He really is a fantastic kid. We’re so very proud of him and how nice a job he’s doing growing up, even if it seems like it’s all moving way too fast. He’s a great son and an awesome big brother.

If you’re at all interested in a shot from his past, here’s a post from his very first birthday that includes a pretty cute picture of him:

http://www.benjaminfalkenberg.com/2007/02/20/the-big-one/

We’ll have some three-year portraits here to look at, soon, so keep an eye out for those.

Benjamin’s transformation so far has been amazing, and continues to be amazing. And not just the changes in him, but also the changes in us as adults and parents; Stacey and I have also really grown tremendously since he was born; it seems like he teaches us as much as we teach him. And it all feels very, very right.

Love you, buddy!

Benjamin wrote his first-ever letter to Santa to put out with the cookies and milk last night on Christmas Eve. Or, rather, Dad asked Benjamin what he wanted to say to Santa, Benjamin told Dad, and Dad wrote most of it, except for a couple of bits Benjamin insisted he write himself; he focused so very hard writing the bits he did, and it was incredibly cute…

Dear Santa,

Merry Christmas!

Hi. I’ve been a good boy this year. My brother Zachary was a good boy this year, too.

[Benjamin scribbles, saying each word out loud as he slowly, carefully writes...] (”It’s a good cookie.”)

Mommy has been a good girl, and Daddy was a good guy. Owen and Ollie and Laura and Lydia were good, too. Nana and Papa were good, too.

Merry Christmas.

[Benjamin scribbles, saying each word out loud as he slowly, carefully writes...] (”I was a good boy.”)

Santa, thank you for the presents.

We love you, Santa.

– Benjamin, Zachary, Mommy, Daddy and Yoda… (and [long list of cousins, aunts and uncles here])

Bye!

Awesome, right?  :)

We hope you had a great 2008…and we hope you have an even better 2009. Take care, everyone–we love you all.

Benjamin’s first snow angel, created 20 December 2008, in our front yard.

Image manipulated slightly to enhance the imprint.

It’s worth noting (again) that Zachary is pulling really, really hard on Santa’s very real beard in this picture. Poor St. Nick… That look on his face? Pure pain. We apologized, of course, but it was pretty darn funny…

It’s strange looking at this picture, as both kids have grown up so much since it was taken. Zachary’s walking now. Benjamin’s in gymnastics classes, knows all his numbers and letters… Their growth this past year has been pretty amazing.

More holiday pictures on the way as we get them processed and uploaded. Those of you that end up with our photo Christmas card–going out Any Day Now™–we hope you enjoy that, too.  Happy Holidays!

Eventually, he stopped doing it, and we were relieved.

Zachary, on the other hand, is a regular thumbsucker…but only when he wants something. He doesn’t suck his thumb unless he is hungry or tired…or, well, both.

He sucks his thumb while he eats his cereal or whatever, too, but we think this falls under the “hungry” category. With each new spoonful of food, he follows it in with his thumb and sucks, and it appears to help him ingest the food. And yeah, it sometimes makes things a bit messy. But it also seems to help him get the food in and down, and he pulls his thumb out when he’s ready to take in more spoonfuls of food, so we just don’t worry about it.

The net result of basically letting the thumb sucking while eating thing go is that it’s less hassle than it was before when we were constantly trying to control it with Benjamin. It’s proven to be one of those choose-your-battles things that we’ve decided to just let go.

We’re not experts of any sort, so do whatever you want with your own children…but from our perspective, if your infant can’t stop sticking their thumb back in their mouth after every spoonful of food, well, just let him or her do it. Engage with your baby–talking, smiling, etc–and you’ll find that all that thumb-related hassle was mostly created by you and not your little eater.

For us, everyone–everyone–is soooo much happier in the end.

And of course, you still need to watch your baby and see if they’re engaging in extreme sucking of thumb or pacifier that might affect their development of new teeth or jaw, etc. Zachary isn’t strong or frequent with his sucking, so we’re not worried…and like Benjamin, we anticipate the thumb need will eventually just vanish on its own.

