Thursday, July 21, 2011

Two cute videos . . .

So, we had our friends over for dinner tonight. Bennett and Logan ended up getting pretty silly after we finished eating. Thought I'd catch a little of it on video for posterity and future embarrassment opportunities!



In the video above, they're trying to get the phone plugged in. Bennett calls a cell phone a "lo lo?" as if he's saying, "Hello? Hello?". He also calls Logan "Lolo". We've got to work on expanding his vocabulary a little bit.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

he tastes delicious

This was taken at an outdoor concert yesterday afternoon. The band that was playing was the Johann Strauss Orchestra and Bennett devoured every second of the music. He sat at the front of the audience (on very warm concrete!) and quietly watched each of the instrumentalists. Then he wanted to dance with me. A lot. I don't mind - he's a great partner.

Our friend Mary snapped this photo before we went up to the stage. We were sitting at the back with several of our other friends from the Buffalo Mothers Group (our playgroup) and enjoying some snacks in the shade. I couldn't resist a little nibble and didn't realize that Mary had caught us!

Friday, July 15, 2011

the volunteer

About a month ago, Bennett and I signed up to be "friendly visitors" at a local Center for Aging. I thought it would be nice for the two of us to get out and do something good since we have all this free time in the afternoons.

We had our first volunteer session yesterday. We went for about an hour so that I could gauge how well Bennett would handle it. It took him a little while to warm up to some of the folks, but in general - we had a good time. He loved wearing a nametag, which surprised me. I figured he would rip it right off!

We walked down the halls looking for large gathering spots to chat with residents. While we were in one spot, the fire alarm rang . . . and kept ringing. But no one moved. It was the most bizarre and un-natural thing I've ever experienced. Bennett didn't seem to mind the noise, though, which was good. So, we sat in a dining room and chatted with the folks who were there, including one of the employees who gave Bennett an apple to eat.

As we were walking out, we ran into a couple of gentlemen who were riding in their wheelchairs headed back to their rooms, which were across the hall from each other. One reached out a hand and asked Bennett for a high five. Bennett obliged and continued to give this fella high fives! Then we had to leave - but I think this will easily be something we try to do each week. Bennett will develop a whole new crowd of admirers!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

i don't know what this means . . .

I started digging into the info that "blogger" gives me about this blog. (I know, Ben, I should know what all this means, but I don't. Educate me!) What I found was a section that tells me how people find this blog to read. The expected searches: Blythe Allman, Blythe Erlandson Allman, Blythe Blog about Bennett, etc. The one that caught me off guard? "hermanda hir er manda" What the heck does that mean? And how in the world does it lead one to my blog? Riddle me that, y'all.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Recent events

It seems we have begun to enter the Terrible Twos here in the Allman household. Our sweet little fella has begun to discover his will. In a big way. Tonight's battle was where to sit for dinner. I couldn't understand his screeching request, so I tried everything: his highchair - "NOOO", his rocking chair - "NOOOOOO", sitting on my lap in my chair - "NOOOOOO - udderone". Huh? I then sat him in my chair by himself and sat myself in the "other one" and tears dried up immediately. He ate two whole slices of pizza, the second one did not get cut up (!) and he was happy as a clam.

We went to my dad's mother's family reunion over the Fourth of July weekend (p.s. Happy Canada day, northern family!) and Bennett had a great time bonding with his cousins. He enjoyed swimming in the pool the most and was quite disappointed when we would not allow him to walk on the picnic table on our third story deck. Seriously? Does he think I've got a death wish for him??? He ate marzetti (an old family recipe), homemade ice cream ("Mores, mores, MORES!!!"), and shared his toys so nicely with his older cousin Eloise.

After that weekend, we traversed across the mountains to stay with my parents in NC for a week. More swimming - and this time he decided to go solo. That's right, folks. Bennett walked out into chest deep water and picked up his feet! Granted, he was wearing his flotation device, but that kid wanted to swim and he did. Next thing we knew he was chanting, "dock, dock, dock" and walked out onto the dock. After watching Gunkle Ben dive off the board a few times, Bennett decided he wanted to try it out himself. I dove in and waited in the water at the end of the diving board and Brian helped Bennett practice jumping. And then, voila, the boy was in my arms under the water. I had stupidly forgotten to take a flotation device for myself, but was quickly rescued by my knight of a husband and my brother. "Mores, mores, MORES!" the wee one cried. I got an inner tube to prepare for more catching and Bennett climbed the dock ladder to jump right back in. He probably jumped in about ten times.

I was quite proud of how well he traveled on our way home as well. We only had to stop three times, so our trip ended up being just under 11 hours long. Wheee! Unfortunately, our "elmo" disc had been scratched to pieces, so Brian and I had to try to sing the songs ourselves. I'm not so good at Elmo's voice. Sigh.

We're back to quasi-normal now. Oma is here to help out because I had a second job interview this afternoon. I'm supposed to learn early next week whether or not I got the job. Keep your fingers crossed please!

Pics of all these adventures soon.