And about everything else...

After the last post I realized that all I updated you on was Mitchell's size. Here's the scoop on all the other stuff.

Words: Mitchell can say ball and apple, though ball sounds more like "baw" and apple like "aw baw". Now everything is "baw" or "aw baw" when asked. A dog-" aw baw", a plane-"baw", and orange "baw". However, if you ask him if he sees a dog or plane or where the orange or a cloud is he will point right to the requested object. He might have said water the other day and it sounded like "aw wa" (spanish maybe?). I'm also pretty sure he said grandpa a week or so ago and it sounded like "aa pa".

Teeth: Of the sixteen teeth Mitch is suppose to sprout by the age of 19 months, he has about 13.5 of those.(He is 16 months old)

Body awareness: When asked where the following body parts are Mitch can point to them; eyes, ears, nose, teeth, tummy/belly, feet, toes, head, hair, mouth. He is able to climb up his highchair and into his crib when the front gate is down. He is almost able to climb out of the crib as well.(!) He is climbing ladders and sliding down slides.

Expressions: Mitch can blow kisses, wave hello/goodbye, waves goodbye to the park when we leave, and he has learned to shake his head "no" (oh goody!), and give kisses. He is an effective pointer relaying the desire to swing or walk over to see the ducks or wanting to go outside. Most often when he wants to go outside he will bring his shoes and/or his jacket to you, as well as your shoes and/or jacket.

Favorite book: Picture book that shows numbers, letters, shapes, opposites, alphabet,times of day and places.

Favorite toys: All of them. He has recently gotten very good at his shape puzzles. And he enjoys producing a new piece of art work now and then; his favorite media is crayon.

Favorite songs: The Alphabet, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wellington's Victory, Barry White's My First, My Last, My Everything.

Favorite places: Bellevue Park, Grandma and Grandpa's house

Favorite foods: Cheese, apples, grapes, cream cheese and raisin bread sandwich, peas, beans, banana cookies, bananas

There's a glimpse into the mind of Mitchell. Some up coming plans include a trip to the Children's Museum with Grandma and Grandpa Steve, a visit from Grandpa Skip and Nans, a visit from Aunt Rosie, a trip to the dentist and a trip to the doctor for an 18 month follow up.

See you soon!

Bigger than a breadbox...

It is the middle of May and time for some more updates. Last we left Mitchell he was busy growing and changing. As far as size goes here we have a picture of Mitchell at about 1month old and one about 14 months later.


Or for another perspective he's about as tall as a cheetah's rump as you can see in this recent picture taken at the Living Desert during a visit to see Aunt Kristin and Uncle Matt.


Here Uncle Matt gets a Mitchell's eye view an exhibit.

And here's a look at the rest of us too.

For additional perspective...He's not quite big enough for a Fireman's suit, yet, but he is too big to be put in a Tinkertoy container as you can see in these pictures from our visit to the Seattle Children's Museum.


He's not quite big enough to make his own breakfast.

But he is big enough to make his own works of art.


We are getting near the end of our year in the Pacific Northwest. As much as Rich has enjoyed all that he's learned and all the experiences that fellowship has given him, he will happily tell you how few weeks he has to go. I am in my second week as a housewife having thrown off the shackles of retail pharmacy. Life is good.

Much love.

It is springtime in the Pacific Northwest and so it is now not just cold, but wet and cold. It is warm enough on some days for the plants to start blooming. Mitchell is blooming as well. Just this week alone he has learned to clap, play peek-a-boo with his hands, and how to spin around. He chooses not to use words to communicate; why should he when all he has to do is point and "Oooo" and mommy, daddy, grandma or grandpa is there to figure out what he wants. Mitchell will be 15 months old soon and so it seemed like a good time to post some more photos and video.

Here Mitchell plays a game of "Rock and Roll" with Daddy.

At a recent visit to the Woodland Park Zoo Mitchell climbed on the exhibits (and viewed penguins).

And at the park by Grandma and Grandpa's house he also tries to climb up the slide.

And here we make a brief stop to visit the Troll Under the Bridge in Fremont.

Now Mitch isn't just a climber. He's also a thinker too. Here he plays with keys, patiently trying each key to see if it will fit in a hole. He will do this for the longest time on some days, going from one hole to another and trying each key in turn.

Rich has one more week to go in his nineth month of fellowship. It's been a very busy month and we haven't seen much of him so we miss him. We had a nice visit with Grammy Jane a couple of weeks ago and we see Grandma Celeste and Grandpa Steve a lot so that helps. Next month we have a visit to Aunt Kristin and Uncle Matt's and maybe we'll get to feel cousin Brodie move!

Much love.

