Life At Home - Gone Fishin'

I'm not sure what prompted it, but Ben recently got it into his head that he wanted a fishing rod. This past weekend, that's all he talked about. "Go get fishing rod? Go fishing? Look at fishing rods, Mama?" He was non-stop. So, we took a trip this weekend and Daddy and Ben each got a fishing rod. We all went out for the first time today.

My little man was so cute in his little bucket hat (which he now calls his fishing hat), carrying his fishing pole (which is twice as tall as he is) tromping down the path to the water. First we went to Gay City State Park in Hebron. We stayed there for only a few minutes because there were a bunch of teenagers making a whole bunch of noise.




So, then we decided to drive down the road to Bolton Lake. We had more luck there. Eric actually caught 2 fish!







We had a good time. If you're interested in seeing more pictures of the day you can check out my album on Facebook.

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We've been pretty busy lately. Sorry if this post is too much for some of you, but for the family who read there are quite a few pics included with this post.

First, we had Easter. Ben woke up Easter morning and was all excited to see what the Easter Bunny brought him. This kid made out like a bandit! Really, I think we went a little overboard. It seemed more like Christmas than Easter. Oh well. It was fun. Here's Ben with his Easter basket:

Here he's trying to scare me with the dinosaur that was in the basket:

So, after a very fun morning we get ready and drive over the Grammy's house to spend the day with family. We're there for all of 10 minutes and disaster strikes. Ben went running down the hallway, tripped over a chair and went flying. He had a mouth full of blood and just about gave me a heart attack. He had a hole under his lip. We decided to take him to the Emergency Room because I was concerned that he might need stitches. We went to the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford. I have to say, they were wonderful there. He ended up needing 3 stitches just under his bottom lip. How do you put stitches in the face of a 2-year-old? You either hold them down or sedate him. We decided against sedation for a variety of reasons so they just wrapped him up in a sheet like a burrito and they did what they needed to. We had a conversation with the Dr about whether or not he could or would pull the stitches out. He said it was extremely unlikely. What do you think happened? He pulled every one of them out overnight. When he came out of his bedroom in the morning they were all gone! I couldn't believe it! Oh well. The Dr said it wasn't worth putting them back in again. He'll likely have a scar there now but he's only 2 so it won't be very noticeable when he's older.
I'm so mad - I don't have any pictures of his first ever stitches (cause I'm just sure they won't be the last)!

This past Saturday we decided to take a family trip to the Southwick Zoo. It was nice outside and we wanted to take advantage of the warm wather. I also had a BOGO coupon from the Entertainment book so it was a great deal.

This tiger was right up next to the fence!

They had a small playground. This is Ben on one of the slides.

A Mommy and Daddy Baboon. There's a baby hiding in mom's lap but we could only get glances of it.

Eric took this one of Ben and I on the train ride they have.

Eric and Ben

If you've been reading lately, you know that Ben is a huge fan of Thomas now. He absolutely loves trains and the Thomas characters in particular. We were very lucky to get a fantastic deal on a train table, the tracks and a whole mess of trains secondhand through a co-worker of mine. Ben was ecstatic! After we put him to bed last night, Eric and I stayed up and put the whole thing together.
That's what he's been doing aaaalllll day! We had to go out for a while this morning and all he kept saying the whole time was, "Go play Thomas? Go home play Thomas?"


That's the update. Oh! one more thing for those of you interested. Do you remember the litter of kittens that we fostered for a while? Click here to see the original post. We kept the longhair male with the raging eye infection (third pic in that post). Here's what he looks like now:

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Life at Home - Thomas the Train and Potty Training

I haven't posted anything for Family Time Friday for quite a while because 1) Nothing all that interesting has been happening, 2) I have not been very good about taking pictures recently and 3) Fridays have been busy for me lately. So, instead of posting family updates on Friday I've decided to start new "Life at Home" posts. These will probably be posted on Tuesdays but may appear on other days of the week as well depending on what's going on in our lives. So, for all of my family members that look for new pics of Ben, check back a few times a week.



