farmer boy

andrew took these pictures one warm day a month ago when we were doing yard work. just now i was looking out at the frosty back yard, knowing it'll be a long time before we can go out and play in the dirt.

moseying through the day

ben gets a charge out of playing with balloons leftover from his party. i found a few left in the drawer and inflated them, and he made a most earnest effort to bite them.




we've had a week of pretty good sleep, thank the lord! and i'm cautiously optimistic the trend may continue...but who knows...




he calls that train "too too," in an approximate imitation of the "chug chug choo choo" noise i make when he rides it.


his new favorite thing is stirring any bowl with any utensil. it started at grandma arlie and grandpa ray's house, when he practiced stirring a little sauce pot with a wooden spoon. and now, if i don't let him stir the contents of his breakfast yogurt cup or bowl of prunes, he feels himself treated most ungenerously. it's really not enough to stir the stuff, he also likes to dip his knuckles in and then draw broad smears of prune on his tray or, alternatively, on my hands and face, if he can get that close before i deflect him. we're changing our clothes a lot these days.

better late...

here are some snapshots of ben's first birthday party. a good time was had by all.