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.

Fun around the house and in the snow

 Thank you to those who have sponsored us already in our walk for Boston Children's Hospital.  If you haven't yet but still plan to, there is still plenty of time!  The walk isn't until June.  (This likely means that you will be hearing from me until then asking for donations.)  You can sponsor Bennett, me, or Chris.  Just click our names to take you to the donation pages.  If you are trying to decide who to sponsor, our preference would be for you to sponsor Bennett.

And now for pictures and videos from the past week.

You may think that Bennett is eating toast in this next picture, but you would be wrong.  What looks like toast is actually a pancake, possibly Bennett's favorite food (other than fruit).

Someone had a major case of the giggles!  He was laughing even more before we started recording!  He thought that the puppet drinking from the cup was the best thing ever!

 

On Tuesday Daddy had to work late.  When we were mostly done with dinner we video chatted with Daddy.  And then Daddy started making funny faces at Bennett, so of course then Bennett had to make silly faces at Daddy.

Here he is from Daddy's point of view.

On the way home from school one day Bennett wanted to sing The Wheels on the Bus.  I tried to record him by holding up my phone from my seat in the car (Don't worry, I wasn't driving.) which is why it's kind of jerky and not great quality.

Friday we had another snow storm.  Luckily our plow driver cleaned up most of the snow while we were at work, but we had a bit of cleaning up to do when we got home.  Bennett got a bit better about not shoveling snow back onto the driveway.  Even if he had though, we wouldn't have cared because he was happy and he was letting us do what we needed to do.

And here's a quick video of him shoveling.

Bennett has always been interested in what we are cooking.  He'll ask to be picked up and we encourage him to get in his tower.  Sometimes he moves it closer to the counter (especially when he wants to sneak food) and we often have to push him back a bit for safety reasons. 

On this occassion he was very interested in the nachos that were been prepped- but probably because of the chips and the cheese.

After nap on Saturday we went outside to play in the snow.  Bennett wasn't too interested in making a snowman, but Chris and I had fun with that.  Unfortunately, about a half hour later it toppled over.  And although Bennett didn't play in the snow too much (although he did play more than we thought he might) he did have fun going down the slide and playing on the swings.  The swingset has been pretty neglected this fall/winter due to cold and darkness. 

Here we tried having Bennett stand next to the snowman.  I think he thought we were trying to get him to measure himself against it or something, which is why he backed up to it.

Skating, cooking, and everyday life

Once again showing how thankful I am that we live in the greater Boston area, here's an article about advances being developed in the Cardiac ICU at Boston Children's Hospital (where Bennett spent the first 2 weeks of his life before being downgraded to the regular cardiac wing).


To help give back to Children's for all that they've done for us, we are walking to help raise money. Initially we hadn't set up a fundraising page for Bennett, but now we have. Please consider supporting one of the three of us. (But if Bennett meets his $500 goal, he will be considered a "Miracle Maker".  Here are the links to sponsor us:

Bennett
Mummy
Daddy

And now for some pictures!

Bennett is pretty awesome.  Well, we knew that, but in this case I was meaning that he's pretty awesome about showing affection.  I know this won't last forever, so I'll take it while I can.  Pretty much any time we ask for a hug or a kiss, we get one. And this boy gives awesome hugs!

I think we may have figured out Bennett's favorite food.  Pancakes.  When he sees us getting eggs out of the fridge he thinks we also need a bowl, a whisk and the cookbook.  These days we have to make a double batch because a single batch isn't quite enough.  Leftovers get frozen and make a quick and easy breakfast.  Eating (and cooking) pancakes is serious business!

Trying to get the bag in the trash can.  This requires lots of shaking of the bag and then shoving it into the trash can.  Folding the edge over the can, however, is optional (to Bennett).

The train fairy came to visit!  We've had the train table put away since before Christmas.  I brought it up from the basement one night and Chris and I set up the track.  Bennett was so excited when he saw it the next morning.  He saw it when he was halfway down the stairs and started exclaiming about the choo choo.  A friend of mine passed along some trains from her son as well as some clips that hold the tracks together.  They worked awesome on the elevated sections- especially since we don't have enough risers to hold it all up otherwise.  Bennett is loving this, and playing with it multiple times a day.

We've given Bennett an old cell phone to play with.  The other night he was "talking" on the phone and trying to rest it on his shoulder.

