My First Day of School

This is my excited face!!

That's right...you heard me. I started school today! In case you didn't know, I'm a "Weeble." Ha ha ha! I weeble and I wobble, but I don't fall down....or actually, I do fall down, but who's checking.

I woke up bright and early this morning in my gator jammies.  I was ready to go to school.

If you look close you can see that I am sitting on my knees.  Mommy thinks I look like such a big boy when I do that.

Mommy fixed me a yummy breakfast so I would be ready for my big day.  I started off with a bottle of milk, then Mommy fixed me a piece of wheat toast, half a jar of cinnamon applesauce, and quite a few bites of Mommy's cream of wheat.  It was all so delicious, and I enjoyed it SO much.  Thanks Mommy!

Here I am eating my toast.  It's one of my favorite things.

I found my high chair tray in the floor, so I thought I'd push it around a bit.  Mommy keeps singing some funny song about an alligator.  All I know is I AM wearing alligator pants.

Insert from Mommy:

Alligator, Alligator, Alligator

The alligator is my friend.

He can be your friend, too.

If only you can understand.

Don't wear him as your shoe.

Alligator, Alligator, Alligator

The alligator is my friend.

He likes to sing and dance.

If only you can understand.

Don't wear him as your pants.

.......Sounds like Mister Man might have some 'splainin to do.

Those gator pants are pretty cute, though!

After getting out of my alligator jammies and into my big boy clothes, I was ready for school.  Though Daddy will usually take me to school, Mommy went this morning.  It was a special day, after all.  So you know, I did great.  At first I didn't want to go to my teacher, but Mommy and Daddy found a toy for me, and I got in the floor and played and played.

This toy made noise and music....I love toys like that.

I was looking around at all the other kids here.  I thought to myself...Hey, you are just my size.  Maybe we can be friends. :)

While I did a wonderful job of going to school and being a completely happy boy, Mommy didn't fair so well.  She did good until it was time to leave.  Then, she lost it.  Poor Mommy...I tried to tell her this is what's best.  I'll have friends to play with, a regular routine, and I'll learn so much.  She said she completely understood all of that, but there is just something about the first day of school.  Mommy cried when she left, cried all the way to school, cried when she saw her assistants in the classroom (because they asked about me), and even cried throughout the day at things that made her "emotional."  She's okay now, though, so don't worry.  When she picked me up, I gave her the biggest smile, the biggest hug, and the biggest kiss.  It made it all worth it.

After Mommy picked me up, she took me to Daddy's work to see him.  Apparently, he thought it was a little sad leaving me in a strange place, too.  So, we visited, and I got to crawl all around his office.  I had a great time, BUT Daddy had to get back to work, so Mommy and I headed home. 

And when we got home...we PLAYED and PLAYED and PLAYED!!!

Big smiles to remind Mommy how much I love her.

Okay, Okay...I realize this picture is enormous, but you have to look very closely.  Look in my mouth.  Look at my gums (on my left and on your right).  Look very very closely.  Do you see it???  That's right...
MY FIRST TOOTH!!!!!

You got it, Buster!  Today was a very big day for such a tiny little guy.  I had my first day of school, and got my first tooth!  It is barely peeking through, but it's there.  Whew....what a day!

I know this picture is kind of weird, but Mommy thinks I have amazing eye lashes, so we just had to show you.  Also, do you see the boo boo on my head.  I faceplanted into the leg of a table...oops! 

A little privacy, please. 
For anyone that has a child...I think we all know what this face means.  :)

It's now 8:13, and Mommy put me in bed about 10 minutes ago.  I'm sleeping soundly, getting ready for another fun-filled day at school.  Keep me in your prayers as I ease into a new routine and get used to sharing my time with other kiddos.  Good Night!!

Nine Months Old.....and MOBILE!!!

Hi everyone!  I cannot believe the title of this post.  It seems like the last nine months have flown by, and the changes we've seen in Bentley are amazing!

Here are a few pictures of our little man.  Where did my baby go?

Cruising around the couch.

Practicing his basketball game...he wants to be just like Daddy.

Check out the BIG BOY clothes...skinny jeans, hightop shoes, and an oh-so stylish thermal shirt.

 Also, in case you didn't catch it...he is mobile! I hinted around at the end of the last post, saying that he was being G.I. Joe, but for the last week, G.I. Joe has been thrown to the wayside, and Bentley is crawling on hands and knees. It took him a little while to figure it out, but once he got it...that was the end of that story. Here he is, crawling up a storm.

Happy Face...still no teeth, as you can see.

Mad Face...He really wanted the camera and mean ol' Mommy wouldn't let him have it.

Playing on Mommy and Daddy's bed...supervised, of course.

Handsome Little Man

Ready or not...here I  come!

On a mission.

Here are few more pictures of Bentley from the last few days/weeks. 

