Xmas tree

So don't tell Ben that these trees were already cut (it was the only way to get him out of the house having peed on the pottty first!)

Snow

We have (a little bit of) snow... our first time outside since Wed (today is Sunday!)

New hoop

And so the basketball career continues (thanks to Aunt Shelly and family!).. he loves his new hoop! Check out the nasy plague around his mouth, he's all better now thank goodness!

Uncle Travis on the trike

I love my hoover

... I mean dyson!

Birthday present II

Birthday present

Big bike!

Ben is 2 today and loving his new bike!

Winter hat

Horse riding

We spent Halloween itself at a friend from playgroup's - here is Ben getting on Lauren's "horse-on-springs" behind her, it was quite cute and he had to really hang on as he was basically perched on the tail, but we never managed a picture of them actually riding together!

I looked at camera's today but still nothing purchased so its going to be another week at least of not much done on this blog.

Halloween II

Picture's from Tuesday Playgroup's Halloween. Ben was told that if he wore the (hated) costume for pictures he would get treats, can you tell? One clever mum did manage to get a smile though

Dentist

Ben had his first dentist appt on Wed morning. The dentist was really good with him and I was surprised at how much they did - he looked at all the teeth, put a mirror in there and then finished by poking them all with a sharp poker thing. By that point Ben was squirming at bit (they also made him lie on his back across my legs which he hates!) but he did fine. They say at his next appt (in 6 months) they'll do a teeth cleaning (hygenist thing..) ... I dont think so!
Oh and the dentist said that holding them down kicking and screaming to brush their teeth at this point is normal!

Halloween

So its Oct 28th, 4 days until Halloween.
Here are pics from our first party this week - Monday's playgroup. I'm sure this will be the first of many Halloween posts for this week (assuming that generous friends will keep providing photo material for me!!).

Watch this

Granny!

I had these movies on the camera before it broke.
Here is one of Ben saying something a little closer to "Granny" than his usual name for her .. "Dah"

2nd Haircut

Ben got his 2nd hair cut yesterday. Sorry about the blurry picture, too much coffee for Tad maybe??

Bike

A picture from the trip to Toys R Us

The compost bins are finished.. check it out!

And its warm in the middle which is a good sign!

(I guess we still have Tad's phone for pictures)

Bad news..

Well kind of good news actually. The old camera is finally broke, so we can now finally fully justify a new one. So no pics for a while, but then once they do start again they'll be lovely and clear and wonderful.

So things that Ben is doing these days
- pretending that the cat pole is a table saw and "helping dad" by "cutting wood"
- picking Jill up
- making & drinking tea with mum (pretend)
- not enjoying wearing socks and shoes
- opening the fridge and taking things out (a beer for grandpa, butter for his knife, milk, yoghurt) - talking on the phone
- loving wearing his new halloween flip flops
- not loving his crocodile halloween costume

We have had a nice quiet week at home, Ben got a cold Sunday night so I got a stand in for play group and we've enjoyed ourselves just relaxing in the nice, cool autumn weather.

Another apple picking trip

Toys R Us

Wow. We went on Sunday and I loved it (this is me talking, not Ben). Must be the time of year, what with needing birthday and xmas inspiration but I could've stayed there for a long time. I'm sure it won't always be like that! We couldn't get Ben to put down a full size skate board, he carried it all around the shop. He did eventually get on and try and little bike, and quite liked that too.
Anyway we were just looking really (well I was). But Tad did see this little hoop thing for his room and got it for him.. well thats a big hit as you can see.

It was a huge battle to get him to bed after this.

And this morning the first thing he looked for was his hoop and ball when he woke up. Needless to say my purchases of an ABC puzzle (it was cheap .. $1.98!!!) and a little matchbox car haven't been nearly so enjoyed. Good pick Tad!

Compost bin

On Sunday I helped Daddy build a compost bin for Mummy. She says she's wanted one for a long time but was afraid of the bugs.

And today I helped Mummy put the first load of stuff in - some leaves, grass clippings and the first of our kitchen waste. I had great fun playing in all the stuff. Mummy is very excited.

