Peek-a-"Bah!" "BUH-bow!" "Ki-chuh" and kazoos!

On Thursday of this week, I was busy cleaning up the kitchen and making goodies for us as well as for a friend who just had twin boys. So, I set out to keep Bennett busy in the kitchen (KI-chuh!) for a little while. He's really into stirring and spoons right now!

We had such a fun Father's Day!

This morning Bennett discovered something amazing. Almost 2 years ago, friends of ours - both Oberlin alums - were married here in Bloomington. They had audience participation in the form of kazoo playing to...I think it was the recessional? It was a blast! Anyhow. Bennett found my kazoo this morning - it's been living on a shelf in the living room. He then made various noises while he had it in his mouth and, of course, discovered the wonder of the kazoo!

Generally, he walked around with it like this:

But I did try to teach him to use it "correctly":


We also planted our garden today - during which we set up Bennett's inflatable pool so he could hang out. Afterwards, bubbles were mentioned...so of course Bennett started saying repeatedly, "BUH-bow!" Matt brought out the bubbles and - you can tell from this picture (Matt can post a higher-quality version on the Picasa account) - Bennett was thrilled!

At the beginning of the month, Bennett and I went to get my regular kidney labs done, and the woman checking me in played peek-a-boo with Bennett. She would duck behind the desk and pop up and say "BOO!" He loved it! He started saying his version of "boo" - "bah!" So today we played some quality hide-and-seek. Every time he's getting ready to duck (or just look away) he shouts "BAH!" And then when he "re-appears" he shouts it again - and of course laughs and laughs and laughs.

We're having fun over here, and we're about to take our show on the road! We'll be leaving on Friday for a 10 day road trip....wish us luck with the 1-year-old in the backseat!

We'll be in Oberlin on Friday night, then onto Rochester for Saturday and Sunday nights. Monday through Thursday we'll be in Princeton, and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we'll be in Ocean City. Monday we'll make a stop over in Pittsburgh before returning to Btown on Tuesday.

Too pretty to be a boy?

Back in March, when we were in Florida, these two older ladies (like, my grandmother's age) asked us whether our child was a girl or boy. We answered "boy" and they went on and on about how he was "too pretty to be a boy."

Well, now you can judge for yourself because we've put him in pigtails. I think we'd have a pretty adorable daughter!

We had a hard time getting him to look at the camera because he was obsessed with a little travel alarm clock he found.

Attack of the Happy Baby!!!

Priceless.

It might be time to cut his hair...

Busy busy busy!

It's been a busy week or so around here!

Last weekend we trekked up to Traderspoint Creamery, where we enjoyed their Free Cone Day (the ice cream was good, but I still haven't had anything that compared to Miller's Ice Cream near Oberlin). We also got to see chickens and cows. It was fun, though Matt and I agreed that we need to find some farms that do tours and stuff nearer to us!

Bennett sat around in his underwear (it's actually a very trim pull-on style diaper. I love these!!) looking out the window with Boomer.
It rained for a couple days, and I needed something fun to do with Bennett in the house that didn't involve making a huge mess (because I was determined to get the house in some semblance of order before we left for a roadtrip the next day!).

My solution was to inflate his pool and set it up in the living room. It was actually really awesome and now I want to build forts with him every rainy day!

You can't see it, but he's got a prune in his hands here....

Obviously, prunes and pools are really fun!

He kept "dancing" on it - the bottom was kind of bouncy. So fun!

I SEE YOU!!

Matt and Bennett enjoying the "fort" -- we tipped the pool over so it baracaded them in.

"Why is Daddy stalking me?"

Thursday we left for Tennessee to see a friend of mine and her 11-month-old daughter. Everything I read said it was a 7 hour drive. With Bennett, it took 10 hours going and about 9 getting back :-)

Bennett's got his popper - he's ready to hit the road!

We went to a cute children's museum while we were in Tennessee. There were lots of little things to pick up, carry around, and scream about when a mom tried to take....

We're back now, and it's obvious to Matt after our absence how quickly Bennett's skills change and develop. His words are clearer and there are more of them. And he's really starting to imitate sounds as much as he is capable. Tonight he kept pushing buttons on one of his (thankfully few!) electronic toys that makes sounds of an elephant, a dog, and a bird. He kept trying to imitate the dog and elephant. He just made his sign for bird at that sound, though.