Shake and Rattle Pooh

I think I posted a video of Ben playing with his "Shake and Rattle Pooh" earlier, but this video is too funny not to post. Mostly because he is shaking the rattle then dancing when pooh begins to sing. It's all fun and games until he hits his head with the rattle, and no matter how much he shakes the rattle, Pooh won't sing. Then the party is OVER!

Preschool activities

A week ago at Sam's preschool it was Hat Day. All the kids had to wear a hat. Sam selected his white cowboy hat that came with his veggietales DVD Moe and the Big Exit. Today at preschool it was Hibernation Day. Each child wore their PJ's and brought pillows and blankets from home. Sam wanted to bring his sleeping bag and tent, but I told him that bears did not hibernate in tents. To which Sam responded, "I know, they hibernate in caves." They went on a bear hunt around the preschool area, finally finding the bear under the desk of the preschool director. They made their own trail mix of teddy grahams, skittles, marshmallows, and pretzels. Then Sam also came home with a baggy of gummy bears. I guess they believe in sugaring up the kids and then sending them home. Sam enjoyed wearing his PJ's all day, even when we went to Target after preschool was over. Sam has been "playing" transformers the past several days. "Mom, what is your autobot name. Mom, what is your vehicle?" Sam reported back that during the pillow fight at preschool today, the girls were the decepticons (the bad guys in the movie) and the boys were the autobots ( the good guys). Apparently, the decepticons won the pillow fight. As they were going on their bear hunt, Sam said that when he was in "robot mode" he held his flashlight up to the ceiling, when he was in "vehicle mode" he held his flashlight straight ahead. Can a child ever have too much imagination???

The Boy is Walking!!!

Last Sunday (January 20th) Ben started taking several steps without holding on to something. Sam began walking on a Wednesday night at the Shaffer grandparents basement, and Ben began walking on a Sunday night at the Keefer grandparents basement. About a week ago, Ben would take a few steps if at the end of his walk he could push one of us over. Finally he just put more and more steps together. He still needs to be by something to pull himself up to standing, but once he is up he is free to GO. His preferred method of transportation is still crawling.

Happy Birthday Ben

Ben celebrated his first birthday twice. Once on mom's birthday (which, for the record, at 39 will be her last and then she will defer the celebration to Ben) with all of the family here (including Uncle Kevin and Great Uncle Hugh). We celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa Keefer's house with a small cake. Ben did not like the 1st birthday bib, so we took it off (after he proved his annoyance with real tears). He ate all of his cake, and was enjoying it until he started rubbing his eyes and got some frosting in them.

We celebrated again on his real birthday (29th) with friends at our house. Once lesson learned is that giving cake (read: sugar) to a one year old will affect their sleep pattern. After the 1st party, Ben did not take a nap all afternoon, even though we knew he was really tired. After the 2nd party, where the cake/sugar was administered in the evening, he woke up in the middle of the night ready to play.