Sad face, Super Duck. Happy face, Mama!

Ducks shouldn't look so dismal :(

Ben celebrated the second Halloween of his life yesterday. Sadly, neither Ben, nor his friend, Auden, could stand being in their costumes for more than about 40 minutes. We took them (not in costume) to one of the local library's Halloween parties, but they were both too young to do any of the crafts, and the "haunted house" and the man with vampire fangs just totally freaked Ben out......So the adventures of Super Duck and Incredible Lion were quite short.

That's okay though.  Hopefully next year Ben's Halloween costume will be more comfortable. Plus, by then he should be able to look in the mirror and realize it's himself he's looking at, which should make costume wearing more fun.

It seems like Halloween was destined to fall a bit flat this year; last night we got literally two trick or treaters. Plus, those two trick-or-treaters came together, and Clay says they looked old enough to drive. So now I'm going to have to valiantly try to deal with all the Halloween candy. Man, I have a hard life! 

Yesterday Ben had (what I hope to be) his very last speech therapy (chewing/eating help) sessions. The therapist said (based on what she's seen of Ben's eating and based on what I've told her about how he does at home) that his eating capabilities and his willingness to let me feed him have increased so much that as long as Ben continues to gain weight, he's well on his way to being a normal toddler (eating-wise). At this point it seems like Ben's biggest issue is just pickiness (he still spits out food or drops it on the floor when he's not in the mood or doesn't like it). The therapist gave me some ideas about improving picky eating (one is called "food chaining," where the parent finds one food the child will eat and start adding little bits of new foods to that). So unless Ben develops a new eating issue, we're done with speech therapy!

As an example of how Ben's eating has improved: there have been several days this past week where Ben only wanted 2 bottles of milk (he used to take 5-6 a day) and the other day he actually FINISHED a complete meal I'd prepared for him, for the first time ever!

Also, good news from Ben's pediatrician visit today: all his stats are good and no problems!!! This may be the first doctor check up where something worrisome wasn't discovered. He's still in the 25th percentile in weight and 75th percentile in height, but the pediatrician says that's probably just where his body type is naturally, so as long as he keeps eating okay, I don't need to stress about his calorie intake!! Hurray!

our pumpkin

She also said that he can begin only taking his reflux meds every other day until this bottle is gone, and then stop taking them altogether!! That's $70 a month we'll save. And speaking of future money savings, she said I can switch him off toddler formula and onto whole milk whenever I want to (that's over $130 a month!). However, I just ordered a new crate of toddler formula, so I'm going to switch him over to whole milk slowly.

Ben meets pumpkin

I'm so excited that things are looking up for Ben health-wise and that he's moving on nicely to a new phase in life (which I'm calling "operation insanely fun/adorable & try-to-run-away-from-mama mania).

P.S. Ben is exactly 15 months old today!

Ben & Auden: "This is as close to both of us smiling as you're gonna get!"

Ben listens attentively to Auden's costume protest

just as a comparison: here's Ben a year ago!

yep, that's my boy!

Ben's first finished meal: yogurt with strawberries

"flying lessons" last weekend

At Hardberger Park

During letter time this week, here's what Ben did when I told him "C" is for "cat". Oz was not so amused.