I know this will come as a shock to you, but we went to Sturbridge on Sunday.  We mixed things up a bit and Bennett rode in the Boba on Daddy's back.  Here we are checking out the "ocken".

Every weekend in March OSV is having "Maple Days" where they boil the sap, cook with maple sugar, etc.  Towards the end of the visit we were at the fire where they were boiling the sap.  We were talking (and admiring the inside pockets on the woman's cloak) and Bennett had obviously had enough.  He kept asking for the oxen, the horses, etc.  Anything to try to get us to leave.  And then he asked for the "ock-neigh".  Hmm, I guess that's a combination of oxen and horse (Which he never says horse.  He always says "neigh".).  Then as we left that camp Bennett starts shouting, "BYE"  over and over again.  Luckily no other visitors were over there being disturbed by his shouts.  But the cute part was when the interpreters then shouted "bye" to him as well.
We also lucked out as we were leaving.  There's a patch of plants growing near the oxen in the center village.  And every time we walk past them I wonder what they are.  And every time I comment that I need to remember to ask someone.  As luck would have it, someone was walking by just then who overheard me and told us that the mystery plant is teasel.  Teasel is a biennial (takes 2 years to grow) and was used in the textile industry (and was still used fairly recently as a man-made version wasn't the same quality) to comb fibers in finished cloth- mostly for flannels, wools, etc.

Saturday was the start of a new skating session.  Daddy decided not to take lessons this session which means he gets to take pictures and videos.  Unfortunately he's a bit of a distraction to Bennett, although in this video he's distracted more by the other kids.  It's also nice though to be able to better see his progress than trying to watch from the other end of the rink.  He also lucks out and gets a teenage helper for pretty much one-on-one assistance during the class!

Bennett loves breakfast, in particular, pancakes.  And lately, he always wants a "nice" (knife).  He has a couple of play ones that he loves to use, and he likes to go into the silverware drawer and get us knives to use for dinner.  (Don't worry, they aren't sharp.  The sharp knives are all out of reach.) 

29 months old!

I'm not entirely sure why Bennett is without a shirt in this first picture.  I think we may have been in the process of getting ready for his bath, which usually involves removing clothes wherever he is.  Sometimes he wants to go to the bathroom/hallway to remove his clothes, but not always.  And if he's in the bathroom, he's more likely to start climbing into the tub while still half dressed.

We had put the train table (temporarily) away in the basement when the house was decorated for Christmas.  Then it stayed down there while I had some totes of outgrown clothes sitting in the front room.  Those finally got brought down to the basement, but the train table still hasn't returned.  Soon.  In the meantime, Bennett still plays with his trains on the floor.  And on this occassion, he just played with the junction.  Moving the gates makes a clanging train crossing sound, which he finds to be lots of fun.

When we picked him up from school one day he was busy learning to use scissors.  He had his fingers in correctly, but then he would turn his hand upside down.  I think he needs a bit more practice. 



Reading with Mumma one night.

29 months old!!!  He didn't want to cooperate for the picture though.  Playing was much more fun, so this is the best that I've got.

We wrapped up the final lesson of the skating session.  Bennett was so excited to get a ribbon!  When we collected him at the end of his lesson he had it attached to his wrist and proudly showed it to us.  And he wanted to hold it the whole way home.  What's exciting though is that this particular ribbon means that he passed the Pre-Tot class.  And what was fun for me, is that at one point during class I heard his teacher exclaim, "yay, Bennett!"  I'm not sure what he was doing to garner the praise, but whatever it was, we're happy for him.  I had already signed him up for Pre-Tot again for the next session, but I imagine they might shift him into the Tot class.  Or, in all honesty, I'm sure that keeping him in Pre-Tot again wouldn't be a horrible thing.  But he can now stand up (and apparently on Saturday he did it all by himself) and march a few steps by himself.

I picked up a couple of shakes for Chris and me. We let Bennett have a few sips and he LOVED my Shamrock shake.  What was cute though is I had been out getting my hair cut and Chris had tried to teach Bennett to tell me that he liked my hair.  So when I got back, Chris asked him if he had something to say to Mummy.  His response (having just had some of the shake) was "thank you", said in the most clear voice he's ever used.  Super cute.  Then Chris prompted him and he said, "Mummy, head".  Close enough.

