Sundry tidbits

Mr. Benito is now the proud "owner" of 8 little teeth, and these days he is constantly developing in so many delightful little ways.

He had his second professional haircut this morning and sat surprisingly still for it. I think he enjoyed all the mirrors to watch himself in (as well as the adoring attention from the other customers).

Ben is getting steadier on his feet, but still doesn't really try to walk in public... and since I don't really want him to crawl in most public places he often gets annoyed pretty quickly when we're hanging out somewhere. He is so used to being able to go where he wants to at home, it's very chaffing for him to be limited now. Sadly, he still tries to eat everything (particularly leaves and dead bugs) on the floor, which makes me cut short his oh-so-fun explorations.

Ben is getting much better at mimicking our sounds: both speech and silly sounds like "motorboat". It's awesome to see how much better he is at that.

We think he's sort of learned the "more" sign language sign now. He executes it more like a clap, but he does seem to use it in appropriate situations.

Of our two cats, Luc (the white cat pictured below), has turned out to be a wonderfully baby-friendly animal. Pre-Benjamin days, I would have labeled Luc as a grumpy, slightly annoying pet (when he wasn't trying to lick us he'd tap-dance on our stomachs). It seems like Luc has really mellowed in the last year, though, and he lets Ben do practically anything to him. Ben loves to pat Luc's whiskers and tweak his ears, and he repeatedly tries to open-mouthed kiss Luc's fur. Mostly Luc will just purr throughout any attention Ben throws his way. It's really nice to be surprised by one's pet in a good way!

In less than a week he'll be eleven months old. Pretty amazing!

"let's shake on it!"

walkin' fool

new favorite pose

video: taking a "road trip

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