Broken Arm

By now I think that everyone knows that Ben broke his arm. Maneuvering Kaiser was a fiasco but I think we are through the initiation. It is a stable fracture, called a buckle fracture and should heal just fine. He was casted on Friday and that went as well as it could have. The casting tech was experienced and very fast. Now we just have to keep it as clean and dry as possible until April 24th. Right. They told us that if it got wet or dirty that we could come into the "casting room" anytime and they would just recast it. Right. If that happens, we will just live with it. He is petrified of any and all of it. Every once in a while he looks at his arm, like "where did this come from?" He doesn't have the best balance to begin with, but he is way off now. Today at the park he fell in some slippery mud and ended up with a muddy face.

Maya is busy trying to find ways to break his other arm by jumping over him while he is laying down for a diaper change or jumping on the bed with him because "he likes it!" and making Easter cards. Here is the note that she is writing in Ben's:

Dear Ben,

I think that your face is so cute and I almost love you one hundred times more than my

mama loves me.

When you grow up you will always be my sweetie.

I hope that the Easter bunny brings you things you want and you will always be my

sweetie forever.

Love,

Maya

There was more, I just couldn't write fast enough. Maybe she will write for Hallmark when she is older.

Pictures of the cast will follow!

Benjamin

The game Sequence has been pretty popular around here, and throwing all the chips around seems to be just as fun as the game itself. Ben always looks so confounded when he gets some stuck to the bottom of his foot, it is pretty funny. This morning, though, he had one on each foot and it clicked when he walked, almost like a dress shoe sound. He was so pleased with that. He walked all over the dining room, kitchen and back again just smiling to himself about that sound. It was so cute.

Maya has a family of dolls that live in her play tree house and the brother has been sick for a while now. He is always sleeping and doesn't get to do anything that the sisters do..... poor brother. So today, I asked her if she liked having a brother thinking that there might be some correlation. She wouldn't look at me when she answered and kind of just said yes really fast. So I pressed a little bit and she said: "well, yes, but I wish he took another nap." :)

I don't know if I can swing another nap, but we can try for some more play time. Wish me luck!

Applesauce

We just made some applesauce. It is delicious. I have often talked to Maya about making our own food instead of buying things like cookies and crackers, things that we can make and are better for us if we make them. I think she is on board. This morning, after eating the applesauce she said: "Mama, from now on, lets make our food, but if we need to, we can buy it." Hmmm, that gives us a pretty big out, but I'll take it.

Ben is starting to think that the walking thing is pretty cool. He is taking more and more steps together and will often clap for himself. I think he has the Crimin self esteem. :)

I'll always think you're pretty....

... even when I don't live with you! That was from Maya tonight after dinner.

It all started because Scott told me that he didn't think I was amazing all the time, so of course I made a big deal about it. So Maya jumped and told me how amazing she thought I was. Topping it off with the pretty comment. We'll see how long she thinks that. Hopefully I have at least five years of pretty AND amazing in her eyes!

Ben is shaking his head "no" back and forth. He does it when he is trying to be silly. It is the cutest thing. He kind of puts his head down and looks up at you grinning and shaking his head back and forth no. He also almost did the sign for "more" tonight at dinner! He is standing for about 5 seconds at a time every once in a while and likes to push the potty seat all around the dining room. Maya, of course, is in front of him, encouraging him the whole way. It is pretty cute. She has been playing with him a game that she made up called "chase the baby" and yup, you guessed it, she chases him around on her hands and knees and he runs away from her. They both think it is hilarious and it is! I need to get it on tape.

That is all for tonight. I think that we have about 4 more days of nice weather then the rain starts again..... I don't know if I can take it.

She's crackin' me up!

So Maya's latest thing is that she takes her cute, sparkly pink bow-tie change purse (thanks Auntie Carole :) ) and goes outside and leaves change scattered around in front of the house for people to find. She gets so excited when they get picked up. It is the cutest thing. The first time she did it, it was just a penny and that took a little while for someone to stop and take it. I almost had Scott grab it just so she could have the satisfaction of someone taking it. But someone finally took it. Now she leaves various coins all around the front. She is too much!

Ben is staying pretty mellow. Aside from not wanting to sleep for longer than 30 minutes at a time (how did I get two non-sleepers?) he seems to be pretty agreeable. He is just about rolling over, just needs a little push from me to get there and then seems pretty happy about it. I think that he could do it on his own if he would stop eating his hand. The fist in his mouth kind of slows him down.

Maya's bracelet.

Bird House!

Maya and I have been working on this birdhouse for a few weeks now. It is our first paper mache project and she loved it! Our next venture is to make a piggy bank..... I have to do something with the left over balloons from her party!

After we finished the bird house, she decided to make a necklace. It turned into a bracelet but she was so funny. She did all of the knots and did the whole thing by herself while I was in the kitchen. She was so pleased with it and herself. She kept saying "this is my very first bracelet that I did all by myself!" and "I am so proud of myself!". So, we took a picture of her modeling it. See the next post for pictures since blogger is driving me crazy and won't let me move pictures around where I want them. This has to be easier than I think it is.