bullpen session

Okay – just one more. . . Thank you to everyone who came to see Ben for his birthday and for all the fine gifts you brought for him. You are truly too generous. Thank you. It was great seeing everyone we don’t normally get a chance to see, and I know for a fact that Ben feels the same way. I mean, did you see the look on his face when he saw you? Bliss.

Now that that’s out of the way. . .

Ben’s been getting around the living room perpendicular to the ground for about a week-and-a-half now, but the last few days he’s made some serious progress. How much fun it must be to discover such new things every day. Can you imagine? Ben learning to walk would be akin to me learning to fly, or discovering how to eat less. One minute you didn’t know that it was even possible, the next minute you’re cruising around the house on two feet.

Everyone who learns of Ben’s new ability remarks with the standard “Walking, huh? Oh you’re in for it now!” Obviously these people haven’t spent much time with our mongo Benjamin. Ben has been standing-up for months now, and because he’s so damn tall he’s already explored every cabinet, countertop, refrigerator water-dispenser, stairway, closet, and toilet to the point of tedium. If anything, Ben is even more manageable since he started walking. Just like when he started sitting up and later crawling, he’s less frustrated now that he can move at will. And the energy he expends walking, falling, and getting back up again makes for longer nap times and a mentally-healthier mom. Ben has been a squirming handful since he was 6 weeks old, never content to sit still, and now that he’s walking I’m sure his only discontent lies in not getting places fast enough. I’m sure he’ll address that problem shortly.

While I’m writing this, Ben calls me on my cell phone – Anna lets him play with her phone once in a while, and we had to move my number to the top of her phone-list so Ben would stop calling Anna’s friend Adam. He just hung up.

Anyhoo, life has been landing buttered-side-up so far at the start of Ben’s second year. Ben spends a good part of his day playing with all his new toys and when it’s not raining, going for walks around the block and playing on the slide at the park. The laughing is, as always, persistent, though because Ben is learning more and more about the word “NO” and the disappointed look on his parents’ face that accompanies that awful phrase, frowns are appearing more frequently than ever before. It’s just so hard keeping your own smile in check when you see that pitiful look on his face, because YOU know that it’s no big deal, but for now, and for a long time to come, HE thinks you just disowned him as your child and stopped loving him for all eternity. I stand by my opinion that babies his age are just a small twist of the DNA strand apart from dogs. Ben wants so much to please us, but he is discovering his independence with every minute that passes, and I fear the day that now appears to be rushing in upon us, when baby Benjamin discovers that his parents don’t know diddly, and if he works the system just right he can get away with almost anything he wants. I suppose Anna and I will have to do our best to keep that nonsense in check, but I have a feeling based on the actions of every toddler I’ve ever seen or heard of, that these next two years are going to be something of a challenge. But it will all be downhill after that, right?

And oh yes – we also learned how to throw a baseball. I have been trying for a couple of weeks but now he’s able to do it all on is own - and it actually looks pretty good! New York Yankees, here we come! Only seventeen more years until Ben signs his first major league contract. . .