Bentley and Daddy...my two handsome men!

Big boy eating Mommy's watch...good teether.

Who is this big boy...what have you done with my baby?

Messy face, huh?  This was Bentley's first encounter with a NutriGrain bar.  Apple Cinnamon...YUMMMMM!

He loves this toy!  Walk like an elephant, chew like a hippo, swing like a monkey from the trees!!!

Having so much fun!

This is Bentley pointing.  Daddy just walked in the door, so he was pointing at him.

Now that we are updated on pictures, it's time to update you all on his nine month check-up with Dr. Gunter.  He is growing, growing , growing!  Bentley is 29 inches long, which puts him in the 75th percentile on the growth chart.  While he's a tall little fellow, his weight didn't quite reach so high on the chart.  As a matter of fact, all 16.2 pounds of him is in the negative.  Yep, that's right...he's skinny!  I told the doctor what his daily feeding schedule is, and she said it's perfect.  He's getting plenty to eat, he's just burning tons of calories by being so active.  She did say that he is more active that most babies his age, so she would expect his curve to start leveling out, but she still wants to see good weight gain over the next three months.  The only recommendation she gave us was to start Bentley on table foods.  Overall, it was a great visit, and Bentley only got one shot.  He was not one bit happy about that, but they also had to prick his toe to test for anemia, and he didn't flinch.  That's my muscle man!  Here's our pictures from the doctor visit.

Sweet little naked boy!

Reading up on the literature for the upcoming months of his life.

Hey, Doc, can I help you with that?

Can I see that next, please?

CHEESE!!

I see how it is...you sugar me up and then you tick me off!  How dare you!!!!!

Bentley's Top 10 List: My Favorite Things

1. Bath Time (in the big tub...no more baby tub for this big boy!)
2. Being mobile (I can go anywhere I want, or at least anywhere Mommy will let me.)
3. Meal time (favorite foods: sweet potatoes, butternut squash, apples, pears, yellow squash, cherries, bread, crackers, puffs, and we discovered today...JELLO!)
4. Sister (I love my sister, Porsche!  If only she loved me back. :( 
5. Books (Brown Bear is still my favorite.  What does a brown bear say?  "RAWWWWRRRR"
6. Cooking (I love to help Mommy and Daddy cook.  I get to play with my spoons, measuring cups, and spatulas...It's SO much fun!)
7. Play time (I know how to work my toys now.  I can open and close doors, flaps, etc., put balls where they are supposed to go, and press the buttons on my toys.  Mommy says that I am so smart.)
8. Sleepy Bunny (Yep...I think Sleepy Bunny makes the list each time, but he's still one of my favorite things.)
9. The baby in the mirror (If you find out who that baby is, let me know.  I play with him every day and all he ever does is copy me.  I have to say, though, he's pretty cute!)
10. Door stoppers (You heard me right...I like door stoppers.  I love the ones near the floor that spring back and forth, and boy am I good at that!  I also like the ones at the top of the door that keep the door from hitting the wall.  I like to look at those, but I'm a little scared to touch them.  I also like door hinges.  I think I'm kind of mechanical like Daddy.  I like to know how things work.)

Now that we are all caught up, there is one more thing.  I started writing this post this afternoon, and since then we've played, napped, played, had dinner, played, gotten a bath, and now Bentley has been in bed for over an hour.  That being said, he's no longer crawling.  I think we took Brown Bear to the extreme...my baby boy now does a bear crawl.  Maybe he'll crawl again tomorrow.  Enjoy!!!

By the way...please forgive the quality of the video.  I took it on my phone. :)

Happy New Year!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year celebration.  Being that Bentley really likes his bedtime routine and his own bed, we just stayed in this year.  Russ, Cyndel, and Coen came over, but we just cooked out and hung out.  It was nice to be home and with my family for the new year, so I can't complain! :)

As far as the New Year goes, I know we always come up with "New Year's Resolutions."  I have thought about it, and I can't decide what the one thing is that I really WANT to change.  So, rather than coming up with an empty resolution, I'll wait a while to see if anything just comes to me.  At school/work, though, we are accountability buddies for patience and kindness.  That's our motto in my class.  When the going gets tough, and we even had our moments today, we simply repeat...."Patience and Kindness."  Of course we have patience and kindness on a daily basis, but there are moments that it just seems like nothing else could possibly go wrong. 

