Bennett has mastered crawling on his hands and knees. No more army crawl for him. So that means that he is fast! And when I say fast, I mean don't turn your back for a second because he will be in the dog bowl fast. This morning I was getting ready for work and Bennett was playing on floor in our bedroom. Next thing I know he was in the kitchen. Man, he's fast.
With all this extra movement he sure has worked up an appetite. Today was the first day we added lunch to his day. He has been eating solids for breakfast and dinner. For the last week he has gobbled up his food so I thought he could use an extra meal. Sure enough, he ate it all up. Luckily, I make all of Ben's food so we aren't going broke buying all the over priced baby food. Seems like just yesterday I was fretting over his first bite of rice cereal.
Over the weekend Ben also added pulling himself up to his repertoire of things he can do. Needless to say, Papa lowered his crib. It seems like we may have to lower it some more because he can still pull himself up. He likes practicing his new moves right before bed.
Right now, Ben is spending his days with Eric. Tom is headed to West Virginia to do some hiking and rock climbing with Jakub for three weeks. Luckily, Eric was able to get the time off of work. He is loving his days at home with Ben, even if they are filled with chasing Ben around the house.
His first day home was a true test. I had decided to give Ben some prunes in the morning because he was a little backed up. He hadn't had prunes before but I knew they would get things moving. Boy, did I underestimate the power of prunes. While at work, I got a text message from Eric to call him ASAP. I was worried and immediately called him. Apparently, the prunes caused quite a blow out. Ben was crawling along and leaving a "trail of poop." I was laughing hysterically as Eric is telling me this. "I didn't know what to do with him. I put him in the bath tub but I didn't know where to start." Poor, Papa. Everything got cleaned up and we all learned a valuable lesson that day: use prunes sparingly.
All in all I'm enjoying Bennett's new found mobility, I just wish we didn't have so much furniture with sharp edges.
Busy, busy, busy. That's the best way I can describe my little Bear. In a very short time he has become quite mobile. He went from army crawling to full on crawling in about a month. Now he is perfecting pulling himself up on things. He finally learned that once he has pulled himself up that it may not be a good idea to let go. It only took about a half dozen falls before he learned that one. It's a wonder that I haven't had a heart attack yet. The past few days he has started to only hold on with one hand while standing up. He using the other hand to grab toys, empty drawers, etc. Bennett's favorite game is to play in the dog's water bowl. Every chance he gets, he bee-lines into the kitchen and starts splashing. We are working diligently to break that habit. So far Bennett is winning. He still doesn't have any teeth. I keep saying any day now they will poke through but after saying that for months, I have resolved myself to the fact that those teeth aren't going to make an appearance any time soon. I can't say that I'm disappointed. The longer he doesn't have teeth the better! Bennett has been spending the last three weeks at home with his Papa. They have loads of fun while I go to work. Luckily, my schedule is so flexible that we've been able to spend some quality time together. I have to say that I kind of like having Eric be a stay at home Daddy. Too bad the pay stinks : ) As Bennett gets older, his little personality comes out more and more. He is a happy, out going little man. He loves meeting new people. We haven't seen any signs of stranger anxiety, yet. He keeps us smiling with his babbling and howling. We call him our little howler monkey. If he wants your attention, he sure know how to get it. I see little bouts of frustration. I don't know if it's just his age or a sign of things to come. I do know one thing for sure, our little man is fearless! I can only pray that he will not be an extreme sport enthusiast. I say it everytime...I can't believe how fast time is going by. I was looking at pictures of Bennett from a few months ago the other day. It feels like I blinked and now he is 8 months old. He went from a "blob" to a this: 
in no time at all. But each day it just gets better.
