It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like.....

He's a Boy! A Real Boy!

I always think about that line from Pinocchio when I think about how much Bennett is growing and learning. He's becoming less helpless newborn and more capable boy (albeit a small one)!

Here are some things he's doing right now:

• Trying to get through the long list of vegetables before we move on to fruits
• Reaching for the dog every chance he gets. Ollie is both interested and unnerved by this, so I keep a close eye on their interactions.
• Sitting at the table in his high chair. This is still new and exciting. The problem is that he just gets to sit there and watch us eat food he can't have. :-) Sometimes he expresses his displeasure over this!
• Playing in the Johnny Jump-Up. HE LOVES IT!
• Starting to play the "drop things on purpose" game. This I could do without. :-)
• Saying a few consonant/vowel sounds. It's not quite "da da", but we'll call it "ta da" (which Jason claims) and something that sounds very esssssy but I can't quite describe it.
• Continuing to soak all his clothing and anything he gets his hands on in spit. Uggh.
• Sitting unassisted for long periods of time. It's hard, though, because we get used to him doing this well but then sometimes look over to find him toppled over on his face. 
• Manipulating my hands to play peek-a-boo or pat-a-cake. This is always so fascinating to me. At this stage, babies can't bring their own hands together to clap, but they know enough about the movement to do it with the aid of mom or dad's hands.

And here are some recent pics.

A Hodgepodge Picture Post

The blog has been a little Bennett-centric lately, so I thought I'd catch you up on a few things related to Bailey and Nolan. Don't worry, there's a few pics of Bennett in here, too. :-)

These cuties recently put on their best "restaurant" clothes - Nolan was the waiter and Bailey was the chef - and served us dinner, complete with handmade menus, table decorations, and music. Of course, they had to draw the line somewhere so I actually made the meal, but I didn't complain. The funny part is that I happened to make Cornish game hens that night, but the menu listed "hen meat" as the main dish. Somehow, that didn't sound quite as appetizing....

We FINALLY received the results of Bailey's 3rd grade statewide testing. You may remember this test was administered the week before Bennett was born. However, that was the week of his due date so Bailey was incredibly anxious about the possibility of having to miss either her tests or her brother's birth! :-) Fortunately, brother was 6 days late, so her concern was moot. Anyway, I'm so proud of her. In math, she missed only 2 questions on the entire test, putting her in the 95th percentile nationally. I told her that she needs to realize that I will no longer be able to help her in math after this year as I unfortunately was not blessed with the math gene. She also performed extremely well in Reading/Language and is reading on a 6.8 reading level.

Halloween was fun. Bailey wanted to be something SCARY this year. I suggested several options, and this is the final product. A head on a platter. Yeah.......

Bennett was a mouse in a mousetrap. How cute is this? Between Bailey's and Bennett's costumes, we were quite the spectacle walking around the neighborhood trick-or-treating.

Nolan wasn't interested in a homemade costume and was happy to be an "Army" as he told everyone. Not a soldier or Army man.....just Army.

Both the kids' parent-teacher conferences went well. I was a bit worried about Nolan's, as I'd been contacted by the teacher earlier in the year due to the fact that he'd been crying in school. He apparently had a hard time transitioning from his homeroom to another teacher's room for flex groups. Almost every day, he'd start crying for either me or Jason. We both think he was having trouble with his work in his flex group, but didn't know how to express that or ask for help. Anyway, we think we're over that hurdle, but I went into his conference not knowing if he was struggling in other areas of school. I was so pleased to hear wonderful things about our little guy. I think he'll have more school-related challenges than Bailey ever has, but it sounds like he's on the right track. Love him.

Bailey's teacher was also highly complimentary of her on both an academic and social level. She said she was excited to watch Bailey achieve great things in school and in life. Again, my kids are far from perfect, but it's nice to know that they know how to work hard and behave when they are in school. At home is sometimes a different story! :-) I don't have a pic of anything related to Bailey's conference, so I'll post her school pic instead.

That's it for now!

Sight Word Mania!

Nolan's been working very hard to learn the first 10 sight words given to his class. While it was difficult for him, he worked a little each night to get through the list. He is so proud of himself so I haven't yet told him that a new list will come home soon!

Here's a video of him demonstrating his sight word knowledge. I had to trim it down quite a bit for this post, but this is enough for you to see how his orneriness finds its way into the exercise. What can I say? He's his father's son.

Happy Half-Birthday, Bennett!

Little B is officially 6 months old! Aunt Pat says he is the "changingest" baby she's seen, so I better update this more regularly lest he look like a different baby with each post. :-)

Here's what he's doing now:

• Sitting: He can sit on his own for longer periods of time. He seems to want to move around more, but just can't quite coordinate all his limbs and his mid-section.

