Benjamin's 11 Month Montage

It's not Baby Einstein. Nope, trucks are what make our boys stop in their tracks.

At 11 months Benjamin is literally one step away from walking out of infancy.

The first half of this month was spent fighting an unpleasant cold. He woke up coughing on Labor Day morning and then Jasper woke up the same way the next morning. Despite our best efforts to not share germs, the boys were tandemly sick. It came on strong and then lingered in Benjamin for two weeks. Thankfully it was just a cold, but this was only the beginning of cold and flu season.

Despite being sick, Benjamin still had great energy levels and made the giant leap of taking his first steps. He'd been cruising around furniture like it was going out of style, but on Friday September 11th, I pushed him to walk to me from the ottoman. He did, to wild praise, and then gave a repeat performance when Drew got home from work. Check out some early videos of his accomplishment.

September 11 (This video is longer than it needs to be. I did not have time to edit it. All the good stuff is at the beginning.)

September 12

He acquired his 8th tooth (bottom right) on September 21st. It really fills out his smile and contributes to the pain and suffering I experience - as he's still biting whenever the urge overtakes him.

Benjamin has pretty much figured out "feet first" on the steps. Granted, there are times when he's overcome with excitement and tries to take a flying leap (hands out, pushing off from his knees) into our arms. But for the most part, he's figured it out. He loves climbing up on Jasper's bed and crawling around on it. Jasper thinks it's great and laughs a ton while Benjamin is playing on the bed.

Imagine if you will, in the photo below, Benjamin is making the following sound: "ooh!" ... because that's exactly what he's doing. Yes, even for him - trucks are very cool. In fact his favorite book is the big "Things that Go" board book from the Gaineys. He sits down to look at it, turns pages and ... squeals! Yes, bring on the trucks!!!!

This month Benjamin has started actually playing with trucks - driving them on the ground and, as seen here, putting smaller trucks into larger ones. He's getting some quality time with the big school bus and the aerial ladder truck ... because Jasper is napping.

Benjamin is eating just about everything we put in front of him, and in large quantities. He is willing to try everything. He took to turkey sweet potato shepherd's pie with no problem.

a video of his eating prowess:

He's also readily taken to drinking from a straw. I don't know if it's that he's advanced in comparison to Jasper or if I'm just way more willing to try things earlier ... but he adapts to new things really quickly. I think it took him one day to figure out how to drink from a straw. He got good practice in on my Nalgene water bottle and was so delighted with his new "toy" that he was rolling around on the floor with it. I unfortunately did not get any photos of him rolling on the floor with it, but got some after shots nonetheless. You might notice how wet his shirt is. He's still in the "perfecting mode" here.

video footage of drinking from a straw. there is bonus footage of Jasper playing with his cars in the background.


So far Benjamin is not saying anything. Yes, he'll say mama and other things that sound like words, but they are not directed at anything or anyone in particular. Considering Jasper wasn't speaking until 18 months and is now so verbal, we aren't even the slightest bit concerned. In fact, I didn't even give it a second thought until his 12 month appointment last week. I've slacked off a little with the second one. Thankfully he's getting bombarded with words all the time with how much Jasper talks with or to him.