Slip Sliding Away

Benjamin hasn't yet mastered the art of crawling - but he's getting there. As you can see, he's quite good at scooting backwards. At least until things get in his way.

Slip Slidin' Away from bnzvideo on Vimeo.

Philly!

We spent last weekend outside of Philadelphia with Chrissie's best friends from college and their families - Courtney, Travis, and Grady (now 2 1/2) and Christian, Ashley, Carter and Alanna (the twins born way early last December). We all stayed at Chris and Ashley's new house and the kids had a ball with each other (and the adults did too!). The pictures below are mostly from the "Please Touch" museum in Philly, which was tons of fun. We can't wait to bring Benjamin back there when he can do more (Grady REALLY enjoyed it!).

Philly Trip

From cousin' EZ's blog

For those of you who aren't loyal followers of cousin' Ezra's blog, we thought you might appreciate this post -- to see just how well Benji and Ezra are getting along.

With the huggers from Alan Zibel on Vimeo.

Christmas/New Years 2009

Below is a link to pictures from Benjamin's first Christmas, ski trip, and New Years. We have several videos to go through as well - and they take a long time to upload - so you will likely see them in drips and drabs.

Enjoy!

December 2009

Clapping

Despite the many pleas (mainly from grandparents), we still haven't sorted through the photos from Christmas and our ski trip. We promise to do so soon.

In the meantime, check out B's new skill. Very impressive.

Clapping! from bnzvideo on Vimeo.

A sunny, warm day in Washington

The last 12 hours have brought quite the snow storm to the greater DC area. While the snow continues to fall, and is supposed to do so for a while longer, we probably have about 10 inches on the ground at last count. Although it took us longer to get Benjamin ready to go outside than we actually spent outside, he appears to love his first snowstorm!

The Blizzard!

Thanksgiving Weekend

The Benj-man doesn't eat turkey yet so his first Thanksgiving involved a lot of turkey bibs, cute outfits, and attention from his grandparents, aunts, and various others. It also included his first Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) ride into NYC to see his (and Dan's) first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We didn't see a lot of the parade, but SpongeBob SquarePants was a big hit ;)

Thanksgiving 2009

Pictures of the Teeth (and More!)

So Dan was finally able to get a few good shots of Benjamin's teeth yesterday (really, it's harder than it sounds!). Also in the album are some misc shots - of Benji hanging out, in the bath, and of some play dates with his friends Sasha and Lyra. Enjoy!

Teeth and other Misc Nov Pics

One Tooth is for Babies

But TWO teeth are for big boys! Just minutes after Chrissie told Dan "I think he's cutting another tooth," Dan saw it while getting Benj ready for bed (yes, Dan has now found both teeth, but Chrissie's not jealous, not at all!). Also on the bottom, also in the middle. Guess the first tooth was just lonely.

Zibel Boy Cuts a Tooth!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Chrissie or Dan

(November 18, 2009, Washington, D.C.) - Benjamin woke up with his first tooth today! His parents, Dan and Chrissie, report that the tooth cut through the gums at some point between 7:30 pm on November 17th and 6:30 am on November 18th. Given the boy woke up with a start at 11:30 pm last evening and 12:30 am this morning (going back to sleep on his own, much to his parents glee), they further suspect that the tooth officially came in in the vicinity of those times. The boy is doing fine without tylenol, though is not so in to showing the tooth, so pictures will follow at some point.

###

UPDATE: Dan has confirmed the location of the tooth - bottom left (our right) middle tooth.

Six Months!

Last weekend, Benjamin celebrated his 6 month birthday. Today we went to the doc for his checkup - he got a great report and continues to be in the 75th percentile for height (27 1/4 inches), weight (19 lbs. 3 oz.), and head circumference (45 cm). He also got a ton of shots (and is now sleeping them - and the tylenol - off!).

Below are two albums - the first from last weekend when Ellen and Allan (Dan's Aunt/Uncle) visited us and the second is a mish mash of pics from the last couple weeks. It includes our trip to Ann Arbor (B's first plane ride!) and some random shots.

Enjoy!

Ellen and Allan Visit

Ellen and Allan Visit

Other Pics

Misc. Benj - Oct/Early Nov

A blog emergency!

So we were going to post some more pictures of Benji from this past weekend, but as luck would have it -- we had a blogging emergency. The pictures of the new bath, and videos of the paper tearing will have to wait.

As you will see, Benji is somewhat sad these days.

Not a very happy boy... from bnzvideo on Vimeo.

Benji's First Halloween!

Benjamin (aka Yoda) had several Halloween celebrations this week. The first set of pictures, in the grey stroller you won't recognize, are from his Halloween parade at school. The next set are from Halloween day hanging in the house and then heading out to walk around the Hill. Benjamin did, however, sleep through our sighting of the Obama girls treat or treating in our neighborhood. Oh well, mom and dad enjoyed seeing them anyway!

Look for more pics later this week of Benji's new bath tub and just some all around fun video of him hanging out.

Halloween!

Who Needs a Chair?

So in addition to sitting in his high chair, Benjamin has almost mastered the art of just sitting on his tush on the floor. He's been practicing at school and has gotten really good at it. I captured it on video this evening (excuse the cold induced scratchiness in my singing, but it made B happy and I wanted to get the video!).

A New Seat!

As Benji has become quite the foodie of late (bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, & peas) -- we knew we had to up the ante on his eating arrangement. Luckily, we were ready to go with Benji's new highchair. He's quite the fan!

Benji tries the high chair!

Dinner Time

Benji has become quite the little eater!

Dinner Time! from Dan Zibel on Vimeo.

Apples!

On Sunday, we ventured out to Markham, Virginia to go apple picking at Stribling Orchard. It was a beautiful fall day. The pictures speak for themselves.

There's also one shot at the end to show you all how well Benji boy is sitting these days. In other news, he's now enjoying oatmeal, sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, and this weekend's new edition - carrots. Some green veggies will follow before introducing more fruit (despite the influx of apples in our house!).

Link to pics:

Apple Picking

Long Overdue Pics

Below is an album of assorted pictures from the last couple of weeks. There are a couple from Benjamin's first taste of cereal 3 weeks ago, some from his first taste of sweet potato, and then finally, from this weekend, spent with Grammy Carol and Grandpa Jack. Enjoy!

September Pics of Benjamin

We've Been Remiss

We're sorry - we've left our adoring fans (ok, really, Benji's adoring fans) hanging with little to no information or pictures. We promise that we will share some new pics soon (truth be told, we haven't really taken any recently...), but we did want to update you on the little guy's progress.

We started Benjamin on "solids" nearly 3 weeks ago, and just this week, we are starting to make some progress. Benjamin eats rice cereal twice a day at school (the teachers think he wants to eat because he sees his friends doing so, we're not so sure) and has been experimenting with fruits and vegetables at home for dinner. Last night he ate half a banana and a cube of pureed sweet potato with no fuss. He swallowed it without the aid of a pacifier or a bottle - previously we've had to help him with the concept by giving him something to suck on.

Later this week we plan to introduce oatmeal and butternut squash.

And really, we promise to give you some pics soon!

Halloween Poll Over! - UPDATED 9/21

Turns out the Juliano/Zibel household is a democracy. We ordered the Yoda costume yesterday, and it is already on our way to us. Stay tuned for pictures on or about October 31st!

Thanks to all who voted. 10 out of 16 inquiring minds chose Yoda. But Dan's not quite on board, yet, so stay tuned.