In the News...

Bennett had his picture in the paper yesterday!  There was a photographer at Sturbridge while we were there on Saturday.  Here's the clipping.

But let me back up...
More Daddy Daycare on Wednesday.  They started off the morning watching part of the Curious George movie.  Bennett sat in Daddy's lap and hardly moved.

Then it was time to go on a field trip.  First they stopped at Brandeis to visit Daddy's co-workers (and help Alicia fix her lamp) and then they came to my work and we all had lunch together.

When they got to my office Bennett had his first experience walking through a revolving door.  It was just like on TV/ in movies with the person continuing to walk around.

On Thursday my work had our summer outing at Kimball's.  Bennett LOVED the bumper boats and we went on them three times.  Going again in the future may prove slightly more difficult since the boats aren't cheap and he's not going to understand why we can't ride them multiple times.  Plus we lucked out with hardly any lines.

Friday's Daddy Daycare started off with reading a pile of Dr. Seuss books in bed.

Then it was time for a field trip to Woodcraft where Bennett descided to accessorize with dust collection fittings.

Bennett also picked out his clothes and decided that the shirt made him look like a cowboy.

Other highlights of the day included Chris announcing that it was lunch time, Bennett going into the kitchen, opening the fridge, getting the jam out, and then grabbing a grape.  He then ran back into the living room to announce to Daddy that he had taken a grape.

He also announced that he's had hamcheese at Sturbridge yesterday.  Not sure where this came from since he hadn't been to Sturbridge since the weekend.

But speaking of Sturbridge, let's get into some more details from our visit.  Saturday was their annual "Fire and Ice" day.  (Well, technically they also have Fire and Ice in the winter when they celebrate the ice harvest.)  There were lots of fire trucks and other fire aparatus, a bucket brigade contest, and they would be making ice cream.

While we were at home getting ready to leave, Bennett was playing with some dress up clothes.  We mentioned that we were going to go to Sturbrudge and that there would be firetrucks there.  He grabbed one of his firehats (apparently he has 4 of them!) and asked if he could wear it.  We said sure, but swapped it for a different one with an elastic.  Much easier to stay on his head, and as it turned out, also easier to carry when he wasn't wearing it. 

When we got to the parking lot there were a couple of trucks for kids to explore.  One was a canteen (complete with a mobile bathroom) and then there was also a more typical (at least to me) truck.  Bennett climbed around the seats and up on the back.

Once we got inside there was thsi antique truck, a couple more modern ones, and some handtubs.  He wasn't a fan of the siren on this one, but he did like sitting in the seat and ringing the bell.

We checked out this exhibit with a cow that you can "milk".  He loves to visit this spot every time we come, and the cow has been out of order for a while.  I also gave it a try and sprayed some water on Bennett, and then of course he wanted to keep spraying himself.

A highlight of the day was the bucket brigade contest.  Bennett kept asking to do it, and luckily he had a chance when the contest was all over.  In the first round, there was a 3 way tie with a time of 1:01.  In the second round they narrowed it down to 50 seconds, and then in the final round, I think the winning time was 47 seconds.  Wow those people were quick!  And it was one of the teams of teenagers that won.

There also was a chili contest with various local restaurants supplying the chili.  The Publick House (which is where we had our wedding reception) won!

After the teams finished up the bucket brigade, Bennett and some other kids decided to give it a try.  Or at least they had fun dipping buckets (or hats) into the water, spilling some on themselves, and emptying tiny amounts into the barrel.  Good thing they weren't being timed. 

As this was going on I noticed the photographer taking pictures of the kids.  I think initially Bennett didn't have his Fire Chief hat on, but I put it on him and he kept playing.  After a little while the photographer came over and asked for names/ages.  He mentioned what paper he was with and that there would likely be a slideshow on the website later that day and that he wasn't sure if it would be in the Sunday paper or not.

Sure enough, that evening I found the online slideshow.  Bennett's in there and all of us are in the background of another photo as well.  And then on Sunday I found the article online.  I had meant to look for the paper when I was at the grocery store in the morning but I forgot.  In the afternoon we walked to a couple of local drugstores but they didn't have them.  I guess we were just out of their circulation area.

