Like Father, Like Son

So, this past week, I had the first experience of Ben truly inheriting a specific quirk from his father.  Since I've known Hector, he's always like to have his back scratched/touched.  He always asks me, "please touch my back".  Strange I know.  Doesn't even really care if I scratch it, just as long as I touch it.  And sometime, he's almost panicky about it, not taking no for an answer.

Well, the other night, I was putting Ben to sleep in his big boy bed.  We're moving from the rocking stage to the put your self to sleep stage.  I told him to lay down, which he did.  I sat there next to his bed singing.  Within seconds, he said "back".  I waited.  He said it again.  So I started lightly rubbing his back.  Then after a few minutes, I stopped.  Immediately he says "back", with a major emphasis on the "ck"!  So I did it again.  Then I stopped again, long after he should have fallen asleep, and I hear "back" again!  This time I told him no, that he needed to go to sleep, and he proceeded to try to rub his own back!  Oh my goodness, he is his father's son!  It warmed my heart and made me smile.  I couldn't resist it.  I rubbed his back until he went to sleep!  Right now it's so incredibly cute.  In a few years, it may drive me nuts having two back rubbing crazies in my house! :)

Willy the Wilcat

Last weekend we went to see Sav at ACU in Freshman Follies.  She did great!  While we were there, we decided to catch the football game.  Caleb had never been to a college football game and wanted to go.  We had a great time, hector, me, caleb and ben.  Ben loved it!  Surprise surprise.  He loves football too!  Except he doesn't say football.  He says spit ball.  But he really spits.  I'll post video soon to show you.  It's hilarious.  Anyway, he watched as ACU killed the other team by 40 points at the half.  They are really good this year.  In the third quarter, Willy the Wildcat decided to come into the stands to take a picture with us.  Ben was in awe.  He didn't really want to touch him when he was a round, but the minute he started to leave, Ben wanted to follow him.  He kept saying, "where wiyyi?" over and over.  I finally went down to the front row to get Willy's attention.  He came over and said hi again.  Ben was so excited.  Since then, there hasn't be much talk about the blue dot.  Now it's all about Willy!  "where wiyyi".  "wiyyi home"  "wiyyi ni ni".  So now I need to track down a wildcat stuffed animal to get Ben for his birthday.  That should be easier to find than a blue dot!  More fun memories with our sweet son!

Time with Granny

Now a days, it seems like every day with Ben is something fun and special.  He has developed such a personality and he is now saying three word sentences!  I can't believe it.  It's like he's become this little boy overnight.  We're about to start potty training!  Crazy!

Well, the other day, we had an extra special morning.  Ben and I dropped Hector off at work and went to see Granny at the Waterford.  Typically, Ben is pretty apprehensive when we're there, but this day, he was a riot!  He was all smiles and was playing with Granny so well.  She was thrilled.  I actually got a little choked up over it.  Granny has played such a special role in my life, and I'm so thankful that Ben is getting to spend time with her.  Fortunately, I captured some sweet memories of this morning on camera!

Blue Dot Bye Bye?

So a couple of months ago, we bought tickets to a Ranger game, even though it really wasn't in our budget, because the kid promotion for the game was a chest protector backpack. One we knew Ben had to have! So a couple of weeks ago, we weathered the heat to sit through this afternoon game. The first few innings were brutally hot, but it was all worth it because Ben had his backpack and was very proud of it. It was bigger than he was, as you'll see in the pictures, but it was so cute on him. As the innings went by, the weather got cooler. We were having a great time. A couple of Hector's friends from Crowley came with us. They bought Ben a foam finger and a batters helmet! He loved the foam finger especially!

Then the 7th inning came, and so did the dot race. Ben was sitting in my lap, and I started to root for the blue dot, like I always do. Ben started cheering with me... "Go Blue". Blue won the race! And then all the dots left the field. This was very disturbing to Ben. I kid you not, for the rest of the game, "Blue? Blue? Blue bye bye?" Over and over again. I don't think he saw another ball pitched. He kept pointing to the back entrance that they ran out of. Even driving away from the ballpark he was adamant about going back to see blue. We had to explain to him that the game was over and blue went night night.

So now, two weeks later, he still wants to know where blue is. We've shown him the dot race on youtube several times to appease him. If only there were a blue dot stuffed doll. He would be in heaven!

Tuesday was Ben's first day of school, and he wore his Ranger backpack. It's about the cutest picture I've ever seen. I'll post it as soon as I figure out how to sinc my new phone!

