swing on one side of the room and all the other kids were on the other side, he would cry or fuss.  Put him next to another kid - and he's happy.  (Which has been my argument as to why Ben needs a brother!)

Lately there's been a lot of pacifier stealing going on at this table.  Ben's not sure how to take that - he just tries staring the offender down...  which mostly doesn't work.  He's a little young to teach him Tae Kwon Do, but you know as soon as I can I'll teach him a "knife edge block" to stop anyone from stealing his binky!

Full of Surprises...

Ben's been surprising us lately by doing some things that we've been told a 5 1/2 month old baby isn't supposed to be able to do yet.  Over the holiday he surprised us with him seeming to want to hold his bottle himself.  We let him try, and wouldn't you know it...

He can't hold it until he finishes the entire bottle, but he's doing pretty well!  After 5 months of feeding him ourselves every 2-3 hours, we're amazed that we can hand him the bottle and he gets started with it on his own.

Ben's been sitting up on his own for a couple weeks now already, but he hasn't been able to get into the sitting position by himself, until earlier this week...   When we get ready in the morning we put him in one of his bouncy seats (which he is starting to outgrow) as we shower and get dressed.  Earlier this week, much to our surprise, he sat himself right up !

Sitting up has very quickly become his favorite position - he does not like to lay back much anymore. 

Very fortunately we had him strapped into the seat, because when his toys dropped off, he did his very best to reach them!

Of course Ben is very proud of himself for all of his progress over the past couple of weeks.

Can you tell?

Ben's First Christmas: A Recap in Pictures

The holiday season was pretty busy for all of us, yet relaxing at the same time.  Jill & I both had some time off of work and we took the opportunity to enjoy the holidays with many of our friends and family as well as work on some house projects.  Since we were quite busy, I never had a chance to post any pictures of Ben's first Christmas and over the past week I've had a few requests to see pictures of Ben enjoying the holiday and opening presents.   So here we go!  Here's a recap of Ben's first Christmas!

Ben immediately liked the whole concept of getting presents, as you can see below.

He was actually pretty good at unwrapping the presents too!

The problem was that he often enjoyed the wrapping paper more than the gifts themselves.  He liked the noise the paper made when he shook it or crinkled it up.

Eating the wrapping paper was also a common theme throughout the season.

I swear we really do feed him enough....

Hey, sometimes using your teeth to open presents is necessary, except Ben doesn't have any teeth.  But we did discover that covering the paper with drool first does make the paper easier to tear.  What a smart boy...

Ben got lots and lots of gifts from all his friends and family.  There seemed to be another theme from each Grandma in getting him stuffed riding animals.  Grandma Eileen got Ben a horse!

WHOAAA!!  Horsey!

(Yes, it truly is the size of a small horse...)

And Grandma Jean got Ben a rocking dragon!  How cool is that?!

Here's Ben showing off one of his other favorite gifts... 
although, I'm not really sure that either one of us really knows what it is...

"Oh Wow!  Its one of those rollie ballie change color thingies!"

Of course Ben took the time to thank his Mommy and everyone else for all his great presents by giving us some great smiles and laughs.

And Jill made us all pose for our first family Christmas picture, which came out pretty darn good!

(Yes, she made sure we were all wearing red on Christmas morning.)

And Ben ended the season by giving us a look with those big brown eyes of his...

"Are there any more presents??"

Don't worry, Ben...  there will be PLENTY more presents for you. 

I promise.

Happy New Year Wishes!

I hope everyone had a great holiday this year and are looking forward to a great 2010.  I know Ben had a terrific first holiday season.  He got lots of attention (and gifts) from all his friends and family and loved every second of it.  Last night for New Year's eve he even tried staying up to midnight!   He somehow must have known that he was supposed to say up...  he didn't quite make it to midnight, but he finally knocked out at almost 11PM.  He had his party hat on and just did not want to go to sleep!

Fortunately he let us sleep in a little this morning though..

So for the new year, Ben thought that he would impart some of his own new years wisdom that hopefully everyone can apply in 2010.
.
1. How you get something done isn't as important as getting it done.

Ben finishes his sweet potatoes every time...  even if half of it ends up on his face and bib.

2. Its not what you're doing that matters, but what you look like while you're doing it.

Sucking on a pacifier might not be the coolest thing, but Ben always looks cool doing it.

3. Have a goal in mind, and keep at it...

You might not succeed at first, or not even be sure what to do once you get there...

But try hard enough and you will achieve happiness!

(I never thought we could have so much fun with a $3 balloon!)

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!