Renaissance Festival

Surprisingly Benji was content to hang out in his stroller for the entire time we explored the Renaissance Festival in Colorado (approximately 2 hours). I guess the people dressed up in costumes looked interesting enough to keep his attention.

Garden of the Gods

Seemingly out of nowhere come red rocks jutting up from the earth in Colorado Springs, Colorado. No wonder they call it Garden of the Gods.

Mountain climbing with quite a load on his back.

"This hill was just meant for sliding down," says Benji.

The results.

Laurel

Vacation to Colorado!

Last year on our vacation we just took Benji to the places WE wanted to go (art museum, botanical gardens, etc.). He was in the back carrier, and he was happy at 10 months old.

At almost two, this vacation was a little different. Any event that was geared slightly towards the parental interests was rejected by the Prince. He would stay in the stroller or in the backpack carrier for 30 minutes tops and then wanted to come down to explore, which meant we better be in a place that was good for exploring. Good places included Seven Falls waterfall, the zoo, the hotel's swimming pool, the playground, and best of all was the Denver Children's Museum. Bad places included the aquarium, the botanical gardens, and anywhere where we tried to confine him for too long.

All that said, we all still had a good time. We had a relaxing time, saw lots of new sites, and had lots of fun family time together. Benji did really well in the car - books and the free balloon from Applebee's were our lifesavers in the car for the the roundtrip 26 hour trip.

There will be more pictures in coming posts.

Weaning is at hand

This is Benji last October - when nursing was on the top of his most favorite activities list. I didn't think he'd ever slow down - but lo and behold, it is happening! He took a nine day hiatus recently. Since I am already 25 weeks pregnant, I am very happy with Benji's timing. I enjoyed nursing immensely (as did he!), but I am now enjoying not nursing immensely. Just like Ecclesiastes says, there is a time for everything - and now is not the time for nursing a toddler when I'm trying to grow a little baby inside of me.




Other recent changes:

* Recently Benji does not cry much or at all when I leave him with his grandmother Nona or his godmother Jill (people he is very familiar with). He just waves bye and is already busy playing with them. This is a big change - from 8 months until now, normally he cried whenever I left him with another person.

* Another biggie is that Daddy can put Benji to sleep by himself when Mommy is home (in another room). For non-parents, this might not seem like much. But let me assure you, this is nothing short of a miracle. If you told me two months ago that this was possible in the next four years, I wouldn't believe you!

* Benji uses the toddler potty about twice a day (peepee only so far). We are not actively trying to potty train him since he's still quite young, but he thinks it's great fun to use his own potty while Mommy or Daddy use the big one.

Bentonville Balloonfest

Benji was very captivated by the colorful hot air balloons that we saw last night.

"Here's MY balloon. Honestly, I am just about as excited about this balloon as the big ones in the sky." (Benji)

"Oh no, here's my string, but my balloon is gone. Well, maybe I can borrow that big one over there." (Benji)

Trip to Hot Springs

We attended our friends Cindy and Gautam's wedding over the weekend in Hot Springs. Here are Shearn Yoong and Benji at the afternoon wedding. (The Indian wedding was in the morning, and the Western wedding was in the late afternoon. A day full of festivities!)

Benji was very happy to get to the reception and get some food. He also thought the bride was very beautiful in her dress.

Shoreh and Laurel: best friends since 4th grade!

On the way home Benji fell asleep with food in his hand (a first!). For Benji eating and sleeping rank right up there in the list of life's priorities. At this moment, sleeping prevailed.

The eating machine (a.k.a. Benji)

We'll be going on vacation for Memorial Day - and here's the food I've packed for Benji's snacks for the THREE days we'll be gone. You think I've gone overboard - just wait, it'll all be consumed by Monday afternoon. Plus he'll eat 3 normal meals a day in addition to all these snacks.

Best buds

Lucas is pushing Benji around the house in the mail carrier - what a sweetie!

Now it's Benji's turn to push Lucas around. But before the ride he received a head massage from Benji. Hmmm, when does Mommy get HER head massage? :)

Time for a hug!

Benji loves Lucas so much he just had to give him another one.

Coloring

Benji is marking the best route for our upcoming vacation.

This is the first time we've seen Benji sitting cross legged.

Yummy

The first watermelon of the season was a big hit.