Tag: grieving mom

Day 11 – Month 11

So many things happened in Benny’s 11th month!  He crawled, stood and walked-all in one day!  Leave it to him to pull a fast one on us.  He went from creeping to fully mobile overnight.  The kid was a handful and I was starting to realize that he was going to be so much more work than Darcy as a toddler.

Darcy was definitely less willing to try new things like climbing, walking, etc.  She was always more concerned with the environment around her.  Benny on the other hand was ready to run out and conquer the world.  The kid was a beast with an outgoing personality, ready to do everything his big sister was doing.  Yet, he was so loving and snuggly.

We celebrated Benny’s first Easter when he was 11 months old too.  He had an ear infection and was miserable, and teeth popping in everywhere, but entertained by his big sister and older cousins.  It was a great day.

Day 10 – Month 10

By 10 months Benny was on the move!  He was creeping all over the floor, cruising around in his walker and pretty much becoming a challenge.  He was into everything!

Parker and I went away for a weekend ski trip with my company and Benny had his first baby-sitters, my cousin and her boyfriend.  My easy going, pretty go with the flow dude was not happy to be away from Mom or Dad for 2 days and gave my poor cousin a run for her money.  Darcy tried her best to help out, but Benny wasn’t having it.  That’s when I first started to notice what a Momma’s boy my little man was.

Where Darcy didn’t cuddle until around 2, Benny was a little snuggle bug and would settle down each night with his paci, blanket and book and relax his little body into mine as we read and cuddled.  When he was tired, he was more than happy to be in your arms calming down.  For someone with so much energy, he certainly calmed down and fell right asleep, just like Parker.

In the morning, when he would wake up, he would let us know.  Darcy was always happy to play with stuff in her crib and chat away for at least 45 minutes.  Benny would whine the second his eyes opened.  He would also just lay there and wait for you.  He finally started sitting up and pulling up in his crib around this time.  Still wasn’t happy to be alone and needed to be picked up or entertained by his big sister in his room.  It was amazing to us how different he and Darcy truly were.

In true fashion, things in my life have become crazy and I’ve fallen behind.  Maybe my life hasn’t changed as much as I thought.  I do have to say though, it didn’t stress me out like usual.  I know that I am still honoring my son and the fact that I didn’t finish my ’17 Days’ posts by his birthday has somewhat rolled off my shoulders.  It is what it is and now it’s time to play catch up.

Day 9 – Month 9

By 9 months we were in the depths of winter and enjoying some lovely New England blizzards.  We enjoyed sledding with our neighbors and many play dates to try to keep the kids busy.  Being cooped up indoors we had to find new and interesting ways to keep busy.

We borrowed Tara’s walker and Benny started using it to cruise around the house.  He was still in the exersaucer and the johnny jumper, but this kid wanted freedom!  He took to the walker quickly and in short order he was chasing everyone around the house (much to the poor dogs dismay).  We never used a walker with Darcy and it was quite funny with Benny.  He would run, run, run and then lift his little feet and glide across the room.

This also meant that he able to reach lot’s of fun and new places.  We found ourselves baby proofing stuff that Darcy never even dreamed of going after as a little one.  Yet again, he challenged our parenting.  This is when we really began to see how much he was paying attention to everything that we did and mimicked us.  We also began to notice the difference between raising boys and girls.

Day 8 – Month 8

I think I have been avoiding this one because day 8 would mean that it was May 8th and May 8th would mean that Benny has been gone for 18 months, longer than he was here.  A very wise friend recently pointed out that I did carry him for 9 months and he was a part of our lives then too, so maybe May 8th isn’t as awful as I once thought.  I won’t even do the math to add on 9 months.

In any case, Benny’s eighth month was December-January and what a fun time it was!  He got to celebrate his first Christmas, we traveled to CT and Long Island to see family and celebrate, we were able to go sledding with our neighbors and enjoy his first New Year’s!

Day 7 – Month 7

Benny turned 7 months right before Christmas 2012.  He had lost most of his mohawk at this point and his hair was starting to grow longer and longer.  He was all smiles all the time and loved spending time with his family.

We did lot’s of fun stuff that December, including riding on the Polar Express at the Ecotarium and picking out and decorating our Christmas tree.  Benny was really getting into the baby toys and he and Darcy would spend a lot of time on the floor playing.  He also started to sit at night with Darcy and I to read a book.  That’s not to say that he was interested, it was more to get him into the routine.  We were so excited for Christmas that year!

Day 7 – Month 7

By the time Benny was was 7 months old, we had celebrated his first Thanksgiving, Darcy’s 4th birthday and we were getting ready for Christmas.  Parker and I had finally finished splitting the bedrooms upstairs and Benny finally had his own bedroom!

He loved spending time in his johnny jumper and would get the thing going at a good clip while he watched Darcy play.  He also loved his exersaucer at this age, pretty much any situation in which he could jump, he was happy.  Around this time he was a drooling fiend as we waited for those first teeth to poke out.  He went from being the best sleeper to getting up at night from teething pain.  I think this is around the time that he really began crying and let us know when he was unhappy.