January 2012 - Ben's little accident

We've taken advantage of the mild early January weather as much as we can.  On the first full weekend in January, we went to the park both days!  On Saturday we met Allie and Henry at "Choo Choo Park" where both Ben and Rebecca had a great time.  Ben climbed very high to slide down the spiral slide.  Rebecca enjoyed sliding down, with a little help, and climbing in and through a big tube and looking out through the circular peep holes.  On Sunday, we went to Deep Run Park to meet Lara.  I brought some juice and snacks for Ben and offerred them to him in the car but he wasn't interested.  When we arrived at the park Ben pointed to the picnic tables and asked for a picnic, explaining why he wouldn't touch his snacks on the drive over.  We ate a little and then headed into the play area, where Ben climbed and ran around.  He decided he wanted to move our picnic to the pavillion which had lots of picnic tables.  After setting up, he stepped away a few feet to play in some leaves.  Then on his way back to the picnic table, the poor little guy tripped on the edge of the concrete slab and cracked his front tooth on a metal brace under the picnic bench.  We were so lucky that he didn't injure himself any worse.  He cried for a few minutes and once we realize the extent of his injury, carried him to the car to try to get him into my dentist.  By the time I strapped him into the car seat, he was saying "I feel better" and he was upset to be leaving the park.  Lara took Rebecca home, while we saw the dentist.  Unfortunately, there wasn't anything they could do for him until Tuesday morning, when our little guy had to get his tooth pulled.  He underwent mild sedation, had a very quick procedure, and then went home with Mommy and Daddy.  Ben slept most of the rest of the morning, and then took it easy the rest of the day.  After a visit from the tooth fairy that night where she left him $5, Ben was recovered and ready for school the next day.

Christmas 2011

Ben and Rebecca had a great Christmas.  Ironically, Christmas morning they slept in later than they ever do, past 7 am, which I enjoyed after being up later than normal on Christmas Eve.  This year at over 2 1/2, Ben really enjoyed receiving presents as he visited with each set of grandparents and even received a goody bag at his great-grandmothers.  Ben's big gift from Santa was a Thomas the Train set, complete with table, train track and train cars.  Rebecca's big gift was a ride-on giraffe.  She loves to climb on a off each of the 3 ride on toys that we have in the house, the "muffin man" car my coworker handed down to us, the Chicco bike that steers that we bought for Ben, and now her giraffe.  Ben and Rebecca also received a set of play food along with a grocery cart to use with their kitchen handed down from Allie and Henry just before Christmas.  We have been emphasizing healthy food with Ben, especially since he's got such a sweet tooth.  All of the food represents either a healthy lunch or dinner.  Ben also received his first game, Memory, and Rebecca received a singing picnic basket.  They enjoyed Christmas morning, but Ben did get a little upset when there were no more presents to unwrap.  He handled that much better at Grandma Nita's later that day, where he received a set of Cars sheets from Aunt Lacie, a tractor with a wagon from Aunt Glenda, and a dinosaur book for bedtime from Grandma Nita.  Rebecca got some of her first dolls and some pajamas. 

The weather was mild so we went for our usual visit to thee farm with Allie and Henry to see chickens, pigs, and cows.  Each trip seems to amount in more time spent climbing into the driver's seat of whatever dump trucks we can find.  Afterward, I picked up Kelly from Lacie and Robert's new house to bring her to Grandma Nita's so that she and Ben could play.  They've gotten interested in playing with eachother this year.  I'm looking forward to them playing together more this coming year. 

Grandma Marla and Papa Harvey visited on the day after Christmas, bringing gifts for the kids.  Rebecca received a beautifl red-haired doll and some 18 mos clothes (it won't be long before she's in them!) and Ben received the Toy Story movie set.  Needless to say, the next 2 days were spent wactching each of the 3 movies.  Papa Harvey also brought down a Santa train, which both Ben and Becca enjoyed watching go around the track and play Christmas music.

One particularly special event from this Christmas was having brunch with Santa at Independence Golf Course with Allie and Henry.  Neither Ben nor Rebecca did that great in Santa's lap, but they were able to visit him multiple times, and Ben was able to utter that he wanted "train track" for Christmas.  Another really nice time was when Grandma Nita visited and she and Ben made gingerbread men together.  Ben really enjoyed standing on a chair at the island counter and decorating the cookies with m&m's, which happens to be one of his favorite treats.  Ben also enjoyed visited the "tacky light" houses, including walking through one of the displays where he could look through the windows of the garage to see a vast doll collection.