Back to Sanity

I can't believe it's been three months since I've written an update. The summer was great but it completely got me out of my routine. Dishes went undone, laundry stayed dirty, refrigerator was empty, and my blog went unupdated! But we had fun. June through mid July was the busiest our lives have been in years. Trip after trip, and camp after camp. Finally in August we got some down time. Just enough for Hector and I to remember why we both don't stay home all year! We were about ready to lovingly kill each other!

So here goes my update! Over the past three months, Ben has grown so much! He is no longer anemic, thank goodness. He is right on track with his words. Newest additions include pen, paper, chips, outside and glove. His favorites are hot, cold, ball, bat, glove, and ouch! He can also call most of my family by name: dada, mama, yaya, nana, mimi, angie, KK, and sassa (for sassy). Now we just need to work on Hector's family.

He loves baseball as much as he ever did, and he's getting better at it. He now has all the proper equipment - balls, bats, gloves, batters gloves, batters helmets and bases. Notice all of those words are plural. He has more than one of each! He also has mastered the slide. So now every time he hits the ball, he slides and waits for us to call him safe. He chooses to watch baseball over cartoons every time. He also mimicks both the batter and pitcher perfect. He adjusts his helmet, does practice swings, taps the plate, and spits just like the batter! And he holds his glove, hikes his leg, throws and scratches his face with the glove just like the pitcher. It's amazing how observant he is!

He's also moved into a big boy bed. Actually, we converted his crib into a big boy bed. We had to after the 3rd or 4th time he climbed out of the crib and came running into the den. It was a rocky transition. He kept waking up and coming into our room. Finally, we had to put a baby gate on his bedroom door and let him scream it out. More than one night, he actually slept on the floor by the gate after he fell asleep screaming. We felt like such bad parents, but we had to do it for his sanity and ours! Now he still get's up occassionally, but it takes him much less time to go back to sleep. The only problem is, he's established a new wake up time of 6AM. A little early for mom, but at least it gets my day started bright and early!

Another fun thing this summer, Ben learned how to swim. He took 9 swim lessons over 11 weeks (we missed 2) and whoa-la, he can swim. He can hold his breath for 10 seconds under water and swim about 10 feet. It is really cool! He used to hate getting splashed and now we have to put him in time out for jumping in without us being ready.

He has such a great personality. He's pretty intense like his mom, especially when he's playing softball. He's beginning to show signs of the terrible twos. He's developed a growl that he uses when he's really mad. He uses it alot when I won't give him chips, his favorite food right now. If it were up to him, that's all he would ever eat. He loves wrestling with his dad, and working out with mom (who is currently doing P90x!) He does a great push up. It's so cute. When he gets tired of me working out, he crawls underneath my pushup or upward dog if it's yoga!

He starts school next week, so I can't wait to see how much more he develops. It's been so hot this summer we've been stuck inside or in the pool. Can't wait to head back out to the park. Hopefully, the temps will cool down soon.

I don't have any pics because my computer crashed and this is a new one. But I'll post them from Hector's computer when I get a chance.

One last update - Hector's teaching at Bailey Junior High in Arlington!!! Praise God. We are so excited. He had his first day yesterday and it went great. He works exactly 3 minutes from our house. What a nice change from the 30 minute commute last year. Ben and I are so excited to get to support the Bailey Rams! We're very proud of our husband/dad!

Ben's on Track

So Early Childhood Intervention came on Tuesday to assess Ben's progress in verbal, social, and motor skills. The main reason they came was for verbal, but they always do all three when they come. Anyway, they told us what we already knew. Ben is just fine. Praise God.

For social and verbal skills, he scored like a 17 month old. For fine motor, he was a little behind (this includes drawing, etc), but for gross motor, he was way ahead (his baseball skills). For cognitive, he actually scored like a 22 month old. So basically, he is aware of everything and knows a lot for his age, something else we already knew! :) They told us to try to spend more time letting him draw and color to work on his fine motor skills. The problem is right now he has no interest in it. But we'll keep trying. For verbal skills, they told us to make sure Ben is looking at us when we talk to him. They said he is very focused and intense when he's doing something and tends to not look at people. They said that a child's verbal skills develop a lot by seeing your lips move. Very interesting. Anyway, because Ben was a preterm baby, a small delay is expected, so they weren't worried at all. They said that he does animals sounds that a lot of 2 year olds don't do, and they expect him to develop drastically in the next couple of months.

I can't wait! But I also want everything to slow down! Today, he said "hot" and "nose" for the first time. They told me his vocabulary will be expanding daily. Crazy! Since my last blog entry, he also started saying "mo" for remote when he wants to watch his shows, and he uses it adamantly!

