And Baby Makes Three

Benjamin making his first attempt at diving off the sofa. Good thing there was a steady hand there to stop him!

I haven’t posted anything lately, so I thought I’d share some pictures of Benjamin playing. That’s what he does most of the time now. He’s very busy, and Brad and I have been lately, too. We decorated our house for Christmas already (because we hosted an early Christmas party this weekend), so now we can settle in and enjoy the holidays without having to worry about taking boxes out of the attic, putting lights on the tree, etc. On to the pictures…

Benjamin stays close to the hearth when we let him loose in the living room. Plenty of toys there to keep him busy!

Joel and Anna came over one morning last week and entertained themselves (and Benjamin) with all the baby toys. They are good cousins!

Joel may be 4 years older, but he and Benjamin are already best buddies.

Benjamin gets very relaxed in his hooded jacket and a blanket. In this case, he fell asleep on our way home from running errands and took a 45 minute nap in his car seat.

Benjamin is enjoying all sorts of new adventures in his crib.

Benjamin’s excitement of late has centered around his crib. It’s not that he is upset when we put him down for a nap. It’s that he is too thrilled when we put him in his crib. He can be exhausted, yawning, rubbing his eyes… but the minute his head hits the mattress, it’s as if someone has given him two shots of espresso! Within 30 seconds of me leaving the room, he has unswaddled himself, pulled up on the side of the crib, and started bouncing around and delightedly chattering away.

Thus commences our new routine of going in his room, reswaddling him, and telling him to settle down. Usually we are required to follow these steps up to five times, over a course of 15 to 45 minutes, before he will surrender to sweet sleep. Sometimes the cheerfulness of his rebellion is rudely interrupted by some unforeseen accident or frustration. Some days, he gets “stuck” in a standing position, his jaws clenched down on the top of the crib gate, and we have to go in a rescue him from where he stands, crying and frustrated about why he can’t figure out how to move.

Just this morning, his cries were more frantic, so I went in to check on him quickly. What I discovered was his first bloody injury. It wasn’t a busted lip, as was my first impression. Turns out, his mouth had slipped while he was biting down on the crib gate, and his bottom teeth had cut into his top gum line. (Ouch!) To make matters worse, this injury occurred just where his two front top teeth are just now about to break through. Imagine my surprise, though, to discover blood running down my baby boy’s lip and even staining his pjs – when all he’s suffered before now are a few bruises, but no cuts. (Well, there was the first time I clipped his fingernails and accidentally cut into the quick, but I think it hurt me more than it hurt him.)

Benjamin takes a break from his crib bouncing to show how good he is at standing up.

Benjamin has been working extra hard on cutting his two front top teeth. It looks painful!

So, when he’s not hurting himself (who knew a crib could be such a source of potential danger?), he is having a grand old time. In case you are wondering, we have lowered the crib mattress, but perhaps we need to lower it even more to discourage his crib galavanting. And since today he figured out how to grab a wall hanging off of the wall, we need to rethink the layout of the decor in his room.

Does anyone have other suggestions for how we can get Benjamin to settle down for his naps?

Now that Benjamin is in full-fledged crawling mode, we decided it was time to finally convert our “dining room” (which we only used as such for a few months while it housed Cara and David’s dining table during the most involved of their house renovations) into a play area for him. A few days ago, we moved a shelf, a ficus tree, a rocking chair, and a china hutch (can’t have that in a playroom!) from the dining room into the guest bedroom. That just leaves a roll top desk, a wooden coffee table, and lots of open space for Benjamin to play in.

We have made it as safe as we know how to, from a safety cord on the window blinds, to outlet covers, to a thick quilt over the top of the coffee table, to blocking his access to as many sharp corners as I can. Despite our best efforts, the room is (surprise!) not baby proof. He has already managed to bump his head twice, once when he tumbled from a standing position at the window and hit his head on the sill, and again when he crawled under the coffee table and then lifted his head up (ouch). Those bumps were taken care of with some TLC and with ice to prevent bruising, which brought lots of sad tears that were met with more snuggles.

I took some pictures to provide a quick photo tour of our modest play area. There are no elaborate murals on the wall, no matching furniture or colorful storage solutions. It’s just a bright, sunny, relatively clean area for Benjamin to play in, and a place where we can keep most of his toys without them cluttering up our living room. It is nice to sit down during his naps or after he has gone to bed, and be able to watch tv without being distracted by a multi-colored caterpillar, or without tripping over a big block that starts singing, “Yellow lion in the African sun, tickling your mane is very fun. He-he-he. ROAR!”