40 weeks: 2013

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Winter 2013 – Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas

Well, Monster won for Halloween this year. You were super cute and it was kind of cold – perfect combination. You met up with Brady and Tad and trick-or-treated for about an hour. It was a lot of fun.

Thanksgiving was great. Nai Nai came to visit you and we went to the brunch at Windows. The food was pretty good but we had the most fun watching you. Although it was your first buffet, you were a pro – picked up the plate and told mama exactly what you wanted. You loved the cheese & crackers, veggies, mash potatoes and most of all… the candy and dessert bar! The very next day, you asked when we could go back to the buffet. Too cute.

Christmas came before we knew it. You helped baba buy the tree, put it up and helped with the lights. We didn’t put any gifts under the tree since most of the gifts were in CT. On Saturday, we flew out to see Uncle Johnny and Yipao. As usual, you loved the airplane ride and had your own luggage in tow. When we arrived, you went right to the toys and acted like it was your second home! You went on two mail truck rides with Yipao, the beach with Uncle Johnny and watched Frozen. In addition, you received more gifts than you can handle!! This time, you really got used to Anthony and enjoyed playing with him.

Your gifts included:

• Dusty and Chucacabra bath toys. Mather puzzle book.

• Planes, Monsters U and Turbo. John Deere tractors

• A huge carrier plane, Dusty and Doty and a variety of planes. A big loader and small golf cart, backhoe and dump truck

• PJ’s and a big ducky

Everyone is always surprised at your language skills and advanced thinking. I think you say at least one thing every day that makes us laugh! Here’s the latest: • 11/1 – one more episode and then I’ll go to bed

• 11/15 – that’s a tough choice baba. I’m going to choose this one – we made our own choices!

• 11/20 – Mama, they are hexagons.

• 11/28- rember mama? Do you rember?

• 11/30 – I’m so sad b/c there’s no hay ride. (Baba) What can I do to make you feel better? (Beni with a smirk) How about two ambulances at Target?

• 12/9 – that juice is too juicy. Mama has extra chocolate b/c you don’t want me to be sad, you want me to be happy.

• 12/14 – hollidazzle (not very excited)

• 12/15 – Santa in Santaland. I won’t be sad, I’ll be happy! Oh a buffet! (we had lunch at Macy’s 9th floor)

• Mama, you need to drive like baba. He puts cars in the air so there’s no traffic

• 12/29 – poo poo in your underwear

We love you so much Benjamin!!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Fall Fun

Fall Fun

Fall is in the air! We’ve been very busy with fall activities. You’re loving swim class every Saturday at Foss. You’re great at floating, blowing bubbles and kicking. As always, we have a Happy Meal! after class.

After your first Planes movie, I think we saw Planes an additional 6 times. You also have a Planes blanket, shirt, Big Bravo and Big Dusty, Medium Dusty, Chug, Skipper and mini Dusty and all his friends. I’m sure you’ll be extra excited when Planes finally comes out on DVD.

We also went to the Minnetonka Open House. You got to see all the services vehicles, ambulance, police car, SWAT truck and fire trucks. We immediately started waiting in line for a fire truck ride. About 50 minutes later, we got to ride a fire truck. You were mesmorized while we were waiting and couldn’t stop talking about it for days. It was a memorable moment. We will definitely go to the Open House again next year!

Potty training is slowly coming along. On 10/27, you actually went pee in the potty!! It was a big, big day. We gave you stickers to put up by the potty. For some reason, they ended up on the toilet seat of the main bath. You silly beaner.

Last weekend, we went apple picking and pumpkin picking. There were kiddie rides, tractor pulls, hay rides and apple donuts. What a wonderful day! We ended up picking pumpkins at the farmers market yesterday. You had a ton of fun picking out BIG and little pumpkins.

We are all ready for Halloween. This year, you have either Dusty or Monster to choose from. At this point, you’re really liking Monster – he is soft and keeps you warm! You wore your Monster for the neighborhood BBQ and it was great fun J

Everyone always tells mama and baba that you’ll be constant entertainment and you are! Every day, something new comes out of your mouth, very cute J

New development & milestones

9/7 Sat on potty for a while
9/10 Put pants on all by myself. “I’m songing” and “Ice Krispies”
9/15 Planes a 3^rd time. “Boogers are kind of good” “Who’s making that sound?”
9/18 “I have too many toys”
9/19 Daycare said you have very good truck vocabulary
9/20 “I think Yipao is in Connecticut”
9/22 “I want to see my poop – it’s a little mountain”
9/27 “that’s bothering me”
9/29 Beni got stung by a bee L cried a little but was a great trooper! No allergic reaction
10/11 “I can’t believe it – I just jump and close my eyes. This is kind of actually cool.”
10/18 “That’s not interesting to me
10/27 Pee in the potty!
10/22 Mormons rang the bell and you ran to the door, opened it and said, “No Pizza? They left and then came back. When the door opened, you said, “No pizza again? It was too funny.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Funny Videos

Summer Fun

National Night Out - July 2013

St Anthony Fair - let the petting begin!

