Went to Red Robin... got a balloon...

Date night is definately not what it used to be... We went to Red Robin tonight and Bennett had fun as usual, putting everything in his mouth, trying to snag french fries and bouncing the balloon they gave him... but he just wasn't quite ready to give up the balloon when night time came.

I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of him and his balloon.

Watch out Easter Bunny... He is practicing...

Bennett has a new favorite game... He has forever loved his pumpkin "basket" as we call it, he loves carrying it around empty and loves when I put stuff in it. We have been working on Bennett setting stuff in it or "Put it in the basket".

Today I went and got a bunch of colored ping pong balls and it is endless entertainment for him. They make a funny "plunk" sound in the bottom of his basket that is very rewarding... as is shaking all the ping pong balls out of the basket.

He is so fun now that he is communicating more and wanting to play more organized activities.

Hurlie's Heaven on Earth

We definately had a fun day at, count em, 3 parks... our first was a trip to Greenlake in Seattle with Bennett's girlfriends, Hadley and Charli, then we met our friends Ryan and Emily at a park near our house for a quick second and then we finished the day off with Daddy and our dog Hurlie. We found this park near our house that is pretty quiet this time of year, it is on Black Lake and we are sure it will be crowded this summer. It was a beautiful evening and I am pretty sure Hurlie had the best day she has had since we brought Bennett home, no offense Bennett :)

Bennett and Daddy played bubbles and rode his trike while watching Hurlie swim about a million times for her ball. What a great end to a beautiful day. One of many to come in the sunshine.

Hey there Slugger...

Bennett had a great Valentines Day partying with his friends at Hadleys birthday party. He had so much fun running around that he lost his balance a few times and ended up with this great shinner. I think I would officially feel safer if I made him wear a bike helmet at all times. He definately has so much fun it hurts :)

Day in the Park...

Bennett and I went to celebrate his good friend Hadley's first birthday. We love her and her mommy and loved spending the day with them. We spent a little time down town Seattle with his other friend Deven and then off to Greenlake.

We went on his very first swing! He loved it and smiled and laughed the whole time. He isnt crawling at all anymore and has replaced it with some really clumsy running. So in the end he got a his very first outside big boy scrape... we had to take a picture :)

We ended the day with a walk around Greenlake, little did Mommy know it was going to pour down rain half way... It was a very wet walk but still fun!

Happy Birthday Hadley Rose!!

(for some reason the video is coming up black... just push play and it still works)

New Trike!

Bennett got a new trike from his friend Kyrra and her mom and dad. We took it for a spin immediately and Bennett loved it. He sat on it with his hands on the handlebars and loved going for a ride. I think he would sit on it for an hour if we let him. Too bad his legs are just a little to short to touch the pedals.

He is going to have a ton of fun with it this summer!

Zoo in January?!

Yep Bennett and one of his favorite gals, Hadley, went to the zoo today. It wasn't warm but it didnt rain so we were thankful. They loved the sharks because it was a good place for them to get out and run around.

Another new friend!

Bennett had a great play date with his new friend Dane on Monday. He is the son of our friends Erin and Josh, They live near us and also have another daughter that was at school. It was great to see Erin and it was hilarious to see the boys play. They are doing all the same stuff except Dane had perfected a few things and Bennett was taking notes.

We have been working a ton on sounds after seeing our speech therapist for the past couple weeks. We have been working on copying mommy with "AAAHH" and "OOOHHH" and I am constantly trying with the "mamama" just hoping that he will soon start babbling.

Well, after leaving Dane's house and hearing him babble away all morning I started in on the sounds in the car and to my surprise I heard a faint "mamamama, babababa" from the back seat. I was so excited I recorded the beautiful sounds on my iphone :)

He has been working more and more on his standing to walk and Grandma Sandy and I went out and got him some new shoes this morning. We spent some time outside chasing the doggie and loving a few minutes of outside air. Man is this kiddo tuckered out when nap time comes.

A short clip of our outside play time...

Standing up tall now

Bennett has been "walking" for a couple weeks and seems to get better everyday but has been mostly crawling with some steps inbetween. While Grandma Olsen was hanging out with him today he stood up in the middle of the room all by himself. I think he learned it from his friend Dane after a play date this morning.

Now that he has that figured out he is hardly crawling... He has been walking around just beeming all evening... He is sure proud of himself... as are we.