First and most importantly, Benjamin really enjoyed himself. It’s not at all uncommon that he enjoys himself; he always manages to find something fun to do. But this was something new, and it got kind of dark, and it wasn’t anything he was familiar with as experiences go…but he adapted well and settled right in. There were moments where Vlad the Vulture spooked him into asking to go potty when he really didn’t need to. Benjamin sat in his own seat (with a theater-provided booster) and held the giant box of popcorn for the whole family, the entire movie.

There were also moments when he asked to go potty and needed to; he was still clean and dry when the movie was over, which was great considering the kid’s not yet even 2.5 years old. Yes, his parents are proud…

Unsurprisingly, Zachary enjoyed the movie a bit less. It wasn’t so much a matter of not enjoying the movie, because he wasn’t even really watching it; it was more a matter of having just been breastfed prior to the previews and then wanting to nap when the surroundings were unfamiliar and a bit, umm, animated… He did finally go to sleep, and everything worked out fine after that.

All in all, a great experience, and a great afternoon at a matinee show (and at a theatre worth supporting!). Mom and Dad enjoyed the movie as well. Mom in particular was laughing out loud at the song and dance bit at the end.

We’ll definitely be doing it again!

We’ve been really busy. New job, new house soon (!), lots of packing, and just getting a lot of Big Stuff(tm) taken care of lately.

Sure, it sounds like a line, but it’s really true. And we’re really, really sorry.

Benjamin’s super-excited about the new house. He’s stoked to have a new room, and a new house, with a new yard, a giant wooden play set in the yard with a slide and swings, and lots and lots of room. He’s also pretty excited about our decision to get a kitten once we’re in the house, and to befriend some new neighbor kids to play with.

Zachary continues to grow and smile and laugh. He’s almost crawling, but not being able to crawl doesn’t stop him from moving across 25 feet of floor in just a couple seconds, rolling and twisting his way from Point A to Point B. He eats well and plays well. We’re very pleased with his growth and his demeanor. It’s so strange to see him in Benjamin’s not-really-all-that-old clothes…

So that’s a quickie update. More soon after we move and get unpacked and settled in. The next few weeks are going to be busy!

Proofs from Benjamin’s 2-year birthday pictures! Since they’re just proofs, they’re not large nor very high-resolution. You can click them to get slightly larger sizes.

Zachary (roughly 5 months old here) is naturally in some of them. We went to a Target photo studio near us; the woman there was rumored to be terrific…and she was. We were very impressed with her ability to capture great facial expressions and the natural look and feel of Benjamin.

We didn’t order all of these poses, of course. If you see one you really like, though, let us know!

Croup for Benjamin for sure, and a cold for Zachary as well (along with Zachary’s ‘mystery rash’). They both seem pretty miserable, and Dad’s not much better. Not much the pediatrician could do for them, either.

We had planned to get some pictures done this week, but that’s been rescheduled for now.

If the party date/time changes, we’ll certainly let you know, but for now, that, at least, is still on schedule. Hopefully they’ll be cleared up by then.

We know it’s late notice already, so if you show up, you show up, and we’ll all be happy to see you. :)

Can’t believe it’s been two years already!

We’d like to try again. To that end, we’ve updated the page and we’re going to try and continue to update it with a bit more regularity.

We’re also working on the pictures thing. Still. Alex has in no way been satisfied with the various photo solutions, so there’s a mix of different things here and there that we’ve tried (won’t bore you with the technical details), and you’ll likely see a few more as we move forward. Bear with us, and just take the pictures any way you can get ‘em for now, OK? ;)

ALSO, PLEASE HELP US: If you interact with Benjamin and have heard a word or phrase that’s not listed on his Words page, let us know! If you have any pictures of Benjamin (or any of his relatives!) that you think would be great to have posted here on the website, that would be great too! Benjamin loves it when we read posts here to him about things he’s done, places he’s been, people he’s visited, etc, and he loves the (so very few so far) pictures we’ve posted.