Ben's latest obsession is Thomas. You know - the little blue train who lives with all of his other train friends on the Island of Sodor? I'm sure all you moms out there know what I'm talking about. He loves trains and has recently started watching Thomas DVD's. Now he recites a list of all the trains' names. Thomas and Percy and Gordon and Emily, etc, etc... We're going to see Thomas Live on Stage in April and he's very excited about that. He mentiones it probably once a day. So, today we were at Target just looking around. Of course, we went down the toy aisles and, of course, they had a whole Thomas section. He looked around for a while and spotted this:

(It's the Learning Curve Take Along Thomas and Friends Morgan's Mine Set in case you were wondering)

It's a pretty large box - not heavy, but large - with a handle on the top. It was on the bottom shelf so he grabbed it and started dragging it down the aisle. He stops, looks back at Eric and I and says "Take it home! Pay for it!" Then he started dragging it towards the front of the store. It was just so darn cute all we could do was laugh. We don't give in every time he wants to take something home but decided today it was ok. We started following him and I asked if he wanted to put it in the carriage. He said "No! Pay for it!" I explained that we could carry it to the front of the store in the carriage to pay for it. He just said, "No!" He was determined to do it himself. I so wish I had a video camera with me.

We got home and put it together and he played with it for (I kid you not!) FOUR HOURS! That doesn't mean much to you if you don't have a 2 year old and don't know Ben but suffice it to say that this is a kid who doesn't play with one toy for more than 10 minutes at a time. Eric and I were stunned! He sat on the floor and played with this thing for Four Hours!

Today was also another milestone for Ben. He pee-peed in the potty for the first time!! Woo-Hoo! I was so proud of him! He just turned 2 at the end of January so we haven't really done much in terms of potty training yet. He tells us when he has a dirty diaper and sometimes he tells us he wants to go to the potty but he only sits on it for a couple of seconds and says "all done!" Today I was getting him ready for bed. I was changing his diaper so he was naked and then started jumping on the bed. Then he stopped and started peeing. Once he realized what he was doing he actually stopped himself from going! I scooped him up and ran him into the bathroom and sat him on the potty and he actually finished going in the toilet! I was so excited! He thought it was great because he got to flush the toilet. lol That was his great reward. Obviously this doesn't mean he's going to be potty trained by tomorrow but it's a great start and I'm happy he's starting to get the idea. Maybe we'll have to try some Pull-Ups now. We'll see how it goes. I'll be so happy when we're done with diapers.

That's what's new with us. Stay tuned for another update soon.

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Family Time Friday

Ben was all about getting messy this week:

Daddy was sharing an ice cream cone but I think he got all of two bites.

I told Ben to smile and say "cheese" and this is what I got.

He got some finger paints for Christmas and he loves them!

He decided to paint himself, too. He was using Crayola's washable finger paints. I have to say, they are great! We put him in the tub after he was done and it washed right off with no scrubbing or anything.

In other news, we've been doing some major wedding planning. The date is set for Christmas Eve of this year and I think we've decided on the venue for both the ceremony and reception. And, instead of the traditional evening reception, I think we're going to have a morning ceremony and a brunch reception. I'm very excited because I found the perfect dress. It was the last one I tried on and I immediately knew it was the one. My Mom and Maid of Honor were with me and they agreed. Of course, my mom cried so that was the best sign that this was the one.

Today is the last day to order from my Tastefully Simple online party in case anyone is interested. I would be so appreciative if anyone decides to order. You can Click Here to order online.

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Family Time Friday

Nothing really all that new this week but I thought I would share these pics of Eric and Ben. They are a couple of my favorites:

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Family Time Friday

This past Sunday it was kinda yucky outside and it was really cold so we decided to try an indoor playground that we've heard of. It's called the Great Escape and it's in Glastonbury if there are any other CT readers out there. Ben loved it! He had such a blast!

