Merrymead Farm

This morning Ben and I went to Merrymead Farm with three other moms and babies in his playgroup. Merrymead is a local dairy farm (very "Pennsylvania" as those of you out-of-staters would say). It has homemade ice cream, fresh dairy products and baked goods, flowers, fresh fruit and veggies and a small variety of farm animals to watch. We let the kids walk through the farm area this morning and then went for a snack. I was laughing at snacktime because of all the fresh muffins, ice cream, etc. in the shop, Ben made a b-line for the bags of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish and walked up to me with a bag of his favorite variety in hand!

Here's Ben at the entrance. All of the babies in this playgroup are just around Ben's age so now that they are all walking - and scattering off in different directions - the moms had to make sure we took the last "rule" on this sign seriously and left with as many kids as we started with!

Ben and Julia exploring the mural and then below Caroline joins in and explores too.

Smile!

Old McDonald had a farm. Here are some of the animals that we saw today, starting with Ben's favorite - cows!

Ben and Julia explore the cows together and below that Ben and Caroline watch the calves.

Ben and Caroline really enjoyed the peacock too.

Walking! Ben walks most of the time now but is still a bit cautious when he is outside on uneven terrain. He did okay today, though, on the pebbles, and is getting better each time he is outside. Soon he will be running around outside as quickly as he does inside!

Ben and Olivia. Ben was a ladies' man today with three girls to take pictures with.

Ben loves his milk and has a big, growing tummy to prove it! How funny that the chart says he is about 2 feet tall?! He's actually about 32-1/2 inches tall now so he must have just been standing a bit too far away for the proper height to register.

Introducing the moms club: Roberta with Caroline (17 months).

Nicole with Julia (18-1/2 months).

Kiera with Olivia (17 months).

Me with Ben (15 months).

15 Month Pediatrician Appointment

Today we had Ben's 15 month pediatrician appointment. He is continuing to grow and was having the time of his life playing with the doctor as she examined him and also playing with the paper table covering while we waited for her. He was laughing so hard the whole time and all of the nurses said that he is the smiliest, happiest little guy. He had two shots today and barely flinched (thank God!). Here are his stats at 15 months old:

Height: 32-1/2" (85th percentile)
Weight: 26 lbs. 13 oz. (80th percentile)
Head circumference: 18-3/4" (50th percentile)

He got the doctor's stamp of approval in everything he has been doing lately - walking, eating, climbing, babbling, pointing things out, self-feeding, etc. - and we were told that he will probably start to talk more soon since he only says a handful of words right now and seems to prefer his own "Benjamin" language or his baby signs instead at this point. Next appointment is in three months.

Birthday Weekend in NJ

Last week was my birthday so Ben and I spent this weekend in NJ at my parents' house for a belated birthday celebration for me and Father's Day celebration for my dad. Andrew had other plans so he was not able to join us so it was just me and my little guy.

Here's Ben with my favorite friend as a little girl - "Nee Nee" the horse. I used to scoot all over the house on him so now Ben does the same. Poor Nee Nee has seen better days lookswise, but he was as much fun for Ben as he had been for me 28 years ago!

Ben loves to fill up carts, baskets, whatever and push them around. He discovered this little antique doll carriage that my mom has at the house. It is completely frilly and lacey so we were laughing when Ben exherted his masculinity by wheeling his Matchbox cars around in it!

Ben and Pop making wrinkly nosed "bunny faces" at each other. This is Ben's new favorite face and will do it on cue when you ask him to make a bunny face. So silly!

Here's a closeup of the little bunny again. What a ham!

More please! Ben now eats with plates and bowls almost all of the time and is doing well with it (aka he hasn't flipped one filled with food over in a few weeks). We are still working on using utensils on his own but he still prefers to either feed himself with his hands, have someone else feed him with the spoon or have someone else fill the spoon up and hand it to him to put into his mouth. Soon!
My mom and I took him to Abma's Farm for some fresh produce and we walked around to see all of the animals as well. He LOVED the goats!

The sheep were okay. At least he was not afraid of them anymore since he had been terrified of the sheep the last time we were at the zoo.

He thought the turkeys and their "gobbling" were hilarious!

Dressing up as a little lamb and bunny...

We went to visit Aunt Audrey while we were there and her house was quite exciting to explore! She had a big tub of the original Little People for him to play with so that kept him occupied the entire time. Here they are while Ben takes a ride on the rocking horse. He was a little afraid of it but was also getting tired at this point.

Finally, a photo with Nana and Pop as Ben drank his sippy cup full of milk before we set out for home yesterday afternoon.

Father's Day Weekend

Poor Andrew did not have the best Father's day weekend this year - he developed a really bad cold/flu and we had a few personal things happen on Sunday as well that put a downer on the day. We did, however, try to make the most of the weekend and I think he is just happy to be celebrating being a dad, despite how he was feeling!

As a disclaimer to the following photos, I will say that, yes, Andrew did get some other unphotographed gifts that are truly for him. "His" best gift, though, was the supersize 60th anniversary edition Tonka dump truck that he (Andrew) has been ohhing and ahhing over ever since Ben was about 3 months old, eagerly awaiting the day when his son would be old enough to play with it. Andrew had a similar one as a little boy, hence the obsession with getting one for he and Ben to play with together. Of course I could not resist buying this for "Andrew"as one of Ben's Father's day gifts to his dad when I saw that they had a limited edition one in the stores.

