On a roll

The little guy is 6 months. How quickly the time goes. Not long ago he was just a bundle of joy; now he's a BIG bundle of joy that is mobile!

Ben has mastered the art of rolling. He sees something - a toy, his bottle, the cats (he LOVES the cats, but they aren't quite sure they love him back yet) - and rolls his way to it. Sometimes he gets stuck and lets out a little distress call, but more often than not he does what he needs to do. Daddy is quite sure that Ben will skip crawling all together and just start walking some day, but I think it's still very possible that crawling is in the near furture.

Another favorite activity of Ben's is EATING. He loves his new teething biscuits that daddy got him from Whole Foods -- only problem is they make a huge mess. Ben also loves eating avacado's, cucumbers, strawberries, melon, spinach, yogurt, Farina, and macarroni and beef. With almost 4 teeth in (4th one is breaking through any day), he'll no doubt be eating "real" meals soon. I think he's just trying to show off and be bigger than every other kid his age -- he's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight! 28 inches long - the nurse had to measure him twice because she couldn't believe he'd grown so much in just two months - and weighing in at 19 lbs 5.5 ounces. Big boy!

Of course, after eating so much, and making such a mess, Ben loves to get a bath. It's fun to see his reaction when you say "it's bath time" and then bring him into the bathroom. He immediately starts kicking and his eyes get big with anticipation. Daddy is usually the one to give Ben his bath, and I think it's Ben's favorite time of day. He splashes, laughs, plays with lots of toys (thanks to Grandma Joyce!), and squeals with delight. He especially loves it when Daddy takes the shower head to rinse Ben off because Ben likes to grab it. Big smiles all around.

Along with some of his usual squeals, Ben has added to his language with a few "la la la's" and his new thing is grunting/growling from time to time -- I think he picked that up from his cousin Anne when she visited for Christmas! What is that saying ... imitation is a form of flatery?? We are all looking forward to visitng cousin Anne and family for Anne's first birthday in February. Ben will have lots of little playmates to play with; should be fun to watch. :)

Ben is such a fun kid. Being first-time parents Steve and I take plenty of pictures, so make sure to check out website at http://iammartino.schultzofsavoy.net/index.html from time to time to see new pictures.