At one point this weekend I was sitting with Bennett reading a book.  There was a picture of puppies.

Me: How many puppies are there?  Can you count them?

Bennett: One, nine.

Hmmm, as a friend commented on Facebook when I relayed this story that I better not take him to adopt a puppy any time soon as it's pretty important to understand the difference between 2 puppies and 9.

Say, "cheese".

We got more snow this weekend.  (That's 3 weekends in a row, for those of you keeping track.)  Sunday afternoon Daddy asked Bennett if he wanted to go outside and shovel and he got VERY excited.  He jumped off the couch and ran to the closet to get his coat.  Then he made sure we all had our boots, snowpants, etc.  He's a little distracted in this video because there were some people across the street who he was watching.  Hopefully he's this excited about shoveling when he's a teenager, but we're not holding our breath.



Week in review

Once again it was a pretty quiet week, although we did get out on this weekend.

Back when Bennett was about 6 months old, I went to a consignment sale and picked up this toy, which we called "the cube of awesome".  Bennett was just starting to stand and would hold onto it- although it was a little tippy so we would have to help it to stay stable.  He played with it nonstop.  Then he stopped for a while, but lately Bennett has been getting back into it.  This week we counted some of the triangle beads that are on the top.  One of the best toy purchases!

Saturday after skating we went to Sturbridge because they were having a sleigh rally.  Being Presidents' weekend they also had some presidential events, including these tricorn hats the kids could wear.

And since then, Bennett has been telling us all about what we did.  "Boba, back, ocken (oxen), cookies."  Obviously we can tell what the most important parts of the day were to him.  :)



Just one of the sleighs.  Cute kid all bundled up, as well as a dog for the sleigh dog category.



Sunday we woke up to a couple of inches of snow.  We all went out to shovel the driveway. Someone was walking down the street when we were out there and laughed a bit at Bennett.  Considering he was taking snow and dumping it back onto the driveway, he wasn't exactly being the most productive.  But he was having fun, so that's really all that matters.



The past 2 weeks

It's been a pretty quiet, low key couple of weeks.  Here are some pictures and videos of everyday life.


Hey Mummy, there's water on the floor.  Right here by my foot.

  

The wheels on the bus go round and round...

  

Lisa (and son Ben) gave some no longer used trains to Bennett to play with.
Awesome!  He's loving them.  (He especially likes the cargo.)

  

Meals are more fun when eaten out of a divided tray/plate.



We visited Brandeis to go to dinner with Daddy during tech.
Bennett got to go on stage.  He didn't really like being in the "sand". (It's ground cork.)  
He also doesn't ever get in his sandbox either.  He always plays from the side.



Playing with fences is lots of fun.

 


Daddy spilled a cup of water on Bennett, so off came his shirt and pants.

  

Eh, what's up, Doc?



We may need to start using the lock feature on the fridge or Bennett
will start to get water and ice everywhere.



This hat, which claims it is 12-18 months, finally fits!



Shoveling out.  The driveway has about 14"at this spot. 
Our best guess is that we got about 23", although our neighbor felt that number was too low. 



Standing in the street.  Behind him is the mound of snow from the plows.

 Here are a couple of examples of Bennett signing his colors.  In the first one he REALLY wants to watch the video of the Colors song.  We've found his signing to be rather helpful with deciphering his words.  He may not be able to identify all his colors, but he can sign (maybe not correctly, but close enough) colors, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black and white.

And here he is counting.

And the report is in...

US News and World Reports released their rankings of the Best Children's Hospitals 2012-2013 and Boston Children's Hospital was ranked as #1 in the Cardiology & Heart Surgery category.  Also, of the 10 categories included, it was in the top 3 of 9 categories.  And the one it missed?  It was number 4.  That's not too shabby!  (It receive 3 first place, 4 second place, 2 third place, and 1 fourth place).

I'm definitely glad that we live so close.  When we've gone to appointments and staff members are making small talk with us, they will ask where we live.  We really are one of the close ones.  People come from all over the New England area, not to mention the rest of the country and world to be seen at Boston Children's Hospital.  So to give thanks for all of the support that they have given us, we will once again be walking in June to raise money to help them with all that they do.  Chris, Bennett and I would be extremely grateful if you would consider donating to this worthy cause.  You can sponsor us here at my page, or here at Chris' page.