They have a huuuuuge playscape area for kids and they have a smaller area for little kids. Small kids can go in the larger playscape with a parent, too. They also have quite a few arcade games and skee ball and other games. The place was a little run down and there were quite a few arcade games that were out of order, but all in all the place was really fun. We're thinking about having Ben's 2nd birthday party here.

Here are some pics of the day:

He thought he was driving the car.

About to go down the slide.

His favorite game is the basketball. He kept going back to it and saying "Dunk it! Dunk it!" He actually made a few baskets, too!

He tried so hard to play Skee-Ball but he just couldn't roll the ball hard enough to get it up the ramp. It kept rolling back to him.

He loooves the slide!

He also had a blast in the ball pit. Eric kept throwing him in and he was laughing so hard!

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Family Time Friday/Dear Kid Saturday

Since yesterday was Halloween, I wasn't able to post the usual Family Time Friday post. Instead, I'm combining Dear Kid Saturday with Family Time Friday this week.

Dear Kid Saturdays at Cutest Kid Ever

Dear Ben,

We had a good time this week. First, we took Frankie on a long walk on the trail near our house. We probably walked about a mile and a half and you wanted to walk almost the entire way even though we brought your stroller just in case. You and Frankie were quite the pair. Daddy had to keep running after you. We could barely keep up!

I couldn't believe that you actually walked all that way all by yourself! You sure were tired when we got home. You and Frankie were both out for the count when we got home. Next month we're going to Disney World for 2 weeks so I hope this was an indication of how you'll do while you're there.

Daddy got some more video of you dancing this week. Of course, it's to Hi-5. It seems like each week you have a different favorite song. Last week it was "Wainbow" (a.k.a. Colors). Before that it was "Fishy" (a.k.a. Underwater Discovery). Now we're on to "Wetht" (a.k.a. North South East and West). It doesn't seem to truly matter, though, as long as it's Hi-5 that you're listening to. Here you are shaking your booty to "Wetht" as you call it with your cute little boy lisp.



Halloween was yesterday and Daddy picked out your costume this year. You went as Yoda from Star Wars. You were so darn cute! We almost changed our minds, though when we saw your mustache after eating your chocolate frosted doughnut yesterday morning. You looked like a villain from an old movie with a curly handlebar mustache! LOL!

Here's what you really looked like, though. You were so cute! We went over to Grammy's house because she has a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating. Auntie Ronell, Uncle Jon and Jacob and Lucas met us there also so we could all go together.

Jacob was dressed up as Shrek. He looked so cute, too! You didn't think so, though. As soon as you caught site of that mask you completely freaked out! I think you did a double take at first and then you started screaming and hiding your face. You had a death grip on me! I tried to show you that it wasn't real, that it was just a mask, but you just weren't having it.




Last year you were too young to go out trick or treating but this year we figured we'd give it a try. At first, you were really shy with people. You didn't want to say trick or treat, but you definitely wanted the candy. Once you had the candy, you didn't want to put it in your bag! You wanted to either eat it right away or hold it in your hand. Finally, Daddy convinced you that if you put the candy in the bag you get to go get more. After the first few houses you started getting the hang of it and started walking by yourself and saying Hi and Thank You. Of course, the only time you said "Trick or Treat" was either before the person came to the door, or when you were walking away from the house. That's ok, though. You're still little. You'll get it next year. You were so cute!



Today, we decided to go to the playground at the park down the road. Daddy had taken you there earlier this week and told me how you learned to go down the big slide all by yourself. As soon as we told you we were going to the park you got all excited saying "Side, Side!" (slide, slide!).





You also had a blast pretending you were driving a big truck. You kept going "Vroom, vroom! Beep Beep!"

We really had a great week. You're just so cute, kiddo! We'll see what happens this week.

I love you to pieces!
Love,
Mommy

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