6 months + 1

April 23rd - Spending a sunny day outside with Mommy:

May 12th - Being goofy before a day at Gram's:

May 19th - Hanging out in the pink bathtub:

As the unofficial Turner historian, I have unofficially dropped the ball with updates for the month of May.  Every month, I have good intentions of keeping up with weekly updates, but this pretty much translates to monthly updates. Even with good intentions, somehow Mom (or as Ben likes to call me, MOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!) managed to miss an entire month.  So first update, Ben talks!  Yeah, he's still not intentionally calling anyone anything in particular, but is really into A-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba and MOOOOOOOMMM!!!  I've been saying "Mama" to him and pointing to myself for the last month or so, but instead of a cute "Mama", I get a loud "A-BA-BA-BA-BA MOOOOOOOMMM!!!!"  Apparently Ben thinks I'm a sheep.  

Keeping the blog updated has been impossible over the last couple of months because The Turners have been so busy!  Ben has had things going on nearly every weekend, and of course his parents are completely swamped with work and staying on top of daily things like diaper changes, laundry, and landscaping.  Benny celebrated his first Easter with The Turners in the mountains and got his favorite toy to date: a singing Peter Cottontail.  Seriously, this toy is completely obnoxious, but unlike all of Ben's other obnoxious singing, vibrating and light-up toys, this one brings a smile to his face every time he is activated.

April 11th - playing with Mimi and Peter Cottontail:

Also on this trip, Ben learned how to play popular board game, Apples to Apples.  Ben caused quite an uproar when it was his turn to choose the card that best fit whatever identifier card was layed out because it rarely made sense.  For instance, the card he chose that most closely described the selection "Natural" was "genetic engineering".  He also chose "remote controls" to be "Dangerous".  Apparently, he lives on the edge, because this child is obsessed with remote controls, and goes out of his way to shove them in his mouth.

"Dangerous":

Ben went to the Greenville Zoo with best bud, Levi in late April and had a good time looking at the sad animals there.  He and Levi sported the jogging strollers and then the baby carriers, and wandered all over the park for an afternoon.  These two really love each other which is totally cool, because Ben has a problem with nearly every other baby he comes in contact with.  He and Levi respect each others' personal spaces and toys, and pretty much get along.  Ben and Levi had another play date in mid-May with the 3rd musketeer, Jack, and they all had a blast!  Jack and Levi got along really well, and Ben cried a lot.  He was definitely the 3rd wheel for those playdates because he's more than a month younger than those two.  They sat up, crawled around, and interacted well, and Ben just cried.  Poor Ben!

April 26th - at the Greenville Zoo:

Hanging out with Levi:

May 16th - The much-anticipated triple playdate:

Ben is warming up to Jack, but Jack is really tactile and loves to pet Ben, and for some reason, this intimidates the little guy.  They've had two weekends together so far, and by the end of both, they love each other, but it takes some convincing on Jack's part to win Ben over each time.  We're hoping next time he is more receptive to Jack's petting behavior!

Ben also went to the Garden Jubilee Festival in Hendersonville in late May, which is Mommy's favorite street festival (well, a close second to Bele Chere anyway!) and pretty much slept the whole time.  He rode in his Maya Wrap for the event and got so comfy that he fell asleep and stayed that way for a lot of the afternoon.  We stayed out for several hours and by the end of the day, Mommy's right shoulder was burning.  This carrier is definitely an upgrade from the Baby Bjorn (which by the way, doesn't work so well once your kid weighs more than 12 pounds) but not as good as the Moby Wrap that Ben and Mom are sporting this week!  Daddy is getting tired of Mommy's pursuit for the best baby carrier and cringes every time he finds out more money was spent on a baby-wearing contraption, but it's all money well spent.  I've never seen a child want to be carried this way more than Benny does!  

