Dad and Pauly (the parrot) ran up the Jolly Roger out front for the occation. 

Mommy made sure there were lots of pirate-y treats--Chex mix with goldfish, cupcakes with treasure chests and gold coins, and some yummy tropical grog. 

I got a whole cupcake all to myself. It had toasted coconut on it. Cake is good food. And cupcakes are just the right size for me to get two hands around and shove into my mouth. 

And after all that, I got to open a whole bunch of presents. It was so great, because lots of them are really loud--I got two drums! What a day!  

I got my pictures taken today. The rest of my photos from the shoot won't be back for a couple more weeks, but here is a preview of my cuteness! 

Arrrg ye landlubbers! 

My mom and Aunt Snook got Emma and me some new toys to help us learn how to walk by ourselves. Our first order of business was to race them accross the living room.  

Benton takes an early lead, leaving Emma to try and keep up. 

And Benton wins the first lap! 

Dad thinks he found my twin. I don't know... 

Me and the folks at Black Lake 

Tooth Watch 2005

This just in: Benton now has a grand total of five, that's right, five pearly whites. The three most recent additions popped in over the weekend, and another one is on the way. He is most pleased with his new teeth, and enjoys clicking the top ones and the bottom ones together. He also really enjoys having them brushed. He looks forward to using them to chew up his birthday cake in a couple of weeks.

PS Terribly sorry, but I'm having a bout of trouble with Hello, so no new pictures yet. I'll keep trying though!

Last weekend, Mommy and Daddy took me to AC Gilbert Discovery Village. It was really fun! There was all sorts of kid friendly stuff to explore. The toddler room was closed for re-modeling, but I had a blast with all the big-kid stuff too. Here I am on a giant rocking chair. 

I crawled all the way through this tunnel. 

I went swimming in a "creek" inside a house! 

Daddy helped me drive a boat. 

This picture was taken from three floors down! 

Emmaleigh and I get to play together sometimes. Its nice having another little person around to entertain.  

We went on a road trip to Ellensburg, Washington last week. I helped Dad do a little navigation when we took a pit stop. 

We went to the state fair last week and had all kinds of adventures. Here we are at the begining of the day. 

I met some rabbits that were kind of neat. I did not have a positive experience witht he sheep though. Those things are scary! 

Daddy and I found some drums. 

I was pretty tired by the end of the day, but I got to share an ice cream cone with Mommy and Daddy. That was deffinately a highlight! 

Editor's Notes

Hi there. Just a note from the mom real quick. I added a word verification setting before you can leave comments for Ben. This is to prevent Spam bloggers (what will they think of next?) from leaving weird comments on my baby's blog. The word verification should only be a problem if you aren't human, so if you are, we look forward to hearing from you.
In other news, there's finally a new post at The Attic, for those of you who got tired of checking!
Love,
Andrea

11 Months

Well, it's a few days late, but here is an update on my progress. I weigh about 20 pounds now. Forget all that skinny stuff from my youth. Stout is the only way to go. I'm trying to watch my snacks though. (I don't want Mommy to start counting Points for me too). I like to pound things. Mommy says that's OK for drums and things, but its unacceptable to pound on my friends. My favorite toys are a package of napkins and a water bottle. Mom got me this terrific command post that has balls and music and lots of stuff to play with, but I would much rather crawl over to the metal coffee table and pound it.

I'm crawling really good, but I prefer "Couch surfing." When I have to get across the room in a hurry, like if I see something shiny that I'm probably not supposed to have, I crawl to the nearest thing I can pull myself up on and use that until I have to crawl to the next thing I can pull myself up on. Daddy says there's an easier way called "walking," but I'm not quite sure about that. I may be short and have a padded behind, but its still a little shocking to land on it when I meant to be moving.

I still love to go outside. Mommy takes me on bike rides and I love that! I also still love food. Since I turned eleven months, I've tried ice cream, zucchini bread, a blueberry muffin, a green pepper... There is a whole world of delights out there. I can't wait to sample them all! And I guess I take after my Daddy, because I love to talk. I say "dadadadadada" for most everything, but sometimes I add in "nanananana" for variety. I have also recently learned "uh oh." I had no idea what it meant until yesterday though. Now I get it, and I like to drop things so I can use my new word in context.

Mommy's busy planning my very first birthday party. I'm very excited about that. Apparently there is cake involved!

So there you have it. Stay tuned for my adventures at the State Fair coming soon!

Cruisin'. I love going for rides with my mom. I talk to everybody and wave at the cars. And everybody smiles at me. It's good time. 

Puzzling... 

Just thought I'd try out a new style. Am I cool, or what?