Going Down the Stairs

Benjamin started going down the stairs like a normal person yesterday. He seems to enjoy it so much that once he has gotten to the bottom of the stairs he will go right back up just to come down them again. The video is his second attempt all by himself.

First Blister

We had a incident in our home earlier this week. Benjamin got burned for the first time. I had straightened my hair earlier in the day with the flat iron and curling iron. With not much room in the bathroom to put a hot iron to cool off I had them above the sink and out of reach. I thought I had closed the door to the bathroom and told Ben that I was going downstairs. He usually follows me but this time he decided to linger. No sooner did I heard a bang, which sounded like the toilet seat, followed by a whine and then the sound of Ben crawling down the stairs crying. I looked at his hand which looked red. I figured that he had caught his fingers in the toilet seat. I put it under cold water for a little bit and gave him tylenol and then we went to run a few errands. Ben whimpered the whole time. When we were finally in the grocery store and he was holding his hand a little awkward did I look down and see a huge blister on his finger. This sad sick feeling came over me and I felt so bad for him. When we got him I put ice on his finger and bandaged it up with some neosporine. I also went to the bathroom and saw that Ben must have pulled the curling iron down from the cord and went to grab it out of the sink when he got burned. My poor little guy. I felt so bad for him, but over all he has been a great little sport about it all.

Doorknobs

Benjamin has learned how to open some of our doors. So we have now graduated to putting the lovely plastic child-proof doorknobs on a few of our doors. The food closet has one so now I don't walk into the kitchen and see oatmeal dumped all over the floor. The door to the basement has one, although Ben asks either Jon or I to open it so he can go downstairs. The linen closet has one so he won't pull all the toilet paper out of the closet. And finally the bathroom door, so that I can have my "private time" while showering.

Dancing Fun!

While on our trip out to Idaho Ben discovered how to dance. In the video Ben does a little dancing, but I think his cousin Tavia is probably the real entertainment.

Trip to Idaho

Because Jon didn't get a Christmas break at Christmas we took our little vacation earlier this month. We went out to my mom's place in Idaho. It was a nice break just doing nothing. On our way out to Idaho there were enough seats on the plan so Benjamin could "somewhat" sit in a seat on his own, without us having to pay for it. But as you can see Ben did anything but sit in a seat of his own. He had lots of fun playing with the trays in front of us, eating lots of snacks, playing with Mommy and Daddy. It was a long day but we finally made to Idaho. Since Grandpa Christensen was working most of the time that we were out in Idaho we got to spend a lot of time with Grandma Christensen. For the most part, Ben did. Jon and I got to go on several dates while in Idaho. Thank you Mom for watching Ben for us so Jon and I could have a little alone time. We went out to eat several times and saw a movie together. We also got to go out the Jackson Hole Wyoming and spend the night. There wasn't much to do since we didn't really have our winter gear, but it was still fun. We ate at a nice Steakhouse and Jon was brave enough to try a Buffalo steak. It was amazing. It tasted really good. It's basically like normal steak but the aftertaste is a little different. While out in Idaho Jon and I also got to go up to Rexburg and see the new temple during the open house. It is a beautiful temple. Jon asked me if it was there when we were getting married if I would have chosen the Rexburg temple, my answer was yes. I'm not quite sure if it's because the architecture is different these days or if the artists who do the murals are just getting better or if the chandlers are just getting more amazing, but it really is a beautiful temple. Another nice thing about our trip is that Grandma got up with Ben in the mornings so she could have some snuggle time with him. I think they fell back asleep a couple of times while enjoying each others company. And the final big to-do on our trip was to get my hair cut. It has been driving my crazy and Benjamin was starting to pull at it so I decided to chop it off. It felt good to have it cut and feel fresh. I feel like a new woman. Now that we are back and settling into reality Ben and I have come to the conclusion that we miss Jon. It was nice being able to spend so much time with him while we were out in Idaho. Ben was constantly playing with Jon and it was nice to have him around helping out with Ben when he was being a little stinker. I think it's nice to have these "family vacations" I realize how much I love my little family. Thanks for having us Mom and Van. It was great seeing you and some of the family. It was a nice vacation, but it's nice to be home. We also miss you during the day Jon, we're glad your our husband and daddy.

First Hair Cut

Despite the plea of many of the Grandparents, Benjamin got his first haircut. Awhile ago we were at a restaurant and a lady mentioned to Jon what a well-behave little GIRL we had. He took that as a sign that we needed to do something about Ben's hair so people would know that he is a boy. So on the first of this year Ben got his first haircut. I was a little nervous because I have never done a small boy who moves all the time and used scissors. I usually use the clippers to do Jon's hair so this was different. Now all of his baby hair is gone. It feels a lot thicker and the really blonde hairs are gone. He looks a little older then he did before. His curls are gone but he still has a little wave to it so I think that the curls will grow back. He is still a handsome little devil.

One Year Later

When Benjamin's little cousin Sabrina came to visit it was hard to believe that he was that young too. Ben and Sabrina's are a year and a week apart so Sabrina is that same age Ben was last year. After she left Jon and I reminisced over old pictures of Ben last Christmas. It is amazing how much he has grown over the year. It's hard to believe sometimes that he was that small and young. He has changed from a beautiful baby to a handsome little boy. We sure do love him and are lucky to have him in our lives.

Christmas Day

Because Jon had a rotation to do during the
holidays we stayed home for Christmas this year. Jon's family was able to come out and visit which helped the holidays not seem too lonely, especially while Jon was working. I don't think Benjamin knew what was going on except that there were lots of presents under the tree that he couldn't open until Christmas morning and that he got to eat candy for breakfast that same day. Ben was spoiled, of course, by his grandparents and Santa. He got many toys including and ironing board. We went out to eat at the Cracker Barrel with Grandma and
Grandpa Andreas and Billy on Christmas Eve for breakfast. Grandma Andreas saw this cute ironing board. She thought that Ben had to have it and when he started playing with it at the store she knew he had to have it. So it is now sitting by our ironing board in the basement and when someone begins to iron he starts to iron on his ironing board. I guess you start them young so when they are older they will be able to iron their own shirts on their mission and when they are married. We had a great Christmas with lots of presents, food, family, and fun. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Andreas, Billy, Genny and Murillo, Sabrina, Grandpa Wood, Carolyn, Natalie, and Nicolas for coming. It was wonderful to have you come and celebrate this wonderful holiday and thank you for spoiling us.