Seventeen Months Tomorrow!

There is some excitement on our street today.  I don't know exactly what is going on, but it involves trucks and Bobcats and construction workers visible out our windows.  I think they are replacing sidewalks.  To a certain 16 month old this is the neatest and most entertaining thing that could possibly happen.  And I love it.  I don't care that it is loud and that it is obstructing traffic in a minor way.  I have been able to do so much in peace today because of this.  And while we were out looking we ran into my neighbor who was babysitting her great-grand daughter who is Ben's age and we ended up having an impromptu playtime in her backyard with the kids and her friend who came over for coffee.  She has a staircase in her back yard because of a retaining wall and Ben thought it was the neatest thing he had ever seen.  Note...get a staircase in backyard...

 

Ben has been showing lots of interest in trucks, tractors, wheels, and that sort of thing lately.  It makes me wonder about the gender controversy that some people fixate on, like that family in Canada who decided that no one but the family would know if their baby was a boy or girl so they could let the individual decide what colors, toys, clothes, etc. that he or she liked.  The child's name is Storm, and I just looked it up.  He or she was born in 2011 and it seems that no one knows which it is yet.  Studies ask if the person you become has to do with biology or how you were raised.  I have to wonder if it is connected to biology at least partially.  Ben has toys and books about trucks but he also has toys that could be for boys or girls traditionally.  And I am always talking about kittens and puppies, having him help me water the flowers, and doing many other things that do not involve trucks with him.  When I think about it, I don't do much with him that involves trucks at all.   I would be doing the same things I do with him if he were a girl.  I guess what I am saying is that I don't constantly bombard him with trucks and "boy" toys and books but he still gravitates toward them and points at them.  It's really interesting.  And cute.  It's cute that he is showing interest in specific things, including trucks and of course his favorite balls!  He notices ball shaped items everywhere.  He calls the cherry tomatoes at the garden balls and when I get out the carton of blueberries he says "ball"!  Good observation Ben!  You are correct, those things are all basically balls.  

 

It is hard to believe he will be seventeen months old tomorrow.  He is a crazy little guy.  He has been throwing fits with more frequency lately, which is really annoying and sometimes funny but mostly annoying because anything can set him off. 

 

 

This was last week.  I took him out of his car seat and he wanted to climb back into the pickup, which is kind of tall for him to climb into so I pulled him out and shut the door.  That's it.  He was made and threw himself on the ground and started kicking and screaming, oblivious to the fact that he was half laying in a bed of rocks. 

 

He really loves clipping and unclipping the straps on his various chairs. 

 

Here he is playing with the stroller.  He really enjoys playing with the high chair straps and the ones on shopping carts.  It is annoying because he would rather play than sit in these chairs so getting him strapped in is always a wrestling match.

 

Some current Ben facts for posterity...I guess it is my version of the Pinterest photos where an artistic person writes this stuff on a chalkboard in various artsy fonts and takes a picture of the kid with it every month like this...

Disclaimer...not my photo or my kid...

 

-He likes to throw his own diaper away after a change. 

-He loves to eat hot dogs.  Yuck. 

-He really likes to snuggle with and carry around stuffed animals. 

-He still loves baths and also going to the pool. 

-He would spend all day outside if he could.  I am in trouble when winter comes.

-He is getting new teeth.  How many, it is hard to say, because it is impossible to get a good look in his mouth.  The half-a$$ed brushing effort we make every night is hard enough.