All of this past week Ben enjoyed the company of my friend/ex-coworker's little girl, Grady (her usual babysitter was out of town). It was fascinating to see how the two of them interacted with each other and how similar and
completely different two toddlers can be. It also give me hope that I will one day be able to manage having two kids of my own (although I'm am extremely thankful twins don't run in the family!!).
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| peek-a-boo! |
In other Benben news, he is no longer drinking any formula at all (although he still drinks 3-5 bottles of whole milk each day/night). Not having to mix up formula each night, and saving $120 a month is pretty nice! Another pleasant new development is that this past week Ben slept 4 nights in a row without needing me to get up with him at all. Since then he's gone back to needing me at least once a night, but I can see a glimmer of hope for restful nights in my future now!
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| kitty snugs |
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| a two-toddler Walmart adventure |
Ben continues to amaze and delight us with his new communication skills. I can't think of all of the additional words and concepts he has down now, but some of the newest ones are "toyeeee!" (toy), "mouf" (mouth), "eyeeeeee", and "poke" (for his porcupine puppet). He also handed me a yellow block this morning and said "yellu".
He makes the most interesting connections, too: the other day he held up a square of cardboard and said "hat", and I said something like, "does it go on your head?" But instead he placed the cardboard on top of a box and repeated "hat".... so in his mind "hat" is something that goes on top of something else... a "box hat". Which makes perfect sense, of course.
Of course, with new communication also comes new issues, like saying "hug" and "diap" (diaper) when we're trying to put him to bed at night so that he prolongs having to go to sleep.
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| shape toys I made Ben from an old cutting board |
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| look, Ma! One foot! |
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| first time correctly stabbing and eating food with a fork |
As Ben moves further into a more delightful and happily-independent little-boyhood, I've been thinking a lot about the different stages he's already gone through, as well as his birth. I've been feeling pretty sad that his birth was so far from the "ideal birth" I'd imagined, and worrying about what I was eventually going to tell him about his birth. I want his birth story to be joyful and magical, but I also want to avoid out-right lying to Ben, ever. 
The other day I looked back over my early blog posts about Ben's birth, and I was reminded of some of the facts that I'd mentally tucked away (or completely forgotten). Not only did I have a unwanted, frightening C-section (because labor did not progress after 16 hours post induction), but I also developed Preeclampsia during birth (where blood pressure sky-rockets to seizure-dangerous levels). The hospital gave me magnesium sulfate for the preeclampsia before the birth and for at least a day after the birth. No wonder I felt like everything was a scary, blurry haze until about a day after Ben was born. It helps to be reminded a lot of that was drug-induced!
Anyway, after being inspired by reading some beautiful stories other c-section moms told their children, I decided to see what I could do to make ben's birth story happy AND true. Writing, thinking, reconsidering, and re-writing about his birth was one of the most healing experiences I've had. (Plus, I love painting and crafting!) 
