About six days ago, little Benjamin Parker MacGregor became three months old. Ben - It happened during the last week of school, so you'll have to forgive the late post, and it happened during this period of life where we have a toddler and an infant at home, so you'll have to forgive a lot. In the past month, your personality has started to emerge more and more. You smile, you coo, you lift your eye brows in surprise, and you scream. You scream if you're tired, if you're hungry, if your diaper is dirty, and if you've been asleep for five minutes and woke up and found we had moved on from holding you and singing, "Do Re Mi." It's fantastic. But you really do smile, smile, smile, and smile.
You are already becoming your own person in so many ways. Your head may be smaller than Jackson's, but you don't like lifting your head as much during tummy time. You prefer having us hold you up so you can stand, and then your head is up and looking all over. It seems like you want to skip the baby stuff and move on to hanging out with your brother.
Your brother loves you just as much as we do, by the way. I know one day you two will be squabbing and all, but right now, Jackson is always ready to discuss how much he thinks the world of you. I asked him this morning who we could hear crying, and instead of saying "Baby Ben," he said "my best friend" in that "what a stupid question" inflection. He brings you pacifiers and blankets all the time, especially if you're sleeping. When we're in the car, one of his hands is always on your car seat. At his daycare, all his teachers know your name. Let's hope this adoration never ends.
You made a noise today that sounded like "dada," which makes up for the two times you peed on Daddy this weekend. You want Mommy and Daddy to look at your face and hold you all the time. Sure, you'll bat around the dangling monkeys in your little play area, but you still prefer Mommy and Daddy. You can stay in our arms all day.
And we could pretty much hold you all day. Unfortunately, it's often holding you while pulling Jackson out of his crib or making dinner or stopping Jackson from running around the house with a toy lamppost in his mouth. Last night we held you on the back patio, sipped wine and watched Jackson, Mommy and the dogs run around the yard. That was a nice way to start a summer of watching you become more of a little person every day. We love you, Baby Ben, and we're happy to have you complete our family.
The sign of a successful party? Child crashing in the car.
He spent almost the entire visit looking like this... (or with his face buried on my shoulder or leg).
Instead of a pole, they had a slide. Kind of neat. But, the fireman said they don't use it. That's disappointing.
This is the one thing I convinced Jackson to do. It was away from the firetrucks and involved water.
Here are the other kiddos having fun and posing for a picture with the firetruck. After this, we left because when I looked up from taking this picture, he was halfway to the car.
I had to go back to work, but on the way we made a quick stop for lunch. By this point, he was mostly recovered from the scary visit where the "sirens make Jackson sad." Then...
...this was parked in front of our car. Poor kid didn't want to go near our car because of the truck.
So, what was supposed to be a fun morning for us, turned into a morning of terror. But, it was quickly forgotten and the day was much more fun for him from there on out. I'm okay with him not wanting to be a fireman.
This is the point where he decides he is full.
This picture entertains me for various reasons. First, he's in his diaper because we learned that swim diapers don't absorb urine! I know they are built to not absorb pool water and get heavy, but I thought they would absorb enough to handle some urine. But, no. I feel better knowing that many people have been through the same thing. It's fun cleaning urine up off the floor in front of a lot of people you don't know... The other thing that entertains me is that the couch area is apparently the "cell phone zone." You may need to click on the picture to see it, but I think all of the people on the couches are looking at their phones. Not that I can throw stones on that one...
Daddy and Ben