• Rolling: He still only rolls from front to back and even this is rare. He just isn't a roller. That may change, I don't know.

• Eating: He's had cereal, peas, sweet potato, carrots, and squash. He hasn't disliked anything, but has recently had some painful constipation so we're cutting out the cereal for a bit.

• Playing: He LOVES Pat-a-Cake, although I don't really know the words. It seems everyone says a slightly different version so I don't know what's right! Regardless, we clap, sing, and roll. :-) He enjoys Peek-a-Boo, as well and never tires of the kids popping out from behind their hands, clothing, or even furniture! Something about Nolan's voice is hilarious to Bennett. Last night, B was laughing hysterically as Nolan said "foot hammer" over and over again. I'm not sure what a foot hammer is....

• Growing: At his 6 month appointment, he was 16 pounds and 6 oz., which is the 26th percentile. He was 27 inches long, which is the 60th percentile. Oh, and his head circumference is in the 70th percentile! As I say, big heads hold big brains! We have a hard time envisioning what a bay in the 100th percentile of weight would look like since we think our little Bennett is so plump....but clearly there are a lot of big babies out there!

• Talking: Bennett hasn't started using consonant/vowel sounds just yet, but he can be very vocal. Sometimes he just hollers....not in anger, just to hear his own voice.

Our Little Guy at (almost) 6 Months

This post is dedicated to a few new things in our world with a growing baby.

Look Mom, I'm Sitting Up!
Well, almost. Bennett is sitting up for short periods of time and I know he'll be doing it full-time before too long. Here he is one morning. As you can see, we hadn't even taken him out of his sleep sack.

And, When I Fall Down.....
Who needs to sit up when you can entertain yourself this way.

Just Call Me Baldy McBalderson
So, all my children were born with an insane amount of hair. Bennett, however, is the first one to lose most of his unruly locks. Both Bailey and Nolan got the inevitable bald spot from back-sleeping, and Nolan's hair got thin and changed colors, but Bennett's has actually fallen out before our eyes. What hasn't fallen out has turned blonde, save a patch of thick dark hair by his neck. Basically, his hair is a mess right now. :-) And yet,  he remains the cutest little thing we've ever seen.

I Can Read (Just Kidding)!

While he can't actually read, Bennett seems to like books and will concentrate on the pages. Bailey liked books, but I don't think Nolan EVER paid much attention to them. Even now, Nolan will get super excited about going to the library, but not about actually reading the books he checked out. :-) So, it is encouraging to me that Bennett is interested, at least for now!

Drool and Spit Up Galore
If he's not drooling, he's spitting up. Bailey was my massive drooler and Nolan spit up so much that I hesitated to let anyone hold him for fear of the inevitable projectile vomiting situation. He was a "happy spitter", meaning it didn't cause him any distress, which made it a laundry problem rather than GERD, which would have required medication. So, when I was pregnant, I hoped that this child wouldn't have either problem. The universe scoffed at my request and gave me a child with both...albeit a less severe case of each. Regardless, bibs are our friends.

Things I Like

• Inspecting, holding and/or playing with your hands. Sometimes I just stroke his palms while we're cuddling. Other times, I hold up one, two and three fingers and count while I'm doing so. He thinks this is pretty funny (for some reason!).
• Watching my new DVD. I picked up a Baby Einstein type video with music and Jeanne has played it for him several times. She says he is engrossed and kicks his legs to the beat. So cute!
• My brother and sister. He adores when Bailey hauls him around and when Nolan plays peek-a-boo. This child definitely gets his share of attention!

I've said it before and I'll say it again....I can't remember life before this guy came to bless us. He is just the BEST baby and I am so thankful for him. He brightens every day!

5 Months: Let's Eat!

The big news at the Cox home is that little Bennett has ventured into the world of eating! It's hard to believe that he's old enough to start solids, but he has been telling us he's ready for quite some time. And when I say "telling us he's ready" I mean he impatiently watches food go into our mouths at mealtime and yells at us or tries to grab it away from us. The kid is hungry!

Thus far, he's eaten rice cereal, carrots, sweet potatoes and peas. He seems to like it all, so I can't tell if he has a preference. Aside from the rice cereal, I have committed to making my own baby food. I've never done that before, but I've been trying to limit the processed foods the rest of us eat, so I figured the baby shouldn't be exempt from this effort. We'll see how long it lasts! What I remember from the other kids, though, is that the baby-baby food stage doesn't last that long so I feel like I can manage to keep him eating cleanly until the next transition to small finger foods.

Hungry boy! 

So excited to be sitting at the "big table."