So after Bennett went to bed I went out to a grocery store in a nearby town and found a copy of the paper.  Sure enough, there was Bennett!  Here's a link to the article which is posted above, but now you'll actually be able to read it.  If you scroll down a bit you'll see the photo of Bennett, and you can click to see it larger, as well as another link to see the slideshow with a few other photos.

The other fun from Saturday was hearing the ice cream truck.  Bennett and I went out and I got him a popsicle.  This thing proved to be very messy!  He had red stained hands, face, legs, and even a dribble down his chest.

Before

After

On Sunday we had friends over for food and games.  We started off with brunch- pancakes, donuts, cinnamon rolls, fruit.  Yum!  Then we headed outside for a water fight.  The goal was to get Jason soaked, and I'd say we accomplished that. (For some reason we always pick on Jason, seen here with the hose.)

Bennett had fun, but he didn't quite understand why people kept taking water out of his pool.

After the water fight we went in to dry off/ change clothes and play some more games.  The kids played with Bennett's toys and the adults played Dicecapades.

At the end of the day we asked Bennett what he liked best.  He said "playing choo choos with 'BJ' (DJ) and Davis"  He also had lots of books read to him by Caitlyn.  Thanks for being such a good sport Caitlyn.  The boy certainly loves his books!

Food, a plea for donations, and a week of fun

This week was amazing in terms of Bennett eating foods that he normally wouldn't eat! 

• Chicken is one of those hit or miss foods.  Normally it's a miss.  But on Sunday we roasted a chicken and Bennett kept asking for more that night and he ate it later in the week as leftovers as well
• Wednesday, after months of offering and Bennett refusing, he ate broccoli!  And he kept asking for more.
• Thursday he ate scrambled egg, after rejecting it on previous attempts.  He tried a bite and although he didn’t spit it out, based on his facial expression I don’t think he liked it. He later piled it on top of his toast and ate a lot of it that way. After the toast ran out he tried another plain bite and spit it out.

Since we have amazing friends who also have great appreciation for Boston Children's Hospital, we've decided to form a team!  Please consider donating to Bennett or to any of the other team members (especially Fiona).  If you want, you are also more than welcome to join our team and walk with us.  The more the merrier!  (But be forewarned, if Bennett walks the route, which we hope he will, we will be moving at a snails pace- or maybe even slower!)

And now for the photos!

Ever since last week's giggle-fest video where we played with the puppet and the doll, Bennett has been playing with them a bit more.  On this occassion we were reading to the doll. 

And here's a video of us reading.  Towards the middle I try to get Bennett to say "horse".  He refuses.  For some reason, this is one animal he only makes sounds for- he won't say the name.

One night he decided to draw/write in this notebook that had been on the table.  All of a sudden we heard, "B-E-N..."  He then kind of trailed off a bit into indistinguishable letters.  We tried to get him to do it again on video with less than stellar results.  Apparently at school, every time they write his name on something they spell it out, which is where he's picked this up.  I think we need to work on letters a bit more at home, now that he pretty much has all of his colors.

Saturday was a busy day.  We had skating in the morning.  Chris realized he distracts Bennett way too much, so he can't watch anywhere near him.  Instead he came down to my end of the rink and watched the adult class.  He did happen to see when Bennett fell and hit his face on the ice (good thing he was wearing a helmet).  Luckily Bennett is fine, although I think the teachers were a bit worried.

After nap we had friends come over so that we could pass along some outgrown clothes and a few toys.  Jack is 14 months old, so this works out well to pass things along.  Not too much time between Bennett outgrowing things and Jack needing them.  And who doesn't like free clothes!  Bennett also did well sharing his toys.  We weren't sure how he would do- the last time other kids were over he was a bit possessive.  And lately Bennett likes to say that everything is "mine".

When Jack and his parents left Bennett played with the rice bin and then playdough.  Plus he colored with markers.  Wow, three of his favorite things!

Sunday was another jam-packed day.  We started off at Sturbridge, getting there right when they opened.  A lamb had been born this week, but I think they must have been keeping all of the ewes and the lamb somewhere away from the public, because all we could find were the rams.

Before we went into the village we looked through the visitor center.  Here's an early potty chair, complete with chamber pot.  Later when we were on the farm, the interpreter mentioned that babies would start sitting on the potty even before they could sit up on their own (high back, high sides on the chairs to keep them upright).  Washing and changing diapers is too much work!

