Growing Up

I've come to the realization over the past week or so that my boys are growing up.

Ben's vocabulary seems to increase every day, and I think "school" is having a big influence on this. Yesterday, for the first time, he spontaneously sang the ABC's. Of course he only got as far as G, but I'll take it! And today at lunch he broke out into a lovely rendition of "Baa Baa Black Sheep." I remembered seeing his on his daily communication sheet from school yesterday that they'd sung that song. It seems to have made a big impression on Ben! His favorite part is "Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full." After that line he breaks out in huge laughs. So cute!

Today after his nap (which he took sitting in the glider in his room - this is the 2nd time in 4 days he's fallen asleep somewhere in his room other than his bed. On Sunday he fell asleep in the middle of the floor. Weird!) Logan and I went up to Ben's room to change his diaper and hang out for a little while before coming back downstairs. I asked Ben if he had a good nap, to which he replied, "I sure did!" How stinking cute is that?

Logan seems to be advancing almost every day too, except his milestones are more oriented towards gross motor skills. He's walking about 50% of the time now, and a few days ago he learned how to stand up without holding onto anything. The kid's got hamstrings of steel, I swear. He does squats just for fun, in the kitchen. Reminds me I should be doing squats regularly if I intend to wear a bathing suit on our family trip to St. Lucia in March. Doh.

Logan is also 1 year old now! I couldn't help feeling a little sad on his birthday because I feel like he got cheated out of so much of his first year. Steve was travelling from the time Logan was 2 weeks old, up until the move when he was 9 months. That was one of the hardest times of my life, and I'm afraid that it will have affected Logan. I spent so much of that time sad, mad, impatient, resentful toward Steve for being home only on the weekends, and a host of other feelings. It was so different from Ben's first year, when Steve's work schedule allowed him to not just be home every night, but home in time for dinner to boot.

Anyway... we're together as a family again and that's the most important thing. We'll work on family dinners together in the future I guess :)