Benjamin is ONE!!

Yesterday was Benjamin's birthday. It was a great day! We went to the park and to Menchie's for his birthday. Yum, yum. It was exciting for him to have his first birthday, but I felt so old. My THIRD kid is now 1. Wow. Here are some things about Benjamin....

Things about Benjamin:

Benjamin is a ham! He is so funny. He loves to make us laugh. He has different faces that he makes that he knows he will get a reaction every time. It used to be his squishy face. Now it is a grumpy face. He makes it and then laughs... grumpy face...then laugh. Over and over again.

He also likes to play games. His favorite ones are throwing things and then saying "uh oh"..... this includes binks out of the stroller or food off of a tray. Yes, this game gets VERY old!

Another game he likes to play is waiting at the bottom of the stairs until he gets your attention and then crawling up as fasting as he can, giggling all the way.

He also likes playing a zapping game. Whenever we touch his finger he says "Zzzzzzzzzz" (like our fingers are zapping eachother. Its quite cute actually! We were in the car the other day and I hear him saying "zzzzzz". I look back and he is pointing at me. He then started yelling "zzzz" louder and louder, getting mad that he couldn't zap my finger while I was driving.

Benjamin started walking about 2 weeks before his first birthday. He started walking much sooner than Robbie or Lauren her were a couple months after their first birthday.

Benjamin is a lover of food. He walks around the house saying "more" or "cacker" (cracker) until he gets what he wants. He will eat just about anything but his favorites are crackers and bananas. If he gets taste of a sweet... he kind of turns into a monster! He literally SCREAMS between each bite because he wants another so badly!

He likes to have the attention on him. If I am hugging Robbie or Lauren, or they are on my lap...he tries to push them away then immediately climbs onto my lap.

Benjamin knows lots of words. My favorite is when he says, Doggie....moooooo!! He also says, mom, dad, hot, more, cracker, up, hi, bye, (the other day he said, "mama, bye bye... I turned around and he was waving. totally caught me off guard!!) teeth (whenever we open our mouth, he points at our teeth and says "teee") ... thats all I can think of for now.

Benjamin LOVES to climb. Hense, the stair game, I think. Although his favorite climbing is over people. The second that any of us sits or lays on the ground he walks over to us and crawls back and fourth over and over again. Somehow, I guess this is fun...?!?! :) He sure makes me laugh!

He likes to blow kisses. But only when HE wants to. Never when you want him to.

One of my favorite things about Benjamin is how much he loves his daddy. He will melt in his arms whenever Rob picks him. He has never snuggled me like he will snuggle Rob. When we are waiting for Rob to get home from work and Benjamin hears the door opening, he gets really excited, laughs and crawls over to Rob until Rob picks him up.

He associates my phone with Rob. He carries it over to me and says "dada!"

He drives airplanes and cars around saying "vrrrooooooom".

He likes to be doing what other people are doing. One thing he loves to do is type on the keyboard when I am on the computer. It got hard to get things done, so I would put a spare keyboard on the ground and he would type on that while I was on the computer.

Whenever I started singing a song to him, he bounces up and down and starts shaking his fingers as he dances.

He loves music. I used to try to sing Robbie and Lauren to bed when they were little. I can't do this with Benjamin because as soon as I start singing, he starts singing a long and then he wont sleep.

He likes to sing along with Old McDonald had a farm. He sings "EOEO moooo"

He is in a new pointing kick. He loves to point and random things and say oooooh.... haven't quite figured out what he is pointing at!

He is very interested in the world around him He watches and watches with such a focused look on his face and wants to take it all in.

He loves to look at books. He will walk over to me carrying a book and then sit on my lap so I can read it to him.

All in all, he is one of the most wonderfully, sweet, cute, adorable, funny, loveable, best babies in the world. I love this kiddo so much! Happy Birthday, B!

Benjamin walking away from the balloons. He wanted nothing to do with them. At least I got a walking picture....

Benjamin in his new tube that he got from Grandma

Benjamin loved opening presents. Mostly, though, he liked sitting on the presents.

More sitting on presents.

He didn't want his picture taken. He just wanted to be playing in the dirt.

Yes. The only reason he is sitting still for the picture is because I bribed him by letting him hold my lens cap.

Lauren and Benjamin... we didn't get to open presents in the morning because Benjamin slept in too long and Robbie and Rob had to leave.

Happy Birthday, sweet boy!