Since it was St. Patrick's Day there was extra music, dancers, etc.  We listened to this group for a while, but then Bennett wanted to keep moving.

Bennett was eager to try this out.  He walked behind it on his own, but then needed Daddy's help to reach the opening.

The stilts were out at the schoolhouse.  When Bennett saw Mummy using the stilts he wanted a try.  In a couple of years I imagine he'll be using them all on his own.

  

After Sturbridge we headed off to Alexander's 6th birthday party.  We were later than anticipated since it took us longer to get there than we thought, but after acclimating to a new place, Bennett had fun playing lightsabers with the older boys.  They had the "real" lightsabers, and Bennett used a foam one.  He also tried out the hula hoop.  Playing with new toys is lots of fun!

Then we headed home, exhausted with just enough time for some books and toys before dinner and bed.

The past couple of weeks

Here are a few things from our adventures over the past couple of weeks.
Bennett has always been a pretty picky eater.  He will consistently eat yogurt and pretty much any fruit, but that's about it.  Over the past couple of weeks he's surprised us with how well he's eaten some new (to him) foods.  Granted most of these aren't the healthiest, but at least he's eating.  And a couple of them he had previously rejected, so this is progress.  We can now say that he eats:

• Pizza
• Tacos,
• Salad
• Sour cream
• Cheeseburgers

What would have been Bennett's second skaing lesson was a bust.  The boy has a bit of OCD and he didn't like the fact that his helmet was in the skating bag and not on the shelf where it has lived for the entire summer/fall.  Unbeknownst to us, he took it out of the bag and put it on the shelf.  We only realized this after we got to the rink and had skates on.  We checked at the rental desk and in the lost and found box to see if there was a spare we could use, but no such luck.  And for kids, no helmet means no skating. So Mummy stayed off the ice with Bennett while Daddy skated.  Which was probably a good thing because Daddy needs more practice.  :) The following week we made sure we had the helmet and we think Bennett had a good class.  I asked one of the teachers how he did, and she said, "he can't get up, and he can't move on his own, but he was smiling."  Well, I guess if he's smiling he must have been having fun, right?  And we certainly aren't expecting him to be able to stand or skate on his own after only a couple of lessons.  It's just tough to see how he's doing since Chris and I have our lessons down at the other end of the rink.  Since none of the other parents of the Tot class are skating, they get to stand and watch and have a better idea of how the lesson went.

We came up with an idea for our holiday cards this year!  I really like the idea, but now I just need to find the time to execute it.  Making the necessary costume shouldn't be too difficult (I hope) but I need to get another big craft project finished up before I can begin.  However, we did pick up a necessary clothing item.  Hopefully Bennett won't be traumatized when he gets older and he realizes that I put him in girl's clothing.  :)

Mummy had a haircut on Saturday.  Bennett and Daddy tagged along because we were headed out afterwards and it was easier than me running home first to get them.  So Bennett did what everyone else in the waiting area was doing- reading magazines.  I didn't get a picture, but he selected Wine Officianado as his reading selection.  

When we got home later in the day, Bennett helped with some chores.  I think he needs a little more practice wrapping the cord on the vacuum cleaner.

We went and had our annual family pictures taken.  I'll share those pictures in a month or so after people get them for Christmas gifts.  While we were getting ready that morning Bennett lay down on our bed and had Daddy read him a book.  He'd never sat like this for a book before it came in handy when we wanted him to do a similar pose when we went in for our pictures.

Over the past couple of weeks we've had a number of chances for Bennett to visit Santa.  Given what a disaster meeting Sir Topham Hatt was, we were hoping that multiple exposures to Santa would be good.  We've lucked out that there haven't been any lines for Santa and he's now had 3 visits.  Unfortunately our plan isn't working.  He does NOT want to sit with Santa.  He'll tolerate sitting in one of our laps and giving Santa high-fives, but he's eager to get away.  When we do leave, he energetically yells "bye Santa" and waves.  This weekend we go for the "official" Santa pictures.  I'm not expecting them to be good at all.

Mummy's birthday was on the 18th.  Bennett helped open her cards and presents. Daddy helped Bennett make a card for me and Bennett traced his own hand for card.  I guess they do that a lot at school?  Not the most perfect looking, but nice to know what he was trying to do rather than the normal scribbles that don't look like much.


