Bentley is 2!

I cannot believe Bentley is 2 now. It has gone by so fast. I seems like yesterday we were celebrating his 1st birthday. He is a tall, skinny little guy at 35 in. tall and almost 25 lbs. He still isn't talking a whole lot, but he surprises me every day with a new word or phrase. The other day we were walking outside and he pointed up and said "moon." I was like, how did you know that!? He is a very picky eater, eating something one time and refusing it the next. He loves to put the shapes in a shape sorter thing, put together his wooden puzzles, and anything to do with cars or trucks. He loves to help with anything I will let him. He helps us unload the dishwasher, take out the trash, check the mail, carry in groceries, vacuum, and many other things.

Our main struggles right now are that he wants to be so independent he refuses to ride in a stroller or hold our hand. This has caused many fits everywhere we go. We are introducing the potty and related concepts, but I don't think he's really anywhere ready to potty train. I'm also nervous about moving him to a toddler bed. He sleeps so well in his crib and makes no effort to climb out. We're hoping to try in the spring, so we'll see how it goes.

Now for some pictures of the last two years. A couple weeks old:

6 months old:

12 months old:

On his second birthday (he blew out both candles by himself):

The other day:

Change

I'm not a big fan of change. Especially the sudden, unplanned kind of change. Like when our computer died last weekend just outside our warranty period. One minute it is working fine and the next minute... nothing. Back in college when I had a laptop that kept having problems, I swore I would never buy a computer from anywhere other than Best Buy, and not without an extended warranty. In my opinion they have great customer service. Well... when we needed a new computer, oh, about 14 months ago, we found a good deal at some other place with not so great customer service. And we did not buy an extended warranty. Lesson learned.

After getting the computer looked at we discovered it would cost almost as much to fix it as it would to buy a new one. So we got a new one. I didn't think it through. I miss my old computer. They were able to get my pictures off the old one, but I have yet to put them on here. It is so different. Where are all my buttons and shortcuts and favorite websites? The websites I like to visit are like the phone numbers in my cell phone. I don't know them, they're just there, saved, and very hard to find when lost. I know I put all these things on the old computer at some point, but I don't want to do it again.

So the new computer and I are taking some time to get to know each other. Hopefully it won't take too long.

I'm Still Around

I have not been purposefully avoiding my blog. I have several posts in my head, I just haven't made time to come and type them out. Bentley is really getting into imaginative play, and we play non stop all day. Nap and bedtime are my best friends, but he hasn't been sleeping well at all. He's getting his 2 year molars. He has always had a hard time when teething, but these are by far the worst. I'm pooped.

So, imaginative play is soooo fun to watch. He's been treating his stuffed animals like babies, carrying them around, putting them to bed, feeding them. It is so cute. He also likes to make tunnels and forts with pillows and blankets and "cook" things that we both pretend to eat. He's still not talking a whole lot, but it's something new every day. The other day his thing was, "I know" to everything I said.

We recently visited AR for the arrival of baby Drew. I took Bentley over to Kayla's house twice. The first time he didn't really notice Drew, but he gave him a kiss when we left. The second time I was holding Drew so Bentley decided he needed to as well. He did a really good job and kept coming back to hold him several times.
He had to point out all of Drew's body parts.

While we were there, Bentley had his first sleepover with his papa (my dad). He had so much fun, but did not sleep at all. My dad said he just got out of bed at 2 in the morning and wanted to watch cartoons. Thankfully he wasn't crabby because they just played outside the whole time.

July

Wow, July was a very busy month for us. Warning: this post may have lots of pictures.

We spent the 4th at the beach. I don't know why we don't go there more often. It's only 20 minutes away, and we all love it. We played all day (or I should say they played, I lounged and read a book), and stayed to watch the fireworks on the bay. I was nervous about Bentley being scared of them, but he was oohing and awing along with everyone else.

I decided it was time to face my gettingpaintoneverything fears, and let Bentley have some messy fun. He must have picked up on my fears because he wouldn't even paint on the picture frame. He just wanted to paint inside it. When I would tell him to paint on it, he would then move to paint just outside of it. He was cracking me up.

We found a really neat children's pool near our house. We have been going there more recently because it is so hot in our apartment. Bentley loves other kids, and I enjoy seeing him run around trying to play with all of them.

We spent 3 weeks in Arkansas visiting family and going to lots of baby showers. I think I went to one every weekend I was there. Paul was able to be there for a few days so we were very busy running around. Bentley enjoyed playing with his cousins.

Bentley loves going to my dad's house because he has dogs and lots of fun toys. He is fascinated by the dogs and loves to pet them. He knew exactly where my dad kept this remote controlled car, and he would go get it first thing every time. He only knew how to make it go forward though so he would chase it around the yard.

He also loved going over to my grandma's house because my aunt has fun toys for her grandkids. He knows how to make the Escalade go, but he doesn't understand steering. My dad had the privilege of providing the steering.

He looks so grown up on the big boy swing.

In the evenings, he had to spend some time with my mom out on the deck. He would just talk and talk. He also would steal her head coverings to wear for himself.

Update on my Mom

My mom is doing great. She had her last round of chemo a few weeks ago. Her doctors were all very impressed with her, she never got sick throughout all the treatments. We still don't know if she will get radiation, but we are thinking probably not. She had the genetic test done to see if she caries the gene related to breast and ovarian cancer since she is younger than 50. Thankfully, that came back negative.

Bentley and I will be traveling to AR again next week, and then Paul will join us for 10 days. I'm excited to visit, but I will miss the weather here. I've heard it's hot in AR, and humidity is my enemy.

For some reason I'm not being allowed to upload pictures so maybe next time.

Sea World

Bentley loved Sea World. We were able to see all of the animals, ride a few rides, and even see a few shows. We got there pretty early when it wasn't very crowded, so we let Bentley ride some rides first. He cried when he had to get off of this one.

He didn't really understand why we were looking through the glass at a whole bunch of water, but if other kids are doing it, he's in.

Then the dolphin swam by and he thought that was pretty neat.

After lunch it was time for a quick snooze. It didn't last long though since we didn't bring the stroller that reclines.

We spent quite a bit of time stacking up foam blocks and then knocking them over.

There was a big round foam mat surrounded by benches for the parents to sit and to keep the kids enclosed. Bentley went over to a stroller that was just parked close enough for him to reach it and swiped a bag of nutter butters from their backpack. Then he brought it over to me and asked for a bite. The owner of the stolen snack said he didn't even notice Bentley take it and that he was pretty sneaky.

He would run up to the hole in the ground, and then when the water would squirt out he would run back to Paul laughing. At least he didn't get very wet.

Even though I remembered to bring my camera, I didn't remember to charge the battery, so I didn't take a whole lot of pictures. It was a good day, but very exhausting. Bentley was asleep before we even left the parking lot.

Busy, Busy

The weather here is amazing so we have been out and about every chance we've had. We still only have one working vehicle, but two days a week Bentley and I take Paul to work so we can have the car. We've been going to the beach and the park, and Saturday we went to a Children's Museum. Bentley loved it so I know we will become regulars there. I am horrible though and have not had my camera with me at all. We have plans this weekend to go to Sea World and probably the beach again. My goal is to have my camera in hand.

Cloth diapering is going great. I really wish I would have taken the plunge back when Bentley was first born. I will definately be using them on future children. I can't really say we've saved much money though because it's addicting and I want to try different brands and such. My sewing machine is in AR right now, but as soon as I can get it I am going to try to make some diapers myself. Here he is in one of my favorite diapers (bumgenius).



He doesn't get to go without shorts on anymore because he prefers to be nude and will strip that diaper off in the blink of an eye.