When will the Teeth Finally Come?

Ben is now 5 months old. Amazing how quickly the time passes. I look back at the very first pictures of Ben and I am amazed at how small he was. He is drooling like crazy and has started waking up at odd times at night - all the signs of teething are there...but, where is that stubborn tooth?

This is Ben's (and Mommy's idea) of roughing it in the cabin. Notice the nice down comforter :-)

Ben and his friend, Annie, went on a "ski trip" last weekend. This is an event that is planned once a year in Jordan's squadron. Since Jordan is currently in Las Vegas and his squadron is deployed, a small group of mostly wives still gathered to keep the tradition alive. Ben had his first outing away from home and did very well. I think he liked the distractions and new surroundings. He gets bored of just Mommy in his face all the time. We were planning to take him snowshoeing, but the weather was a little rough for the little guy. So, we had a nice time just staying warm in the cabin and socializing with friends.

I am currently trying to start Ben on some solids. So far, we have only successfully taken a few bites of rice cereal; but, with each attempt Ben seems to show some signs of improvement. This morning he even opened his mouth a couple of times on his own willingly.

As far a motor skills, Ben is sitting up by himself (with a spotter). He has the tendency to practice his yoga moves by touching his nose to his toes. That big head takes a lot of balancing.

4 months

Well, our boy is growing. Ben just had his 4 month well baby appt and he weighs 14 lbs 8 oz and is a whopping 26 inches tall! His height puts him in the 90th percentile! He is now laughing and smiling at everybody and I've been told that he even rolled over the other day. Of course, I didn't see it, but I'm still pretty proud all the same. We are now over 3 weeks without Daddy and seem to be hanging in there. Ben makes little videos nightly to say hi to Daddy and he gets some in return. Everytime he watches he seems to recognize Daddy in the videos, so we'll keep showing them until we can see him in person again.

I wasn't kidding about the Let it Snow comment

Yup, it snows here in Misawa. It started Christmas night and didn't stop for three days. I think they said it was between 3 - 4 feet of snow. It's pretty to look at, not fun to drive in especially when they don't plow or salt the roads. We took Ben outside in his little snow suit for a little excursion. He hasn't had much outdoor experience since he's been born because it was already starting to get a little cold. Once he's older, we'll make sure he gets in his play time. There is a little playground down the street that we might try next summer.

Jordan left yesterday for Weapons School in Las Vegas. I'm sure he's a lot warmer there.

Ben is liking daycare - I took these pictures there. See, he's smiling!
Yes, he works out regularly. You should see his muscles!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Merry Christmas to Everyone! I forgot how fun Christmas could be until we had Ben. It's wonderful to see all the toys under the Christmas tree. Ben made out like a bandit - it's easy to dote on such a handsome little man. His big toy was a jumperoo. He is still maybe a little too small for it, but he seems to enjoy when we bounce it for him. We have a couple of large textbooks under his feet so he can reach and get some leverage - we are still working on a solo bounce.

I have been trying all season to get a picture of Ben with Santa Claus and was finally successful on Christmas Eve. I didn't realize Santa hangs out at the Food Court.

Not only were we visited by Santa for the holiday season, Grandma and Grandpa Kittok also paid us a visit. We really enjoyed the company and appreciate everyone making the long trip to meet our little guy. Ben has now officially met all the grandparents and he loves them all!

Catching Up

So, first of all a belated Happy Thanksgiving! We have been busy these last couple of weeks. I recently returned to work and we had a visit from Grandma Carvell. Ben is enjoying daycare - the ladies that take care of him are really great with him. He has a lot of interaction with the other babies (like playing footsy on the floor together) and he has more toys than he knows what to do with. He is already becoming more aware of things around him and batting at objects over his head. Now, he only does this at daycare. We have a play gym for him at home which he can stand for about two minutes before he cries to be picked up. Somehow, Mommy still remains his number one source of entertainment. The daycare is located right across the street from the hospital where I work which enables me to walk over during lunch everyday to feed or check on him. It helps break up the day and it reconfirms the fact that his being in daycare at all is not a failure on my part. He loves it!

He also loves his Grandma! Ben had a week off from daycare and got to spend it all with Daddy and Grandma. I don't think this baby could be any more loved. Thanks for coming, Meg!

Roll Tide!

Ben supports today's Alabama v Auburn game!! 36 - 0!!

Yes, we leave the house

Our lives are pretty much rotating around our small child - but, we are still able to go out and experience the local culture. A couple of weekends ago, Jordan, Ben, and I went to Rokkasho for the annual salmon festival. The village of Rokkasho, a small community of about 12,000 residents, boasts two big attractions: a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant and the annual Salmon Festival along the Pacific Ocean. The festival was originally started about 25 years ago to promote tourism in the area and is now the longest running salmon festival in Aomori prefecture.

The main event is, of course, a salmon catch. We didn't get there early enough to get a ticket to participate, but we watched along the sidelines. Participants lined up around a large pool stocked with salmon and were given 3 minutes to catch one by hand. You get to keep what you catch. It's actually pretty funny watching people run around chasing salmon - it was pretty cold outside (as I'm sure the water was) and the salmon are pretty slippery. If you were one of the first 6 people to catch a salmon, you proceed to another pool to race your salmon against the others for some kind of prize.

(No, we don't know any of these people...)

After watching the festivities, we sat took a rest by the water.

Last weekend, the three of us went down the street to Rokunohe to pick some apples. Aomori is known for its apples. The day started with a tractor ride around the orchard, which put Ben right to sleep. Apparently, Ben likes tractors. We figure the next time Ben is fussy, we can just go off-roading in the CRV and the bumps will rock him right to sleep.

The apples are as big as Ben's head. (I tried many times to turn this picture, but for some reason this website wants to keep turning it on its side...sorry).
We are giants amongst the Japanese people...but, that just allows us to get the biggest apples.

The weather here is turning pretty cold now...so, who knows where we will go next. Maybe Ben likes to ski??