Benjamin updates

Benjamin is a little over 18 months old. He had a check-up and vaccination a few days ago and has realized he doesn't like doctors at all. He screamed bloody murder, and that was just while the doctor was looking at his ears and his teeth. He hadn't even seen the shot needle yet. Fortunately, he doesn't have to go back for 6 months now.

He has now decided he's not interested in his sippy cups anymore and wants to drink from a real cup. Usually we only let him have water, but I got adventurous the other day and put some milk in his cup.

A couple of days ago, I went upstairs as usual to get Benjamin up from his nap. And this is what I found.

He opened the drawer under his crib and emptied it from inside his crib. I think he managed that by pulling up his mattress. He also unearthed his second pacifier, which I guess he put there a few days earlier for safe-keeping.

As you can see, he's very proud of his accomplishment.

Reading

This week, we got a package from a friend. She remembered that I love to read, and that it isn't easy to find books in English over here, so she sent a huge box of books for me and Benjamin. We are both loving our new books!

 One of my favorite things about living here is how late the sun stays out in the summer time.
This was our sunset a few days ago, at 10:00 pm.

The hedge's last stand and other photos

Hasn't been a lot happening around here this week. Last week Frederic had sinus surgery so he's still recovering but went back to work today.

We're almost done with the hedge... We still have about a 12-foot section to the left of the driveway gate to hack the top off of, and then we will be done until trimming time this fall. So here is the hedge's last stand, and a few other random pictures.

Our little Dr Pepper lover.
(disclaimer: he doesn't actually get to drink it. Just play with the empty cans.)

This is why it's hard to get a good picture of Benjamin lately.

Yesterday we had alternating rain and sunshine all day long, and saw this rainbow over our neighbor's house.

A rose in our garden.

This is an extremely rare photo.
Benjamin is such a light sleeper that normally he wakes up when he hears us coming up the stairs to his room.

sunny days are here again

Finally!

And our first tomatoes are starting to appear! I think these are on the cherry tomato plant. Frederic also planted Red Pear, Yellow Pear, and Roma tomatoes. The bell peppers aren't looking as good, since the birds kept trying to destroy them. Frederic has now put up some rope "fencing" around them and some red and white security tape to act as a scarecrow. So we're holding out hope that the peppers will survive.

And we got some more work done on the hedge this past week. As you can see, we still have the back half of that part to finish cutting off, and we still have one more length of hedge in front of the house to do as well. Then we hope to be able to keep it at a reasonable height (it's about 6 feet tall now instead of 8-9) with just semi-annual trimming.

Our Little Helper

Benjamin is starting to be a very helpful little boy. At least, he's trying to be. Yesterday he "helped" me vacuum... just imagine how long vacuuming could take with all that help! Fortunately for me, he lost interest before he helped me with the entire house.

This morning he helped us put away groceries.

Uh-oh, watch the eggs!