Before I Forget

Sometimes I forget that part of the reason I started this blog is to help me remember things about Benny that I would probably otherwise forget. Since he's been quite active the past couple of days, I thought I should update some mundane - but important - memories.

We spend many mornings and afternoons at a little park a little less than a mile from our apartment. It's a fantastic park with lots of shade and a kiddie swing. Benny prefers to run around on the sidewalk but he has started exploring other areas of the park. A public building sits at the bottom of a hill. On particularly hot days, the air conditioner runs quite loudly. Benny, being the little bear that he is, felt very compelled to investigate. He took my hand and we walked slowly down the hill (he didn't quite know what to make of it). He loves the sound of the air conditioner. But, I digress. He has started running, an awkward little run that looks more like a shuffle but that is so incredibly adorable, and while running on the sidewalk, he fell and scraped his knee. His very first scraped knee. He cried for a bit, waited for me to pick him up, and then he was off again, on another miniature adventure.

After signing some basic sign language to him after about six months, I think he's finally catching on. We have a very limited vocabulary: eat, bath, light, more, all done, ball. Today I'm fairly certain that he signed "all done" when he was finished eating. It was a proud moment for me. And it encouraged me to continue signing.

As I wrote in an earlier post, he has taken to an old blanket as a security blanket. The blanket holds very special meaning to us because Nate's mom made it for him when he was a little boy. As my mom says, it's like Barb is giving Benny a hug every night. And I think she probably is. Recently, Benny has also taken to a special ball. His great aunt Barb made him the soft ball out of shirts that had belonged to Nate's Grandpa Roger and Grandma Mary. Benny looks for the ball when he's upset and wedges it in his neck so he can feel it on his cheek. It's very cute. And I suppose it's like his great grandparents are giving him a kiss.

And that's it for now. Hopefully I'll have more updates soon. Benny's getting so big and doing so many incredible things it's difficult to remember them all!