Our Little Monkey has Turned One!

This last year has flown by much too quickly. I have been extremely excited about Benjamin's first birthday and have also been dreading it. Hopefully as I try to take lots of time to appreciate all the small and simple things about his development and growth, time will slow down a little. My biggest fear is that I'll wake up tomorrow and will be sending my boy off to college, wondering where the time went and regretting it.

Anyway, so I have totally been that crazy mom I swore I wouldn't be -the one who throws an elaborate, time-consuming party for a one year old who wont remember a thing (much less care about it). I freely admit my hypocrisy. I will say this though; I LOVED it. I had been thinking about and planning all of the details of Benjamin's first birthday party for weeks (Stephen did a fabulous job at trying to be attentive and match my excitement as I went over ideas with him again and again. He's pretty much the greatest.). With the help of one of my sisters (who pretty much saved me from insanity with her ability to be practical), I made all of the decorations for the party, which was easily one of my favorite parts about the whole planning ordeal. It was way fun for me to use my "elementary school teacher creativity" in creating and organizing said decorations (a stay-at-home mom's education is never wasted, but that is a blog post/rant for another day).

I also branched out of my comfort zone and learned how to sort-of make a decent looking cake. It wasn't too bad for a first attempt. I just found this adorable picture of a monkey cake (for Benjamin) online and knew I had to give it a shot. Stephen was my hero and ran all over creation to find me the candy bananas I wanted for the cupcakes (for everyone else). He was my hero many times, come to think of it...bless that man. Only he could be married to a woman like me. Love him <3

Of course I cried as we sang happy birthday to Benjamin, and he cried too (he's not a fan of sudden, loud noises). It took him a little while to warm up to the idea of smashing cake in between his fingers, but once he did, that poor monkey was demolished within minutes. The cake smashing was easily my favorite moment. 

Despite the Palmer clan being miserably sick, the party was a success! Benjamin got some much needed new clothes and some fun toys, thanks to all his loving family members and friends.

Some fun one-year facts about Benjamin:

• He walks with both arms raised above his shoulders, next to his ears, with his hands in tight fists (it's hilarious). He took his first independent steps at 11 months old and has just recently started toddling around completely on his own.

• An absolute favorite thing of his is bath time. He will stand eagerly at the side of the tub, and bounce up and down, squealing with excitement while we fill it up.

• Another favorite thing of his is reading. The kid is one of my own and loves books! I once watched him (while he was in the tub) try to "read" one of his bath-books to a toy frog. SO stinking cute.

• He says "Mama" and, occasionally, "Dada." He even once swatted at Stephen and told him "No!" That was only a one-time occurrence, but we suppose it's only a matter of time...

•  He is a very spirited little boy and loves to discover and explore things. He is also quite the "talker" and is almost constantly babbling to himself or to Stephen and I. He is a happy little guy.

•  Favorite foods are bananas, cheerios, bread and peanut butter, and carrots. He absolutely hates peaches, peas, and the skins on grapes and mandarin oranges. 

• He dislikes being restricted in his explorations, like when we have to pull him out of the dishwasher after he's climbed inside while we were loading it, or when we have to take him out of the bathroom after he's gone fishing in the toilet. He gets quite upset.

•  He is terrified of the vacuum cleaner. Just pulling it out of the closet will cause Benjamin to shake like a leaf and cry. Confession: Sometimes, when I am particularly frustrated with Benjamin, I think about pulling it out and turning it on (don't worry, I'm not mean enough to actually do it).

•  While a total Mama's boy when he was younger, he now can hear his daddy come home from a mile away and all but run to him, squealing with excitement along the way. It's probably the cutest thing I get to see every day.

• He will become a big brother in July, and likely a great one :) He has a little baby doll that whenever it "cries" (we make a soft crying sound), he stops what he's doing, goes and finds the doll, and (most of the time) gives it "loves" (sometimes he'll suck on it's face...maybe that's a kiss???).

We have loved having this little guy in our family and are so grateful God saw fit to bless us with the opportunity to be his parents. He is such a joy!