May 23rd - In a toy store downtown during Garden Jubilee weekend:

So in between these exciting weekends, Ben has enjoyed the luxury of staying home and enjoying the sunshine in the yard while Mom and Dad do some gardening.  Ben LOVES to be outside, and will spend hours in his exersaucer while his crazy parents plant gardens and attempt to transform the outside of the house from the "abandoned house" look to something you don't cringe at when you drive by.  He attracts a lot of attention and turns on the Benny charm when strangers interact with him... as long as they keep their distance.  Ben does not react well to crazy strangers making goofy sounds in his face.  Last weekend, Ben went across the street during a weekend warrior event to meet the newest bundle in Grimesdale, Benjamin Two.  The neighbors named their baby Benjamin as well, so we've got two Ben's on one street and they are both the cutest Bens ever.  Ben (the original) flirted with the new family and gave Ben Two's parents a preview of what's to come, which is a rare position, as Ben (the original) is usually the youngest baby in the room.

Notable happenings in Ben's life during these last two months include his attempted mobility.  At 5 months, we plopped Ben on the carpet, belly down, and played some toy with him, only to find that the little goober wriggled his way right off the carpet.  We videotaped it because it seemed so miraculous that a 5 month old, OUR 5 month old had "crawled" a whole 8 inches.  This, however, was a total fluke because he hasn't done it since.  We make a big deal out of tummy time, we are nonchalant about tummy time, we encourage, place toys out of his reach, pretend we don't care, whatever, but the child will not duplicate his efforts.  When he is placed on his belly now, he will kick his legs frantically, put his arms straight out front (in superman pose) and wiggle around, but this gets him nowhere.  Sometimes he gets so worked up that he will roll over, and then roll over again, and end up feet away from where he started by rolling instead of crawling.  Sometimes he will spin around 180 degrees and will be facing the opposite direction from where he was placed, but won't gain any distance.  He is totally determined though.  Eventually this kid is going to crawl and it is going to be a very sad day for The Turners, because it means that we can no longer be slobs and leave dangerous things laying all over the house.  It also means we will have to bubble wrap the stone around our HUGE fireplace, which is really going to add to the decor of the living room.  I want Ben to reach his crawling goal, but I don't look forward to babyproofing Turner Place.  

Ben has been an adventurous eater when it comes to Stage 2 Gerber foods in April and May.  He thinks the vegetables are laced with poison and spits out every mouthful, so we've gotten creative and paired a fruit with a veggie on the same spoon load, and he totally falls for it.  Green beans and apricots sound much more disgusting than just plain green beans, but he goes for it and gets whatever nutrients are in green beans (or peas, squash, mixed veggies, and the like).  His favorites are pear-pineapple and hawaiian medley (which is pretty much the same thing) so far.  We've tried to get him to eat puffs and cookies, and he hates them both.  Cookies to a lesser extent because he can chew on them, but once he swallows some cookie by accident, he makes a goofy face and tries to spit it back up.  Ben is not ready for real solids yet.  He does have one and a half teeth though!  The bottom-right tooth came in a couple weeks ago (which was a fun night) and the bottom-left is peeking through this week.  He's been teething like a madman and of course, drooling lots.  I hope the next 18 teeth all come in at the same time so we can put teething behind us - it is not a fun experience for anyone.

The Evolution of Scrumpy Bear - Months 2 - 6:

June 1st - 7 month giraffe shot:

Today is Ben's 7 month birthday.  My baby was born 7 whole months ago.  We are still breastfeeding (although we added formula supplement in May to take the pressure off Mommy to pump! pump! pump!) and this is all going really well.  We've got the best of both worlds and it works for us, so we'll go with it until it doesn't anymore.  Mom is very proud of making the 7 month breastfeeding milestone, especially when we look back at how rocky our start was.  Ben had a doctor appointment this morning and weighed in at a hefty 18 pounds and 8 ounces, and is 28 inches tall.  For contrast, at his 4 month appointment, he was 14 pounds, 6 ounces and 25 inches tall.  At birth, my chunky goober was 8 pounds, 11 ounces and 21.5 inches tall.  He's gotten SO BIG in these last 7 months!  Ben is in the 30th percentile for weight, 80th for height, and 80th for head circumference (so smart!).  He continues to be happy, healthy and scrumpy so that's great.  Hopefully MOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!! will strive to be a better family historian so that everyone can be more up-to-date on Benny happenings!