He's also started a nightly wrestling routine with his dad. It is priceless. He jumps on Hector like he's trying to pin him. I'll have to get it on video. For such a mellow sweet kid, he's one mean wrestler. Hector has the marks to prove it! :) He's 100% boy, that's for sure!

I'm just as thankful as ever for my awesome men. And I'm extra thankful tonight that our concerns about Ben's development are now layed to rest. To God be the glory!

Look Who's Talking!

Last month I took Ben in for his 18 month check up. Everything went great, except the doctor was a little concerned about how much he was talking. She asked me how many words he was saying. I said, he says "gugar" for sugar, "ba" for ball, and ocassionally will refer to me and hector as ma ma and da da. But that everything else was either that strange sound he makes in the back of his throat or "da". I asked how many words he should be saying, and she said 15-18. Needless to say, he was not even close to that.

So she recommended we have someone from Early Childhood Intervention come out to do a home assessment of his verbal skills. She said while they were there they would also assess his motor and social skills. I'm not at all concerned about motor, but verbal and social I was definitely curious about. She said that if they found that Ben needed any speech therapy or any other support, it would be free through AISD. So we set up an appt that was supposed to happen last Thursday. But Ben was really sick all week so we had to reschedule it for next Tuesday.

Well, I guess he doesn't like the thought of being assessed, because since his 18 month check up, which was almost 4 weeks ago, his vocabulary has expanded a bit. He now says "no" "mo" for more, "ba" for bat, "uice" for juice, "yaya", "nana", "sassa" for Savannah, "uh oh", "bye bye", "side" for outside and "be" for Fresh Beat Band. I'm tempted to cancel the appointment, but I'm going to keep it just to see what they think. It's so cool to see how quickly he's developing. It's also freaking me out a little!

For the Love of Baseball

OK, so Ben has taken his love for baseball to a totally new level. We were at Hector's softball game a couple of weeks ago, and he was just as plugged in as ever. He watched the the whole game. When they were finished playing, Ben insisted that Hector give him a bat and let him hit the ball. He did that for about 20 minutes until Hector had to pick him up and put him in his carseat... with the bat.

Hector went out with the guys, and Ben and I went home. For the next three hours Ben reenacted the softball game. Everything around him was either a ball or a bat. At first I didn't realize what he was doing. He started swinging his shape sorter around and kept hitting his shapes with it. Then when we got in the bath, he used two toothbrushes as a bat and his bath toy as a ball. I would hold the toy like a tee ball, and he would hit it out of my hand. This went on for almost an hour. When I made him get out of the bath, he picked up his recorder, as a bat, and used a megablock as a ball. I don't know how his arms weren't exhausted!

Well that was a couple of weeks ago, and he's still at it. He's used batteries, sticks, forks, pens, you name it as bats. It's like he sees everything through baseball eyes! Every time we go outside, he wants to play. He actually tried to hit weeds out of my hand today! We've been to two more games since then, and he's just as plugged in. Everyone thinks he is so cute! They can't believe how advanced he is. We're looking at putting him in a class called Lil' Sluggers. They start teaching kids the fundamentals of baseball at 2! We'll wait and see if he loves it then as much as he does now! If so, that class will be a must!

Swing Batter Batter!

Ben and I went to see Hector play softball last Thursday night, and it was about the sweetest thing I've ever seen! It was the first time that I've really seen Ben want to be just like daddy. He was plugged into the whole game. For the first few innings, he just starred at the field and didn't move. He watched every play. Then he started yelling and clapping. Most of his yelling happened to take place right before the opponents would swing... oops! I was afraid the ump was going to say something. And every time Hector would walk on and off the field, Ben would wave and/or yell at him. It was so sweet.

Then in the second to the last inning, he wanted to get down. I thought, that's it, he's done. He's tired of watching. But he wasn't. He just wanted to get down so he could stand on the bleacher, with one leg propped on the step in front of him (just like his daddy does) and cheer even louder. It was so precious, and no one was there to see it but me! There were times during the game when he would take my hand and point to different players on the field so that I would explain to him what they were doing. I couldn't believe he was really comprehending the game. I had a major mother moment. I almost started crying.

So after the game, Hector gave Ben a bat and he started swinging it and hitting the ball like it was a hockey puck. He loved it! He didn't want to leave. He started crying when Hector picked him up and made him get in the car. The next day, Hector set up a bases outside in the driveway and started pitching to Ben. He's got a ways to go, but I think he's off to a good start.