Ben loves this truck. Actually, that is an understatement since he is obsessed with it. He puts all of his smaller trucks inside of this huge one and wheels it around the house like a maniac, swerving around corners and making funny sound effects.

He loves all cars, trucks, trains, vehicles lately and always points them out to us when he spots one outside by either doing a siren sound or a "vroom" sound (depending on the vehicle). Lately he has also started to make them honk at each other as he plays with his trucks. My favorite sound effect, though, has to be when Ben gets caught in one of the "forbidden" zones of our house (aka unrolling the toilet paper, splashing in Barney's bowl, playing on the glass coffee table, helping himself to treats in the pantry, you get the picture.) For months I had been telling him to "Backup!" and "Turn Around!" when he got caught and had to exit the danger zone, which usually involved backing up the toy he was playing with or rolling one of his trucks away since he always seems to have one with him. As he backed up I would always make the "Beep!...Beep!...Beep!....Beep!" sound effect that construction vehicles make when they back up. Ben would smile because he recognized the sound (we have stopped to watch numerous construction vehicles in action on our various walks through town). However, now HE makes this sound whenever he backs up his trucks. It's hilarious. We will hear him vrooming through the house with a truck and will all of a sudden hear him beeping, and when we look he will he backing out of some corner or backing up to avoid hitting into Barney!

Here Andrew shows Ben the big truck and Ben gives it a whirl.



Silly faces!!

He doesn't seem to like being inside the truck as much as he likes filling it up and rolling it around himself!

Finally, poor Andrew was so sick that he didn't go to work today. His boss Kevin will be turning 40 in a few weeks so his wife had asked 40 family/friends to each do something small for him on one of the 4o days leading up to his birthday. Today was our day so last night I had baked a gigantic chocolate chip cookie and decorated it with a "Happy Birthday Kevin." I went into Andrew's office this morning to pick up some papers for him to work on at home and also to drop the cookie off. Kevin and the other guys on Andrew's team were sending Andrew emails all day telling him to feel better and letting him know that he was missing out on the big cookie. So, after dinner Andrew got his own cookie so he wouldn't be left out!

Weekend in NJ

This weekend we went to NJ to stay with my parents since I had two events planned, both Saturday and Sunday during the day. On Saturday my mom took me and Chang into New York to see Phantom of the Opera for our birthdays so we spent the morning shopping, the afternoon at the show and then went to a french restaurant afterwards. What a fun day! Chang has never been to a Broadway show and Phantom was her first choice (and my favorite, even though I have now seen it 4 times!). Here are some photos of our outing:

In the backyard before we left.

Here we are in the American Girl store after lunch. Chang and I found "our" girls and of course posed with them. Chang with her "Just Like Me" girl.

Here I am with Molly, one of the historical girls who reminded my mom of me because of the glasses and the dark braids. I used to wear my hair in braids often as a little girl!

And here I am with one of the Bitty Babies that looks like Ben, especially in the Hawaiian shirt and sandals!

Here's Chang in front of the theater, so happy to be at Phantom!

After the show we had an hour and a half to kill before dinner and since it was so nice out we walked around some more. We did spend a fair amount of time in the big Toys 'R Us in Times Square looking for something to buy for Ben though...and had some fun for ourselves too!

Here Chang and I are posing with the cutest monkeys that we found.

And here we are oogling over the stuffed dogs since we all love dogs. Chang and I loved this big, squishy one...
..and Mom loved the stuffed Alex, our Sheltie growing up.

Ben had a fun weekend with the guys while we women were out and about. He particularly loved running around the house with his walker while someone chased him and they also took him to the Abma's Farm to see the animals and out to dinner. Pop was reported falling asleep on the couch while Ben napped and Andrew was ready for bed by 10PM Saturday night so I guess Ben wore out more than just himself!

Here are a few funny photos. I usually screen the (many) photos I take and just post my favorites but the progression on the next few was so funny that I had to post a handful of similar ones.

Here, Ben (and Barney) are begging Pop for his breakfast on Sunday morning. Now that he is a toddler, Ben has become quite a picky eater and no longer likes many of his old favorites. But even though he doesn't like bagels with cream cheese anymore, that doesn't stop him from begging!

Moving in for the kill.

I'll try some of that, thank you very much! (as Barney steps up to the plate).

Pop succumbs to the little pants-less guy with big eyes and a tummy.

Sampling the goods.
I don't really like that, Pop...

But I do! Barney chimes in.

Here is Uncle Mike with Ben. He was able to spend some time with the little guy on Saturday and Sunday and was getting the biggest kick out of Ben's mischievous faces!

Finally, the second event that I had this weekend was my girlfriend Michele's bridal shower. I am in her wedding next month and have been friends with her since 10th grade. We were able to surprise her yesterday...that is until her fiance Gary parked next to Michele's parents' car at the restuarant and she wondered why her parents were at a "family event for Gary's family"! Oh well, we got her up until that point.

Here Michele and Gary pose with the bride and groom Build-a-Bears that Gary's mom and sisters made for them.

The bridal party less two gals who were not able to make it since they live in North Carolina and California.

Michele and Grandma Felicita who "will be 94 in August if the good Lord spares her." She's a spry one for 94 and sharp as anything. She is eagerly awaiting Michele's wedding next month.

Finally, here is Michele's cake and cupcake tower that her mom made for her!