*****As a background, in case some of you don't know, I work in a class of students with autism spectrum disorder that are in kindergarten and first grade.  All of my students are mostly, if not all, self-contained, meaning that they are academically and developmentally unable to function appropriately with their same-age peers in the general classroom.  We work on academics, behavior, motor skills, and self-help skills.  Last year we potty trained three students; this year we have potty-trained two, and we are working with two more.  I know it may not seem like a big deal, but if you've ever potty-trained a child, you know that it is hard work, and there are many messes before there are successes.  Also, as with most children with autism, the language delay causes frustration for the students that often morphs into screaming and yelling, sometimes hitting, kicking, and even biting.  Overall, there are a lot of difficulties in my classroom...BUT, when there are successes, there are BIG successes.  Hearing a child's first meaningful words and requests, realizing that the potty-training has finally paid off, watching a child complete a task for the first time that you seem to have worked on forever...all of these things help to make the difficult moments worth the hard work.*****

That being said, we are patient and kind everyday, but sometimes it takes a true effort to remain patient and kind.  So, you can see why we've chosen that to be our motto in my classroom for 2012.

"Patience and Kindness"

Speaking of school and colleagues,, I got a little crafty for Christmas.  Rather than paying for everyone a gift, I decided to make everyone a gift.  Time, effort, and love went into each gift, and I think they turned out pretty good.  Take a look...

Having gone off on a tangent it seems, I'll get back to the Bowling Bliss side of things.  Bentley had a pretty uneventful New Year celebration, but he did help me un-decorate our home.  :)  He was so good while I took down the tree and all the other decoration.  He took a nap part of the time, and the rest of the time he seemed a little concerned and interested in what I was doing.  Here's a few pictures of my little fella...moving and grooving!!

Hey, Mommy!  These ornament boxes are way cool!

Beautiful baby blues

Going...

Going...

Still going...

Nearly there...

Ahhhh...that was hard work!

This is face that screams...SUCCESS!

This is a quick pic of Bentley on New Year's!  He was counting down at about 7:00!

Happy New Year!

Finally...there are many updates from the eighth month of Bentley's life, but we are less that one week away from him being nine months old, so I'll save those updates for then.  I know you must be on the edge of your seat with anticipation. :)  (ha ha ha)

I'll give you a hint as to what Bentley's latest milestone is.....

G.I. JOE

:)

Merry Christmas to All...

WOW!!  What else can I say?  Our first Christmas with Bentley was so much fun.  Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, but Christmas as a Mommy is way better.  Shopping for him, shopping with him, decorating, making our own family traditions...it's everything I've ever wanted.  This was the best Christmas ever!  I wanted to savor every moment.  The first gift he received and opened, his first party, his first Christmas pajamas...everything.  I felt like we took a million pictures, but they just don't do it justice.  None of them seemed to capture the joy I felt watching my little guy celebrate his first Christmas.  Nevertheless...here's a TON of pictures!  Sorry for so many, but I just couldn't leave any more out.

For starters...ELI, our Elf.  I mentioned Eli in a previous post, but I thought I'd share a few pictures of the silly guy.  He placed himself in a few silly places to make sure he could keep a good eye on the Bowling family.  Here's just a few.

The good news is that everyone must have been pretty good this year, and Eli must have enjoyed his stay at the Bowling residence because everyone was visited by Santa.  Eli is now back at the North Pole preparing for next Christmas.  We sure hope he comes back to see u in 2012!

We had such a busy Christmas season, like always.  We always go lots and lots of places to try and celebrate with the whole family.  So, for four days, we partied and partied and partied! 

~Thursday~

We started on Thursday.  I met with some friends from school to eat at Rosie's Cantina...YUMMM!  Bentley got to see his sitter from this summer, Taylor, and he took full advantage of that undivided attention he received. 

Here, he opened his gift from Taylor...a TOO CUTE gator!

All the fun wore him out...he found the perfect place to nap. :)

That evening we had dinner with my college girlfriends, Krista and Jessica, and their families.  Bentley was surrounded by pretty girls, so he was a happy camper.  He got some really cute clothes, and he can't wait to wear them. 

I didn't get any good pics of the girls...but Bentley was pretty excited about his present.
"I need help with this bow!!!"

~Friday~

Friday was a normal day except for trying to get the house cleaned up for my Mom's (Nana) Christmas.  We decided to cook prime rib, green beans and baked potatoes.  It was delicious and super Christmas-y.  We had a great time, and Bentley and Coen LOVED all their gifts. 

Taylor came by to give Coen his Christmas present.  He was smitten.  He gets so silly when he's around a girl he likes.

On a mission.

Hey, handsome!

Who needs toys when you have cardboard?

"Oh, this is mine.  I just know it!"

Bentley loves his new dancing dog.  My favorite thing is when it says, "You're SOOOOOOOO Big!"  It sounds so sweet.

Mommy helped Bentley open his presents.  This is Scout.  He says. "I love you, Bentley."

What a mess!  Christmas was a blast!

All that comotion caused a minor explosion on Bentley's part.  There's nothing cuter than this little baby bum!

Coen and I baked sugar cookies in Christmas shapes after presents.  Bentely lucked out and got his first taste of a sugar cookie.  He loved it!

My favorite gift was my Baby Bullet that I got a little early.  I've been making Bentley's babyfood homemade for a couple of weeks, and we are doing pretty good.  Here was my first big batch.

