A few good books have taught us that lions growl, bears roar, and snakes hiss. But Ben's favorites are lions, seals, gorillas and monkeys. Everything is a monkey. And I guess we have Penguins of Madagascar to thank for that...
The lemurs are monkeys. The penguins are monkeys. The monkeys are...well, they're still monkeys. We're working on him not thinking that every animal is a monkey - but we'll see...
Wish us luck tonight - I know many of you have had a billion inches of snow, but we're getting ready for the first big snow of the year. Warnings are going until 6-7am on Wednesday and say that we should get at least 12 inches. I know, I know - small potatoes. But we'll see how bad it really gets...
Keep sending us fan mail at Ben's address:
majorleaguebishop at gmail dot com
We'll answer any questions and post some fun facts that you guys want to hear about! Keep the letters coming!
Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?! Staying warm, that is. Just punch the button on the box on your wall and your house magically warms to that degree. That was all we had to do until last night. It was then that our house kept getting colder and colder. No matter how high we punched that little button. The furnace took it's last breath last night. So, we hunkered in. One space heater and lots of blankets. We are aware of the fire hazard, so we're keeping it high up. It's that or it's 20 degrees in here, though. With some quick research this morning and a couple of quotes, we are now getting our brand new furnace installed and will be warming up soon. The old one was just too old to fix.
Anyway, while we're trying to stay in the one warm room of the house I thought I'd type a quick update. Ben is getting funnier and funnier! Sorry that both videos are with him in the high chair. He still gets so distracted with the camera that if he is mobile he just wants to get to the camera. So, it's best to get him to do some of his "tricks" while confined to a chair. He is really good at waving his arms like a monkey and clapping his hands like a seal (just as his favorite book says). He also thumps his chest like a gorilla. So cute!
The other video is trying to capture Ben doing his "Ahhhhh" he now does after just about every bite and drink he takes. It's like he's saying "Ahhhh, that is so refreshing!" The video is also capturing his first attempt at feeding himself jello. A little sticky at the end but overall went well.
He continues to RUN everywhere he goes. The faster he runs, the more we now know he is heading for something he shouldn't be. The kid is catching on quickly. More and more cabinet locks are going up, doors are being pulled shut (luckily, he's still too short to reach our door handles although he's trying everywhere).
Other stats include: sleeping well (knock on wood), continues to be a more and more finicky eater, and continues to hold steady at eight teeth. To tackle one subject, eating. He's just sort of picky! Anything cheese, bread, or grapes he'll eat. He used to eat anything fruit, but even that is getting hard. He'll each a piece of banana or two, then done. Vegetables=forget it. Sometimes I can get him to eat cooked carrots, but just a couple. We continue to try to push new food in front of him everyday, and just keep doing it. I'm thinking he's just too busy to eat these days. He just wants to get down and play!
Not much else to report. I hear the guys down there drilling away with our new furnace. Until it's up and running, I'm going to go put another pair of gloves on and sit in Ben's room which is the warmest!
It's been a while since I've been able to blog. I can't tell if I missed it or not. Brian's been doing a nice, job, though. Our big story today is that we decided to go to the beach. The forecast called for a "mild" day. We were forecasted to reach upper 30's, maybe even to 40 degrees! So, we packed up the family SUV and headed for St. Joe, Michigan. Why St. Joe you ask when we live so close to the lake in Illinois? Well, the ice gets pushed to the east side of the lake and we wanted to see it. I haven't seen it in years and Brian and Ben have never seen it. So, we headed out. It was pretty neat. We tried to catch it on picture and video. The reason I'm adding all the videos we took (yes those are three different videos) is because they all have different angles and I wanted to share them all. The ice reached out at least 100yards from the shoreline. Brian thought it was just dunes (there is sand sprinkled on top). No, those are icebergs! You look over top of them and it's a steep 20foot drop (at least) to the water below. It's been a long time since I've seen them that high. I will say, once we got there, my Mom instinct did kick in a bit. It was a little nerve racking. But we NEVER took Ben beyond the railings. Never even considered it. I was even nervous about Abby being beyond the railing. By "beyond the railing" I mean, there is a long section of the pier that goes out without a railing. In the summer time, this is no problem to walk. Now there was ice totally covering the pier. It was actually more like snow, so it wasn't very slippery. I was just nervous that Abby would see that water beyond the ice and go for it! So, she had to stay on a very short leash all day. If you can see it, I even kept her on the leash while I took her picture that she was sitting so nice for. WITHOUT Ben, Brian and I did venture out onto the ice in alternating turns. It was silent! And BEAUTIFUL!! Totally at peace.
We didn't get to hang out too long. Ben did not want to keep his mittens on and his little hands were getting very cold, so we had to head out. Brian, Ben and I had some lunch at Clementine's Restaurant and headed home. Ben and Abby bonded a little bit on the way home. Abby would lay her head on Ben's lap and both were asleep within minutes of the ride. It was so cute! Ben has been a bit of a nuisance for Abby. He does not understand how to pet gently yet. We're trying to teach him. Hopefully Abby will stay as patient as she's been. She just gets up and walks away.
Hope everyone is happy and healthy so far in 2010!!
Don't forget to email us your "fanmail!" Majorleaguebishop@gmail.com!
As most origins go, it starts with a joke. With an undecided first name, and Lee solidified as a middle, we decided to go with the best initials possible - MLB. Major League Bishop. It was that or Middle Line Backer, which just doesn't have the same ring to it.
So until that day when baby boy Bishop gets a name (or maybe even longer), enjoy our blog: Major League Bishop.
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