Finally an Update

Finally we made some time to upload some more firsts. Mitch celebrated his first Christmas Eve. You can see how excited he was when we told him about flying reindeer.

We loaded up to take a nice Christmas Eve family walk around the neighborhood.

And Mitch wanted to be nice and clean just in case he caught Santa sneaking around.

On Christmas morning he woke to see the playground Santa had left for him. Here he points at the stockings lovingly made by Grandma Jane.


Another first was his First Birthday! He celebrated it twice, once with the Grandpa Skip and Nans.

Grandpa Skip made Mitch feel like a big boy, giving him his first driving lesson.

And we got to hang out with Auntie Megan, Dave and Ian.

Then he celebrated a second time with Grandma Celeste and Grandpa Steve


More to follow...

The Woodland Park Zoo

Seattle has a fantastic zoo and we made the first of what we hope to be many trips. It was a short trip as we had to fit it in on one of Rich's study breaks but we took in some neat sites.

Here we see a wondering Peacock.

Here Rich and Mitch check out a family of gorillas.

While taking video of the Penguins I noticed that you could also watch Mitch in the reflection observing their play.

And before we left Rich took Mitch on his first Merry Go Round ride. Who looks more excited here?

Just three more days before Rich takes his written Emergency Medicine Board exam. He's been reviewing all week and we are looking forward to a celebratory dinner when he is done.

Much love.

Just wanted to share

Today marks Mitchell's 10 month birthday. When he was only 10 days old we had professional pictures taken of the family. Our photographer was great and snapped off tons of pictures, one right after the other. During the photo shoot she caught a special movement, a bowel movement. We would like to share with you two pictures taken in a row of our new family. The first is us enjoying the moment. The second is Mitch enjoying his movement. Initially, only mommy and Mitchell were aware of warm, fuzzy feeling dripping in mommy's hand.



You'll have to look very closely to see the yellow, dripping deposit made by the boy.
Enjoy.

Almost 10 months old

Hello loved ones. First things first; let's get you some new photos to enjoy.

Mitch was visited by Grandpa Skip and Nana in August. They played with him, took him out for a spaghetti dinner and then did a little bit of spoiling. Thank you Grandpa Skip and Nans for his car. You can see here how much he loves it.


The weather in Seattle was very kind to us during August and September. We were still able to spend a lot of time outside, one of Mitch's favorite places to be. Here we take in one of our favorite parks in Bellevue.



When he can't be outside Mitch likes to imagine that he is outside.


Or he plays at his tables.


One of his favorite past times is looking at pictures of himself.


Mitch is a pretty happy guy most of the time and it's pretty easy to make him laugh.


The weather began to get cooler in September and so we had to do some layering. We still try to get outside as often as we can. While Grammy visited from New Mexico in September we took a walk at our favorite park. During our walks Mitch alternates between staring at people and staring at the wheels on his stroller.


The falls colors started to show during this time as well.


Mitch has taken several steps but usually when he wants to get somewhere fast he drops down and crawls there. Here is a short video where we just happen to catch him practicing his stroll.


In October we left the Pacific Northwest and headed to Palm Springs for Aunt Kristin and Uncle Matt's wedding. We spent time playing in the water...



...hanging out with family...


...doing boy stuff...


...and showing off new skills.


Then it was time for the big event. Mitch donned his bow-tie and vest and made his rounds at the event. Here's Mitch with Daddy and the Grandfathers.


Here's a four generation picture with Mitch, Daddy, Grandmama, and Great-Grandma Nin


Here Mitch poses with the dapper dudes Daddy and Uncle Steve.


Here daddy gets in a little me time with the boy.


Here are the two lovelies we went to see. Matt is now officially Mitch's Uncle...hooray!


And here is Mitch's Grand Uncle Conrad taking in a beautiful Palm Spring's evening with Nin.


It was a great trip. Mitch was a great traveler and here he is taking in some reading on the plane.


We returned home to Bellevue and found we needed our layers once again. Here Mitch shows his new cap that he inherited from Daddy. (Thanks Aunt Kristin!)


Mitch is getting ready for his first Halloween. Here he is trying on his costume. What a little monkey!


We are almost four month's into fellowship with eight months to go. Rich is studying for his Emergency Medicine Board Exam in a couple of week. Here is a picture of Rich doing what we call "Coffee Shop Time". He studies and I do online shopping (or in this case updating the blog site).


You may have notice that the photos are not as clear as in the past. I recently discovered I could save a lot of down load time by compressing pictures before uploading them. The hope is that by decreasing the time it takes to do a post that I can get posts done more often. (We'll see) Make sure to email me at nikibennett1@gmail.com if you want copies of any of the pictures.

Much love.