This was our very first attempt.  apples, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, blueberries, and mango....YUMMMMMM

~Saturday~

Saturday was Christmas Eve, and it was a great one!  We had lots of places to visit, and it was our first Christmas Eve to start our own family traditions.  We started the day at Daniel's parents' house.  Granddaddy, Nana, Uncle Jacob, Aunt Jennifer, and Cousins Charlie and Ruby Cate were all there, and everyone had a great time.

Happy Family :)

Bentley enjoyed all of his gifts.

This is SO cool!

After Dave and Reg's house, we went to my dad's (Buddy's), a.k.a. Granddaddy.  Bentley had fun playing with Coen, and he got lots of fun and cute stuff.

Look at me! :)

He loved his new riding toy.

Look at that face...I MELT!!!

Hey everyone...watch out!

After going to Granddaddy's house, we headed to the Fortenberry Christmas at Aunt Debbie's.  We didn't get any pictures with our camera, but I think Russ and Cyndel did, so maybe I'll add those later.  Finally, it was time to go home and get ready for the big guy...Santa Claus.

Once home, we needed to prepare for Santa's visit.  I explained to Bentley that Santa would come and bring him some wonderful gifts and fill our stockings.  I also told him that Santa is sometimes hungry for a snack, and his favorite snack is cookies and milk.  I explained that the reindeer get hungry, too, so we needed to leave them a snack.  So, here's what we came up with.

Here's our setup for decorating cookies.  These are the cookies I baked with Coen the previous night.  Daniel and I made our own homemade royal icing that turned out really good.

And this is what Santa saw when he came to our house.  Three lovely cookies for him, a delicious cup of cold milk, nine pieces of carrot (one for all eight reindeer, plus Rudolph), and a note from Bentley.

Here is Bentley's note to Santa.

He had to write on the back, too.

After getting everything ready for Santa, it was onto tradition number two...a Christmas Eve gift.  Bentley opened one present from Mommy and Daddy.  He was excited to open it, and Daddy had to help.

Too cute...drop seat jammies!

My two boys...so cute!

One more look at his tree before bedtime.

That was the end of Christmas Eve.  We went to bed, Santa visited, and all of a sudden...it was Christmas morning!  Daniel and I woke up between 7:00 and 7:30, and we were anxious with anticipation for the day.  I was so thrilled to experience Bentley's first Christmas morning. 

~Sunday~ 

Here's what Santa left for Bentley!
A basketball goal, a firetruck, a cookie jar, a HUGE book, and a new Sleepy Bunny

What a beautiful site on Christmas morning.  A lovely tree, fun toys for my sweet baby, and full stockings on the mantle.

Our stockings were STUFFED with all kinds of goodies!

While we were awake and waiting, Bentley decided to sleep in. He slept until almost 8:00! Finally, he woke up, and it was time for the fun! Because he doesn't completely understand the excitement of Christmas yet, he was a little more interested in getting his breakfast, so we did that first.

Then...it was time for presents!

Check out that Happy Hair for Christmas!

Porsche loves looking in her stocking.

Bentley was funny with his stocking...he wasn't sure about what to do with all the stuff.

He figured it out!

Walking to his toys...the Sleepy Bunny caught his eye first.

A singing, rocking firetruck.  So much fun!

After opening presents and playing for a while, it was time for breakfast.  We made pancakes and sausage.  It was so yummy.  Porsche and Bentley were both very appreciative.

Porsche always gets her very own mini pancake.

Bentley really enjoyed his bites of pancake as well.

After breakfast we had to get ready to head out for the rest of the day.  Off to Nana Reg and Granddaddy Dave's we go!  We had the big family Christmas with Daniel's mom's side of the family at lunch time.  It was nice to see everyone, and we got to look at old slides of the family from years and years ago.  That was quite funny and interesting, to say the least.  Bentley enjoyed playing with Charlie and Ruby Cate again, too.

Bentley and Ruby were interested in one another's pacis. 

Here's my sweet little guy.  I'm so in love!

After the Tucker family Christmas, it was time to head to my mom's side of the family at Sammi's house (my aunt).  We had a great time, but we somehow managed to not take any pictures.  I think it had been such a long day that we just forgot to take the camera in...I don't know.

Overall, it was a wonderful holiday!  I had a blast, Bentley loved it, and we as a family enjoyed our first Christmas with a little one so much!  I am thankful to everyone for all the wonderful gifts.  While the season is not about the gifts, it's so much fun to shop for little ones.  I am grateful for all that Bentley received, and I know he will one day express his gratitude, as well.  He has so many new toys, a closet full of clothes, and none of that matches the love he must feel from his loving family.

I look forward to helping him understand the true meaning of Christmas someday, but for now, I think we'll enjoy the fun we get to experience with him.