My Little Texas Tornado

Today is the first day we've spent at home in a long time. We've been too busy lately, so we're slowing it down. Well, that was the idea anyways... I guess I forgot that B doesn't slow down...ever...except to sleep (a.k.a. "recharge.") I think he's already played with every toy and contraption he's ever owned. Even the baby entertainers! In between diversions, he takes laps around the house screaming and searching for dogs to chase. (Recall that he is no longer a favorite of the dogs'.)

A few nights ago I unearthed some of his old stuffed animals in my failure of an attempt to get organized...again. Impressed with his this new collection, B creatively constructed a fort just for his stuffed dogs. He even supplied them with pillows and blankets. When the construction process was complete, B sat on top of the fort to look out for...well...who knows? I'm sure the "sitting" portion of that activity was only in attempt to change positions or think of new trouble to cause.

"Emily" & Eating

This afternoon Benjamin looked over at the end table and said, "Okie." He was pointing to a photo of TJ and Emily. I grabbed the frame, brought it close, and told Benjamin that, yes, that is Uncle TJ. Benjamin responded by pointing to Emily and...wait for it...SAYING "EMILY!" He said her ENTIRE name! All three syllables. I hadn't even spoken about Emily yet. Her name wasn't even fresh in his memory. Needless to say, I was shocked. Emily, on the other hand, was honored to be the first to be properly named by B. B was able to say "TJ" after a bit of practice.

Later this evening B and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner. He was eating beans and rice when I paused to notice what a big boy he has become. He ate with an adult-sized salad fork, and he was very careful to get each bite directly into his mouth, minimizing the mess. He was eating like a little man. I am always stunned to notice how quickly he is growing. It's cliche but such a powerful truth.

Blah Blah Blah

We've hit it, folks! B is now in the babbling phase. About half of what he says are words, but the other half has no meaning. Sometimes he'll tell long stories about Lord-only-knows-what. It's extremely frustrating to me because I KNOW he's trying to tell me something!

On another note, we've been enjoying leisurely country drives to see the animals. Yes, just ten minutes from our house we can find the "country" part of Tomball wherein people still live on several acres and raise cattle and horses. B adores the fifteen minute drive down Grant Road. He waives vigorously at the animals and pratices his farm animal noises.

"Okie"

Benjamin is going through a phase of identifying people in his life. This morning was his latest request/identification: "Okie." Apparently, this means "Uncle." Benjamin had the pleasure of sitting next to Sean at dinner Saturday night. Now, he is fondly recalling the good time they shared.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

On this Mother's Day we did things a little differently. Jennifer had an open house she had to host so I was going to have Benjamin for the day and I didn't want to sit around the house all day so we (we being me) decided we'd take a trip downtown and watch the Astros take on the San Diego Padres.

Thankfully, the Astros are easily the worst team in the National League, so we were able to score tickets for WELL below face value on Stubhub a couple hours before first pitch.

With such well priced tickets I picked up a third and invited Grumpa to join us - my treat.

For the last couple of weeks when I get home from work and sit down on the couch, Benjamin comes up to me with the remote control and says, "Bayball. Bayball. Bayball." So with majority rule in the house we find whatever baseball game is on that evening and he gets all excited. I figured he should see it in real life now that he is at least conscious that it exists (remember his first baseball game was our trip to St. Louis last summer when he was 8 or 9 months old). Since the Astros are drawing as poorly as they are I figured we'd be able to find some seats together with some room for him.


We got into the ballpark after first pitch but still in the top of the first inning and were able to snag some empty seats in the wheelchair section at the mezzanine railing. It was perfect because there were a couple of recycling bins behind us and it gave us a nice little play area for Benjamin that he was contained in.

Benjamin really liked it when Roy Oswalt threw a strike or an Astro got a hit because everyone clapped and he liked to clap along.

After he had explored the area to the point of boredom we loaded up and took a walk around the ballpark to show him some different views. On the way Grumpa wanted to buy some ice cream so we got one of those mini-helmet ice creams and Benjamin was in heaven.....until we ran out of ice cream.

Panic ensued.

That pretty much ended the ballpark experience. He made it through 5 full innings, which by MLB rule is an official game. Thank you ice cream.

It was a nice little excursion for a Sunday afternoon.....especially on $2 tickets.

Many more pictures are uploaded in the May photo album.

Busy Busy Busy

Last Wednesday B and I had errands to run near the house. Consequently, we had to miss Gymboree. In an effort to give B a substitute daily adventure, I took him to the "mommy matinee" at the local theater. We met up with several folks from our play group, and we all kept our fingers crossed. Of course, my hopes were not high that he would enjoy it. My instincts were correct. After B ate as much popcorn as he could (this definitely bought be about thirty minutes of movie viewing,) he decided that the theater would be a perfect place to take laps. So, we climbed up and down the stairwells until my knees could take it no longer. All in all, we lasted about half of the movie.

Thursday we retreated to an in-home playdate. Ahh, normalcy!

Friday we went to It'z, an indoor play facility that required me to purchase the buffet. Gross. Despite the horrible and overpriced food, despite the filth that is a place like that, B had a blast. Most of the entertainment is Dave & Busters type of games; however, there was a special section that was just for toddlers. B spent about half an hour riding a mechanical airplane...of course he could only do that because he jammed the "start" button so severely that the ride NEVER STOPPED! When I finally had enough of watching him move up and down, I tossed him into a bounce house. It was a very toddler-friendly size, so B was able to climb up the ladder and go down the slide on his own. He thought he was hot stuff! He yelled "Mom" as he climbed; he wanted to make sure I was watching. I was so upset that I forgot my camera.

I was busy all day Saturday, so B spent the day with Dada. It's funny (but not-so-much for Ryan) that B's naps are significantly shorter when Ryan is on baby duty.

This week is a horribly long and stressful week for all us here at the Levy Casa, so forgive us ahead of time for the sparse blogging that is on the immediate horizon.