(Tad's note : The bin is not quite finished - missing the lid and door but Christine wanted to get started... )

Pumpkins

I carved pumpkins on Saturday with Granpaw, Grandmaw, Austin and Daddy. Grandmaw got really upset when I went near the little saw thing .. don't understand the big fuss. I havent seen them in the dark yet because its still light when I go upstairs to start the 2hr bedtime routine. Mummy says the next time I wake up early we'll go outside and light them then. The time change is going to be later here, early Nov I guess, so looks like it will be a night, light, un-scary Halloween for me!!

Weedwacking

(thats strimming for the uk folk..)

who said kids today don't have any imagination??!!

Another picture from the apple orchard for Granny

Blowing bubbles..

Playing with Paulin

Paulin and Murielle came over this morning, when they got here Ben was really excited and started showing Paulin all his toys in the living room. Then Paulin asked Murielle where the trains were, Ben overheard and came over and took Paulins hand saying "Hand, hand".. he then took him upstairs by the hand and showed him the trains .. as well as everything else. It was cute.

Apple picking!

Independence at 1 year & 10 months

This morning I needed a wee while Mummy was showering so I sat on my potty, did the wee and then emptied it into the toilet (Mummy always makes sure the potty is in the bathroom with us when she showers just in case...). Anyway Mummy was most impressed and I heard her saying on the phone later that she thinks she's pretty close to being able to go out to the shops for the day and leave me home with the cats.

Especially since I can also get water on my own when I'm thirsty ..

Hello again

Well I need to get back into the habit of posting here. I must admit my motivation dropped seriously after Granny & Grandpa's visit, I don't really feel the need to share Ben's adventures since they just experienced them all first hand ... that and I couldnt find the card reader to download files!! But here we are again ... and Ben the terrible is finally producing new & seriously blogworthy material.
We have the new "Pancake toss" game ..

And most noteworthy .... peeing in the potty! Once on Monday and twice today.. first time ever in his whole life!!!

The visitors have left ... (boo hoo)

Well we're almost back to normal I think... Mummy is still getting the house cleaned and laundry caught up but thats more to do with 4 days of rain over the weekend than the visitors. Here are some pics that Auntie Claudine send of our holiday in the Adirondacks... Mummy is once again hankering after a new camera but the SLR type now which makes her quite glad she procrastinated off the pocket camera she was looking at last year .. I think we're all going to have lists for Santa this year!!

pink flip flops

And sometimes when you do feel like a bit of change Mummy's pink flip flops are just what the doctor ordered.

I did have fun with Unlce Travis and Daddy was awfully happy to have his help with the new dock.

Daddy took me out on Uncle Matt's boat this afternoon with Mike and Steph too while Mummy got the bathroom ready for Granny's critical eye. I got to jump into the river from the swim platform on the back of the boat (with my life jacket on of course!) and that was alot of fun, but I didnt really like the feel of the sand at the shallow bit - too slimey or something. We're going to Uncle Matt's house tomorrow to swim there, that will be fun.

Uncle Travis is here!

Uncle Travis arrived today and Ben is awfully excited.

Ben has grown quite attached to his "crocs" (the orange shoes), they are the first thing he looks for in the morning and I can't get them off for nap time! Luckily he takes them off for his bath & I can then sneak off and hide them so we don't have to fight for bedtime.

He's also enjoyed his little cooker toy thing - the last few times I've been cooking he goes off and just plays by himself with it. A bit worrying is that when I go to clean up I usually find the toy men inside the pots (... Grandpa is there some ancient-Kilsyth-cannibalism-gene thing that I need to be told about???).

More toot

Watch out granny this tale is a bit rude!!
Toot = pump (or fart for the non kerr family members in the rest of the civilised world).
So when Ben pumps and it makes a noise he is delighted with himself and cracks up laughing, I say "toot toot" then he'll say "toot, more toot, more toot" ... he stands there really concentrating his face trying to squeeze more air out of his bum... when he successful he jumps for joy saying "more toot, more toot" .... and tries over and over again. Its so cute.

Back from vacation

Hello yes we're back made it home safe and sound. Mum & Dad are totally knackered from the 12h drive done mostly at night both ways but I'm basically fine, just a bit stiff from sleeping so long in the car seat!

So the highlight of the holiday was swimming with the arm bands, I had to be forced to wear them and sometimes theyre fun but sometimes I still prefer just to be held by Mummy! Other things I liked were trekking in the AuSable Chasm, being carried by Daddy up Mount Jo (800ft with great views at the top), catching frogs with Siena and Nicholas in the pond, playing basketball and getting my own ice cream cone just about every night to eat ... heaven!

