Our Favorite Things

It looks like Alex may have found his first buddy. This stuffed elephant is soft and makes a rattle noise, so it's perfect to keep a little guy company. I love watching Alex reach towards things and show interest in some toys over others. I also liked seeing that he was trying to get it in his mouth because I'm hoping we're entering the chewing stage, which means the sucking phase will soon be ending and we might be able to kick his pacifier obsession. He got a new kind of pacifier last week and it has worked miracles in his sleeping. I wish I would have tried it earlier but at least we're finally getting him settled into a nice eating and sleeping routine and if it takes a pacifier to soothe him right now then a pacifier he will get! At the advice of a baby sleep book, I started giving him 4 naps a day instead of 3 and that seems to have helped a lot as well. He's in and out of bed the entire day but he's happy, well-rested, and eating a lot better so I think it was great advice.


He's becoming a fan of tummy time as well, maybe because the world looks better from this view instead of the floor. The only problem is that playing on the floor while Ben is around can sometimes be hazardous! Ben has never intentionally hurt Alex but sometimes he tries to walk right across him or lay on top of him.

Ben's favorite activity is singing these days! It is just precious hearing him sing along to anything but it's really hard to catch on video. I managed to get two performances, although there are plenty of distractions in both like mama's bad singing, Alex babbling, fascinating buttons, and of course, the camera itself. But still, you get the idea. What's even funnier is that Ben loves a certain Elmo video where all the muppets sing favorite kid songs, so after some of the songs Ben will go right into the video dialogue. I don't know if I should be proud or embarrassed that he apparently has the whole thing memorized!

Ben has been stashing things in his pockets lately so I never know what we're going to find, but I was very surprised to find several tins of mints at the doctor's office today! He had done a little "shopping" at the drugstore earlier and we had to march back down to return the contraband. I couldn't get too mad at him because he doesn't understand the idea of paying for things yet and this store has way too much stuff at eye level for little ones so I guess I know not to take him back! At school they know to check his pockets first thing to send back anything Ben has taken from the house, like Daddy's watch or keys or money.

Ben and I went to the doctor to get our flu shots this afternoon. There is no true flu season here because it just gets carried in from travelers, but doctors stock the flu vaccine for both northern and southern hemispheres as they become available throughout the year. I don't want to get that many shots so we're just sticking to whatever we'll need for our home leave each year. Unfortunately, I went first and Ben was watching me like a hawk so I had to put on a brave face even though I hate shots and the vaccine really burns. Ben sat in my lap to get his and the kid didn't even flinch! I felt no reaction in him at all. He must have an amazingly high tolerance for pain....he did NOT get that from me! I guess all those IV's in his scalp and blood draws on his heels sure toughened him up back in the NICU.