Nai Nai's traditional outfit

Fun at daycare

Big Choo Choo - Jackson Roundhouse

Little Choo Choo

Conductor

At the beach - Massquamicut

O-town Pool

Hanging with Uncle Johnny & YiPao

Long Island Ferry

Pro traveler

The Bus to the State Fair!

First movie - Planes!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Suumer is ending - so soon!

Well, all good things come to an end and summer is slowly fading. We had a ton of fun and very busy summer. What did we do?

Swim classes ended – you graduated to the Sailor 1 class! At the end of the session, you got to jump off the diving board. You were the youngest one in class and a little scared but on the second round, loved it! Congrats Beni J You had a ton of fun with baba and the instructor, Meghan.

Jackson Street Roundhouse – a train museum and old roundhouse in St Paul. It was terrific. We were there all day, had to go to lunch and go back. You got to ride a big choo choo train and a mini train. I think you were on the mini train about 12 times – no exaggeration!

Fairs – I think we went to a county/city fair/festival every single week! Hennepin County Fair, Duk, Duk days, Hopkins Raspberry Festival, Tater Days and the Edina and Uptown Art Fair. We got to see fire trucks, more fire trucks, and rides. You love to try the bouncy houses but only stay in there for about a minute. Too funny. In addition, we just went to the State Fair last week. That was a blast. You were super excited because we got to ride the bus to the fair. You also had fun on the rides at the kiddy midway, very brave on the airplane ride. You said, “I scared” when the ride was finished but stayed on the entire ride. What a trooper. We had corn dogs, corn, pumpkin pie, cookies and eggplant fries. All yummy.

CT Trip – we went to see Yipao and Uncle Johnny in August. This is the first plane trip where you officially had your own seat. You absolutely loved the airport, airplane, airplane ride and overall experience. Nai nai bought you your own luggage, which was perfect since you want to be just like mama and baba. You had the BEST time in Connecticut and it felt like home. You knew exactly which room is yours and where everything is located. Highlights of the trip:

Going to the beach in Rhode Island. Uncle Johnny had all your sand toys and beach chair ready. You had a ton of fun in the water and on the sand.
Going on the ferry. You went on the Long Island ferry with baba and Uncle Johnny and had a ton of fun.
Going to Yipao’s work and riding the mail truck for hours!
Going to UConn and moving in Meibo – eating ice cream and playing with the construction trucks
Having ice cream almost every night
Playing in the pool

Uncle Johnny had lots of trucks for you to play with, a tricycle and plenty of fun. You had so much fun!!

On Labor Day weekend, you saw your very first movie – Planes! You sat through the entire movie and paid attention. Popcorn, soda and knowing all the characters, it was a blast. You love planes so much that we read the two plane books every night and watch the planes trailer on youtube about 6 times every night. I think we’ll go and see it again this weekend. You know all the characters (Dusty, Dottie, Chug, Skipper, Bulldog, El Chupacabra, Ripslinger, Shanti, Bravo, Echo, Dwight D Flysenhower and the storyline.

I’m sure I’ve missed a bunch of fun activities but it’s been a blast.

Things you love to say:

“What’s Happuning?”
How’d I do? How do you do this?
Riding your tricycle and saying “Going on vacation!”
Good job Beni
Oh boy
Traffic
No go to bed! Wake up, wake up!
I think it is!
This is kinda good
Is this a (xxx), Is that a (xxx), this is a (xxx)! (even though you know exactly what it is)
It’s so good, it’s so yummy!
I’m bossy. Mama’s the boss – I’m the boss too!
(Mama): I love Beni. (Beni): I love Beni too!
Tree Apple (mistletoe)
Stocking Boots (stockings)

New Development:

7/26 – climbed up the rock wall
8/1 – help, help, Ayudame! (watching a little too much Dora)
8/4 – 29lbs
8/12 – fake laugh
8/17 – singing ants
8/17 – it’s too scary! (your excuse not to do something (take baths, etc))
8/31 – I’m still working on it (your other excuse not to do something (go to bed, etc)
9/2 – pedal the tricycle with assistance

Beni, mama and baba love you so much! The other day, I asked baba, "did you know you could ever love someone so much?" He said, "I had no idea". I am so happy and proud to be your mommy and love you a ton!!