And that brings us to Thanksgiving!  He did really well in the car.  I'm sure he was getting antsy, but we brought a bunch of things with us to keep him busy.  And he took a nap for a little while, so that was nice.  He was pretty shy when we first arrived, but that was understandable given there were 22 adults and 3 kids and he only really knew 4 of the adults (Mummy, Daddy, Mimi, and Uncle "An-dew").  Shortly after arriving it was time to eat.  He was back to his normal eating habbits.  He ate cranberry sauce and a crescent roll, but that might have been it.  Maybe a little corn?

After eating we went outside for a little while to run around and burn off some energy- perfect after all that sitting!   Bennett loved being thrown around by Uncle Andrew and doing some chasing around. 

Then it was time to go inside for dessert.  At this point Bennett was a bit sweaty, hence the spiked hair. 

As I mentioned earlier, there were 3 children this year.  Bennett was the oldest at 2 years, R was 13 months, and T was 6 months.  Of the 3, Bennett had the least amount of hair and T had the most.  Not fair!  Not the best picture, but here are Bennett and R.  It was later in the afternoon at this point and they had both woken up from naps not long before, which I think is why they weren't much interested in having their pictures taken.

Speaking of picture taking, here are a couple of family shots.





Uncle Andrew, Bennett, Mummy, Daddy





The Smeals





Everyone who was there, minus 3 of the Smeals who left to go to another family gathering.



On the 24th I realized I had forgotten to take Bennett's monthly photo.  Understandable since he turned 26 months on Thanksgiving.  Although if I had remembered I probably would have brought along Paddington and the sign and taken the photo while we were in NJ.

On Sunday we went to Sturbridge with Uncle Andrew.  Daddy stayed home to work on some items for the store he sells at (wooden puzzles, ornaments, etc.)  It was COLD!  There also weren't many people there, probably due to traveling home and the temperature.  We saw them stuffing the root cellar with hay to insulate against the cold and we went into many more buildings than normal.  I guess that's understandable since we needed to warm up (any building with plaster, original wallpaper, or historic artifacts has artificial heat).  Plus with it being so cold we didn't really want to stand around and stare at animals too much.  But Bennett did get to see his beloved beep (sheep) and ocken (oxen) as well as neighs (horses) and cows.  I also learned that he knows one of our traditions- stopping at the general store to buy cookies.  As we walked along the common in that direction he said "cookie".  Hmm, too bad we were actually headed for the oxen.  But then we did go get cookies, which meant mittens had to come off to eat them, which meant freezy cold hands.

Over the past couple of weeks we've also noticed a bit of a language explosion for Bennett.  We can't wait until he becomes even more verval, but we've recently hear his variations of Andrew, mall, Santa, Patty, cookie, and numerous others.  Plus, he started saying "Mommy" rather than pronouncing it "mimi" which created a little confusion when around Mimi (grandma Breecher's name).  I'd rather that he pronounce it the British way with a U, but I guess for now I'll take it.  It did sound very weird to me at first though, having heard him pronounce it with Is for so long.

And in other family news unrelated to Bennett, one of the puzzles that Chris makes was featured on Apartment Therapy!  Unfortunately Chris was sold out of this particular puzzle at the time.  It's been relisted as a custom order, but so far we haven't seen any sales as a result.  Lots of increased traffic though, so that's good.

Until next time... stay warm!

What's for eats?

I feel like I'm constantly eating or hungry. Many days at 10 or 11 in the morning I'm already thinking about dinner. This is probably why I'm putting on the weight- not because of the teeny tiny baby. I decided to keep track of what I eat/drink in a day. Here's what I consumed on Wednesday.

Breakfast- 7:30
Chocolate butterscotch-chip cookie
Cranberry bagel with butter

Morning Snack- 10:45
Package of Smartfood
Pear
Dove chocolate

Lunch- 12:30
Smart Ones- Santa Fe Rice and Beans
Sun Chips

Afternoon Snack #1- 2:45
Granola bar
2 mini peanut butter cups

Afternoon Snack #2- 4:00
Cheese and crackers
Yogurt

Dinner- 6:30
5 Guys Burgers & Fries
- Little Bacon Cheeseburger
- 1/2 of a regular size fries

Drinks
1/2 liter of Crystal Light
A little less than 2 liters of water
Juice box- apple
1 can Sprite

(1/2 liter = about 2 glasses or roughly a 16oz bottle)