The picture above is Mummy & me on the summit of Whiteface, 5000ft but we drove up that one, Lake Placid in the background.

Ben seemed better again today. I spent the day packing so the poor little guy had to entertain himself most of the day. Matt came over for dinner and Ben wouldn't leave him alone! So we leave tomorrow, hopefully around 6pm (unless Claudine tells us to stay home because she doesnt want to risk a transatlantic flight with a pox-ridden Jonathon ... watch this space!)

We took these pics a few days ago. Tad let him try to hit a golf ball in the water off the tee, at first he loved it but then he got a bit strange, kept missing the ball like he was afraid to hit it or something. Oh well I'm sure Tiger's journey to greatness suffered a few bumps too.

More pop?

Pop = toast

Chicken pox?

Well they don't seem 100% convinced but the docs diagnosed him this morning.. he has about 10 large red spots on his arms & legs, and they think they see a couple more starting. They reckon the spots might be all out in 24h which would be the end of it and they say we should be fine to leave thurs night if thats the case. The good news is he slept from 8pm to 6am this morning on Benedryl and seemed much happier today, yesterday he was pretty crabby!

So here was me yesterday trying to distract him by playing with blocks until dinner was ready ..

And his attempt to walk on his hands (like daddy)

Windy day at the beach

Went to the beach (St Joe) today with Christine Trowbridge and her family. It was windy and a bit cool, but the kids loved the playground there ... I finally got Ben down quite a big slide just as we were leaving!! They did all put their feet in the water and played in the sand too. Christine's 2 were cute, they had big, long shovels and were pretending they were light sabres (star wars) so all over the playground they were carrying their shovels (until Christine confiscated them because they were being used to intimidate another little boy - so I'm told, I didnt actually witness for myself!!) Of course I left my camera in the car so you'll just have to imagine the scene (starting to be a bit of a recurring theme isnt it!!). The adults enjoyed watching the jet skiers and kite boarders playing in the massive waves.
I did take this video once we got home, Ben is enjoying playing with sunglasses more and more, at Laney's party yesterday he spent quite a while playing with the new glasses Kay had gotten Laney for her birthday.

Laney's birthday

We had Laney's birthday party today at their house, it was a bit chilly but we swam for a bit anyway, the pool was lovely and warm. I forgot my camera. Once we got out Ben loved an inflatable basketball hoop thing they had and after that he loved throwing the little "dive toys" into the water for Austin & Laney to dive down and get.

Uh oh

Well Grandpa Kerr has proved the old adage You Get What You Pay For to be true.

Ben's reaction: "Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, uh oh ...."

Last swimming lesson

So the learning to swim hasn't gone that well (I mean, he can't swim!), but our ability to get into the water has come on leaps and bounds ???

Blue lips

A good picture today would have been Ben's blue lips at his swimming lesson! The water was a bit chilly and there was a bit of a breeze, made it feel cool.
This morning we went to a 2nd birthday party for Lauren, Ben absolutely loved this old rocking horse thing, instead of being on rockers it was on springs and was more of a jumping thing than a rocking thing. He did have some birthday cake and his face turned red (eggs I guess) so no more of that nonsense. He loved the Happy Birthday song and was asking for it all day after that.

Tuesday Aug 5th

We went to the Potawotomi Zoo in South Bend this morning with playgroup. It was fun. Ben was scared of some things - the tiger, the butterflies when they flew at him, the alligator when it moved but everything else (including the python eating a rabbit - someone else took him in for that!!) was fine. Afterward we played at the playground and he enjoyed that too, lots of chances for good jumping stuff.

After dinner he took his trike around the church and I got a couple of videos

Ben's first ice pole

Well I thought it would be fun for him, all day he was taking ice cubes from Tad and sucking them but of course I'm already regretting letting him have it, I mean basically sugar, e-numbers and a bit of water. What was I thinking!!??? Theyre going to get thrown out tomorrow and I do have a sort of excuse given that I think theyre actually older than Ben himself.

We went swimming this afternoon and Ben finally showed some serious interest in the kiddie slide, but I too scared to let him on it himself, it was covered in demonic 5 year old boys playing on it so we did a couple of shots with mummy then some distraction tatics to get him away!