We really do want to create as thorough a record of his life with words and pictures as we can, so we have memories for ourselves and for him…and for you, too. Any contribution(s) you make to this effort would be very much appreciated by all of us here! :)

Stacey and I are both pretty anxious, and Stacey’s really, really tired. Benjamin’s been really great about it all so far. He points to his mama’s belly and kisses it when we mention the worth "brother". It’s super-cute. He’s gonna be a fantastic big brother. We’re really excited not just about us meeting the new baby, but particularly about Benjamin meeting him, and watching the two of them interact and grow together.

We have the room all ready. The crib’s ready, all the clothes are washed and ready, some new animals and things in the room that will be just his… We have diapers and wipes and all of that stuff. The second carseat’s been installed in the Pilot for over a month now at least! We couldn’t be more ready. We haven’t settled on a name for him yet, though, but we’re getting closer; boy’s names seem so much harder to choose for us.

As of the OB visit yesterday, we’re still not too far along–only 2cm, but that’s one more centimeter than we had last week, so it’s progress! :) I predicted very early on that we’d have the new baby about a week early, but that’s looking like it won’t happen.

He’s measuring a little bit big, but not really any bigger than Benjamin did around the same time, so hopefully everything will go well and we’ll have a great, normal, happy (and event-free, unlike Benjamin’s) birth. Eventually. :)

Of course you’ll very likely see a post here once it happens! :)

Stats:

• height: 33″ inches tall
• weight: 25 pounds, 9 ounces
• head: 19″

He went from “well above average” in height to “above average”, and from “below average” in weight to “just below average”.

No Hep-A shot like we should have gotten this visit; they were (and have been for some time) out of the shot… I guess we’ll get it this winter when he gets his flu shot, or at his 2-yr. appointment..?

We asked about a recent issue Benjamin’s having with hummus. He’s had it twice now, and it occasionally gets smeared on his cheeks and around his mouth. He tends to get really red and bumpy around his mouth within a half hour or less of contact. We think it might be an allergy, but we’re not sure. His doctor isn’t sure either, but suspects it could possibly be an allergic reaction. To what in the hummus, we have no idea. He eats everything, and has never had any sort of reaction with any other food, although there are some foods he still can’t have (nuts, shellfish, eggs) until he’s older.

So we’re keeping an eye out. I’d hate-hate-hate for it to be a legume thing, and spill over into peanuts or something. :(

I’m pretty sure he fell out the first time and actually got right back into bed, which was pretty cool. I heard a pretty loud THUD in the room and I was debating…do I go in, or just let him be? I figured–the still-new-at-this-guy that I am–that I’d go in and make sure he was at least OK… I didn’t want to go in this morning and find him laying there with a snapped neck or anything. Ridiculous thinking, perhaps, but hey, new parent, can’t be too careful!

I opened the door the first time and I couldn’t see him; it’s not just a redecorated room, but an entirely different room altogether…and we keep it pitch black/dark. He’s been sleeping in total darkness since he was born, basically–the exception being naps, etc, where he sleeps in bright daylight.

I grabbed a little flashlight and went back; he was laying across the bottom of the toddler bed like he crawled back in and flopped right onto his stomach and passed out.

The second time, about an hour or so later (around 1-1.30am), was another same-volume THUD, but this time he apparently woke up enough to not recognize where he was and started screaming and sobbing. I was in there in about 10 seconds; he was sitting on the floor next to the bed (I had to feel around a bit because his room is so dark). I picked him up, and before his head hit my shoulder he was out and dead to the world again. I patted him down and stuck him back in bed, and he was fine until he woke up this morning around 8:30.

We close his door, but the door frame is a little wonky and the door doesn’t quite latch… He can reach the knob, but he’s still too short to turn it. Just in case he manages to pull the door open, we have a gate up in the hallway to block the stairs. And of course our door to our bedroom is open for him if he gets out, so he can at least get to us easily.

