Since I'm not yet keeping any kind of baby book (I know, bad mom) I figure that I'll keep track of some of these momentos on here and at least when I finally get around to making one (maybe before the next baby is born...) I'll at least have all the info I need.  HEY....That said, if anyone has any of the emails that I was mass-emailing during Ben's infancy left over in their inbox, if you wanted to mail it back to me so I could have a copy of it that would be great. Mine are gone...

Anyway...

I gave up counting how many words Ben knows. I counted before his 18 month check up because I knew the doctor would ask and I came up with around 70. Since that time, he's hit 100 and I've quit counting. Just today he pointed out and named a picture of an owl with the accompanying "hoo hoo" and I've never heard him do that before. He's also recently started saying the names of several aunts, though sorry girls, he can't pick you out of a lineup yet. :)

His sleeping is about what it always has been. Some days great, some days awful, usually somewhere in between. I've pretty much given up trying to change it. He obviously marches to his own beat.

Breakfast is his favorite meal of the day and when he eats the most. Usually. What I'm learning as a mother is that everything should (usually) be qualified. It is not wise to make definitive statements about a child because if you're right--they'll change immediately. It's better just to make usually, sometimes, mostly, and almost always your favorite phrases. Anyway...back to food. Eggs are his favorite food, by far. He would live on scrambled eggs if he could and has one almost every day...breakfast, lunch, or dinner it doesn't matter. We were at the store the other day and I guess he was hungry because he started asking me for eggs... Fruit is another favorite food and he loves pieces of pears, peaches, grapes, applesauce. He's still a little finnicky about the texture of the food he eats so sometimes he surprises me with what he doesn't want to try. He's beyond being fed by other people, though he can't always master the silverware himself so meals are proving to be interesting. When he gets too frustrated trying to eat yogurt with a spoon then he just eats it by the fistful...

Cars and trucks are his favorite toys. Fire trucks, dump trucks, police cars, matchbox cars, tractors he loves them all. His favorite place to drive them is on someone's leg, which can get a little old when I'm trying to write an email and I have a huge dumptruck being pushed all over me with the accompanying "vroom, vroom, and whoa...crash" noises.

Climbing is a big favorite these days as well. Climbing the steps, which he still insists that he do by himself. He will hold hands on the way down so that he can walk, but not on the way up... Don't ask. I don't know. He loves to climb on our chairs and will then tell himself to "sit down" and he usually does. Aunt Sarah taught him to climb in his MegaBlocks Wagon and now he's fallen out of that twice and hit his head. We're pretty sure no serious damage has been done. :)

We're working on learning to use the potty, which 98% of the time is unsuccessful. He can and does tell us when he needs changed and doesn't like to be wet, but we haven't yet figured out how to translate that into getting to the potty before it's too late.

He loves to be outside, ride in the stroller, go for walks, pet the flowers, kick his soccer ball, all those fun things. It is so hot here already. This is the 3rd day in a row that the heat index has been 105 and so we're not getting outside very much, which is hard. We try to get out for a little while every morning, but it will be nice to live somewhere with a cooler climate!

He's aware that we're having a baby and has a general idea of what a baby is: his cousin Melia is a baby, but so is any child that he meets that is his size or younger... So who knows exactly what he's thinking. Andrew told him that I have a baby in belly and now he'll come over to me and lift up my shirt, say baby, and stare very intently at my stomach. It alternates between between being cute and just a little strange... :)

Shoes are one of his favorite things. His, other people's, doesn't matter. He has green frog rainboots that he likes to wear around, and he usually cries if we take off his shoes. When you're putting shoes on him he has to have a shoe to hold at all times, so it takes three shoes to get two shoes on his feet. He tries to tie shoes with laces, but so far isn't having much luck. He also likes to put our shoes away so if Andrew or I are wearing shoes in the house he'll come over and grab at our feet saying "Shoe, shoe, shoe" until we take them off and let him put them away. He's a funny kid.

Am I ready for two? No. Not a chance, and I don't think I will be until I have both babies here and I have no choice, but to do it whether I'm ready or not. :)  We're very excited to have a brother or a sister for Ben, and we think he's going to be great at being Big since he's (usually) been very interested and kind to the little babies he has been around. Until then, we're just enjoying these last month with just Ben and having time to ourselves in the evening. I'm sure that by this time next year we won't be able to imagine or remember what it was like to have "just" one!