Easter Fun

This year, Easter was so much fun with Ben. He is at such a neat age. Every day he seems to develop more of a personality. A couple of weeks before Easter, Mom, Ben and I went to the Dallas Arboretum with Noah, Ellie and her Mom. We had a ball. The boys had so much fun running around and playing together. I think Ben’s favorite was the petting zoo! He didn’t really want to pet any of the animals. For him, it should have been call the starring zoo! That’s all he did is stare at them. But he sure cried when we left. That’s actually when we knew he was really enjoying himself! We tried to get his face painted, but he was having none of it! We also got his picture taken with a live bunny. I thought he would love it! Not so much. As you can see in the pictures, he was doing his best not to touch it. But we got some cute pictures anyway!

We also decided to try dying Easter eggs this year. We thought it would be a disaster, but it worked out great! Ben did awesome. He definitely got his hands dyed too, but that’s about it. He didn’t try to pick up the cups and he handled the eggs very carefully. I was so glad we did it. The only problem is, the other day I got eggs out to make corn bread, and he cried for the eggs! Uh oh.

Easter egg hunting was not really Ben’s deal. His mellow self came shining through. He had more fun watching everyone else. I think Jesse put more eggs in Ben’s basket than Ben did! He sure looked cute doing it though! Easter is the one time of year we splurge on a nice Sunday outfit for Ben! He was totally decked out this year.

NYC

A couple of weeks ago, Savannah, Ben and I went to see Meredith and Serge in NYC. I was a little concerned about going that far without Hector, and it definitely posed some challenges, but overall we had a ball. Five people cramped in a 600 sq/ft apartment was definitely a little crowded but Mere and Serge were very hospitable and let us have the bedroom. We ate just about every kind of food possible. It was all wonderful! We saw where Meredith worked. We let Ben play in one of the big city parks. He had a blast!

Savannah and I got to go see the Lion King and Mary Poppins on Broadway! It was awesome! Dad knew the guy that manages all facilities for Disney on the East coast, so we got great tickets for free! TO Lion King, we were on the 5th row center. To Mary Poppins, we got to sit in one of those box suite things. It was awesome! Savannah thought she had died and gone to heaven! They were both incredible shows! Aunt Mimi and Uncle Serge spent some quality time with Ben while we were out!

We also got to go back to where Hector grew up in Harlem. The weather almost kept us from getting there, but we were determined. When we finally got to Grant’s tomb, a memorial where Hector always went growing up, Ben was sounds asleep! But not for long! We promised daddy we would get some good pictures, so we woke Ben up. And of course, he woke up happy and was a perfect angel the rest of the afternoon. After Grant’s tomb, we went by his old apartment. Columbia University bought it and totally renovated it. You would never know by looking at his street that it was in Harlem. Now, a couple of streets over, a different story! It was really neat to take Ben to the place that Hector grew up. I can’t wait for Hector to come with us next time. That will be even more special!

Anyway, it was a great week with great memories made. Thanks Mere and Serge for an awesome trip! And thanks Sav for all your help with Ben. And thanks ITunes for having Fresh Beat Band for Ben to watch on the plane ride!

A Great Weekend with Friends

The Thomas's came in town this weekend from Stephenville. It's the first time they've been back as a family since they moved in November. The Williams and the Santiagos met them at the Botanical Gardens on Saturday for a picnic lunch. Savannah and Blaire came too. It was a great time. The kids had a ball, and the weather was beautiful! It actually felt like Spring. Savannah, Ellie and I all ended up sun burnt, but oh well, it was worth it. Thank goodness I put sunscreen on Ben.

That night, we left the kids with grandparents, and we went to Chuy's for dinner. As much as we love our children, it was so nice to have adult time. Then Sunday, they came over for lunch and Katie cut Ben's hair. He desperately needed a haircut and Katie did an excellent job. I told her she has to come in town at least every other month to cut Ben's hair.

Sunday night we had YFM, and all the kids were together. It was such a blessing to see the great kids Ben's getting to grow up with. And the wonderful relationships we're forming with the couples in the group. Zimmermans, Morans, Williams, Medinas, Thomas's, and Brauds, and Belts (along with others who weren't there) - you hold a very special place in our hearts. Thank you for helping the Santiagos grow in our mission to glorify God as a family in all that we do! We can't wait to continue the journey together!

God, thank you for friends. Thank you for the friends you've put in Hector's and my life, and the friends you've put in Ben's life. Thank you for sweet memories and every day I get to spend with my two special men! I am completely unworthy, but eternally grateful!