For his first night, I think it went quite well! :)

And yeah, we know it’s gonna get more…interesting. But we’ll take what we can get as we go… ;)

We got the room more or less ready (minus a few decorative details) a few days ago. He’s been in there to play several times over the last few days, too. He seems to love the room. He’s got his own little table and chairs, his toddler bed, a toybox, a beanbag chair, a bookshelf with some of his books, stars on the walls, etc. It’s a space theme, and the bedding/toybox and table/chairs all match with rockets and stuff on ‘em. We have a corner hanging rocket storage dealie from Ikea, and a little toddler-sized rocking chair we got from Goodwill for…3 bucks?

All his favorite stuffed animals are lounging about in all of his chairs and he just goes batty in there. It probably sounds cooler than it actually looks, since we have bare white walls in there still, but hey, as long as he likes it… Pictures/posters and blue and silver stars are planned for the walls, any day now.

Anyway, I spent about an hour and half today putting him back down over and over again getting him to realize he was in there for a nap today. His first time sleeping in there at all. He finally fell asleep, but he was half hanging off the bed with his blanket all piled up over his head–his standard thing for some reason. Mom went to put him to bed tonight and he pointed at his new room! He went down very easily, and he’s not been awake or fallen out of bed yet. I’ve got the baby monitor next to me here at my desk, though, just in case.

Anyway, pretty cool! He’s transitioned so well with everything so far, and we’re soooo proud of him. Yay! :)

Turns out the crankiness and weirdness and drooling and reluctance to stick out his tongue right after his surgery was…teething. TEETHING!

How did we not think of that!?

Everything was back to normal, tongue-wise, pretty quickly after a couple days…and his tongue looks great now!

It felt like the early days with Benjamin, all over again…not understanding the problem, not seeing the real reason, and freaking out about it a little. Embarrassing! We’ve laughed a lot about it since…

To be fair, it had been a while since he had last teethed, so we were caught a little off-guard. It’s still pretty funny though, now, looking back.

There are a few more general Benjamin updates; I’ve just not been able to keep up… I’m putting a list together and will hopefully be posting it ’soon’.

I love you every day!

I light up with all the brightness and cheer that could ever exist, every time you come home. I feel like the whole world revolves around me when you’re there, and I love all that you do for me, and for Dada.

Dada was talking about how you have a special day coming, so I thought I would have Dada help me write something since most pencils are both too big and too yummy for me to write all by myself. I also don’t know how to spell just yet.

First, Dada and I are amazed, every day, by all the love that you have to give. I know that you work very hard, and still have time for me, taking care of me, feeding me, and loving me. Dada seems to get a lot of love and attention, and he seems to really look forward to it and love it, too. We both are so excited to see you when you come home every day! Even when you look very, very tired, you have time for us and try to keep us happy!

Mama, thank you for trusting me to climb and run and play and read books and magazines.

Thank you for letting me fall and encouraging me to get right back up.

Thank you for the baths you give me.

Thank you for feeding me and tucking me in at night, reading to me, hugging me, tickling me, talking with me, teaching me love and respect, words, pictures, showing me airplanes and animals, and laughing both with and at me.

Thank you for all the different kinds of food and drink you give me to try!

Thank you for trimming my fingernails and toenails. Those things grow SO FAST!

Thank you for all the clothes and toys you buy me.

Thank you for singing and dancing with me!

And thank you so VERY much for changing my stinky diapers!

Thank you for all of the other stuff I can’t think of right now because I’m just a bab…well, TODDLER now, too!

Dada tells me almost every day now that you have another baby in your belly. I don’t know if I believe him, because I look under your shirt almost every day and I just can’t find it under there ANYWHERE! But, assuming Dada is right, it seems really hard to believe that you could have more love than what you already give Dada and me. Dada has said that he knows you do, so I know you can and will!

I know I will be a great person someday because of you, Mama. Dada says he is a better person because of you, too. We love you and need you and can’t ever imagine living without you.

Have a great Mama Day!

:)

-Benjamin (Dada helped!)

PS: Dad here… I agree 100% with our brilliant son. ;)

He had cold symptoms the day after his surgery, and he continues to have a runny nose and while he’s been generally eating normally and well, the last day or so he’s had a bit of appetite loss.

Most disturbing to me so far, though: he has not yet let us look under his tongue. He acts like it’s still sore. He’s still drooling a lot, too, though it’s not as heavy as it was.

Prior to the surgery, he would happily and playfully stick out his tongue, well, on command–or anytime the word ‘tongue’ was uttered, anytime he saw a picture of a tongue, etc. You can see it moving in his mouth, but he just won’t stick it out for us…

Stacey thought she saw some redness under his tongue earlier tonight, but we weren’t able to get a really good look; he just doesn’t want us playing around in there yet. Frustrating!

Because it’s been such a big part of his personality so far, it’s really weird for me right now that he can’t or won’t stick his tongue out. I realize that I’m probably overreacting a little bit, but still… I miss his tongue!

We have a post-procedure followup appointment with the ENT sometime this week yet; hopefully he can explain what’s going on, tell us that there really isn’t anything to worry about, and that everything is fine.

So, hopefully no worries, and Dad can stop freaking out!

The ENT that did the procedure said it went extremely well, and the staff all loved him–he’s quite the little charmer! He ended up with a single stitch under his tongue that should dissolve on its own.

He also looked pretty darn adorable in his little surgery gown. ;)

We haven’t had a chance to see the results yet, really, because Benjamin’s still a little foggy and cranky from the anesthetic, and we don’t want to have him sticking his freshly-snipped tongue out just yet… We’ll look more at it later today once he’s settled down a little bit more.

We attempted to get a ‘before’ picture of his snakelike tongue; not sure how great it is, but you should be able to see what the problem was pretty easily. We’ll post again with that picture once we also have an ‘after’ picture to accompany it, for comparison’s sake.

[edit: unable to see his 'new' tongue in action at all today. The anesthetic was with him to a degree for most of the day, keeping him irritable. He's also been drooling like a maniac, and it seems his tongue is too sore for him to stick out for us so far. Looks like we're waiting a bit yet before we can see the work and the results... -Alex]

In some babies, it not only can cause speech issues, but may affect eating. Benjamin never has had any problems eating or nursing, so it’s not that bad for him, but his tongue is still rather tightly bound to the bottom of his mouth, and you can see his poor little forked tongue when he tries to stick it all the way out.

In less than a week, on April 19th, his tongue will finally be free. After discussions with his pediatrician, we’ve scheduled Benjamin for a frenulectomy to correct the problem. As it turns out, he’s old enough now that they have to actually knock him out with a general anesthetic/laughing gas, and then snip the thing. The ENT (ears-nose-throat) doctor doing the procedure has told us Benjamin will also get a stitch or two to help prevent reattachment of the tissue and help maintain the freedom he’ll have.

So that’s great news. As endearing and cute as his little forked tongue is, it will be nice to have this finally remedied.

The only thing that’s, well, obscene about this is how much the doctors/etc are charging. By the time we’ve had our initial visit, the surgery itself and all the related trimmings (laughing gas, etc.), and the follow-up visit, the total charges (before insurance) will exceed approximately $1500. For what is basically a simple half-second snip with a pair of scissors of some tissue that Ben won’t even feel being cut due to a lack of nerve endings in the area…

It seems a bit, umm… excessive, really.

Sure, we get that he needs to be knocked out so they can actually do the work, but wow. The initial consult to get the ’surgery’ set up was billed at (pre-insurance, again) $275. The ENT did–literally–nothing! Some racket they’ve got goin’ on there, for sure…

Anyway, wish our little guy well for his first-ever surgery!