Benigno Erasmo David

Sorry for the 6 month delay in posting here about Benig.  Since our last post, he has not only learned to walk, but also run, jump, and climb.  His verbal skills are not quite there yet, though his sign language is much improving.  Below are a series of recent videos of Benig.  Pictures hopefully will follow soon in the next month; we’ve been having memory/uploading difficulties.

Benig Waters the Plants, kind of like Tatay

Benig Wakes Up Tatay

Benig Helps Move Boxes

Benig Dances with His Guitar

Benig Rides His New Tricycle

Benig Reads with Lola Neneng

Two things to note in this video:

1) Benig is standing on his own!

2) Benig is wearing a 25 cents outfit for Halloween Eve.  Yes, it is a two-piece, orange velour outfit complete with Jack-O-Latern and and white collar.  Can this Somervillain get any more ironic for Halloween?  Or, as Ninang Lisa put, can this half-Staten-Island baby get any more Asian?

After all of these months (15 to be exact) of singing to Benig as he falls asleep, Benig finally sings himself to sleep.  This may be the cutest thing he does right now.  I wonder which of the songs we sing to him he is singing in this rendition.  It could also be a Benig original!

Sorry for the delay in updates!  Our Benig is growing quickly, while we continue to get busier and busier with returning to normal life.
Below is a video of Benig cleaning his crib.  I think he wants to keep his crib tidy, though with his long history of the dropping game, this might just be advanced dropping game skills.

We took Benig to visit Auntie Karen and Uncle Howie at their home in Maine in August.

Benig loved Uncle Howie’s guitar,

the house swing,

and swimming in the lake.

Other things were not as amusing, like floating on the lake,

or canoeing.

All in all, I think Benig enjoyed his lazy summer weekend in Maine.

In the middle of Boston Common is Frog Pond, a huge fountain where anyone can wade and play in the summer.  In spite of it being a cold, cloudy day, Benig couldn’t get enough of the water.

Boy these pictures are long overdue.

Benig had a wonderful birthday party on his actual birthday in August at the MIT Sailing pavilion on the Charles River.

It was filled with smiles…

… playtime…

… laughter…

… tears…

… cake…

… and lechon.

I may be biased, but overall I thought it was a lovely party that brought many of our friends and family together to celebrate Benig’s wonderful first year.

I have no idea why Benig finds playing tug-of-war with his sock or my picking up his sock from the floor with my toes to be hilarious, but it sure does melt my heart every time he laughs.

Benig has been incredibly mobile the last month or so.  He first started doing a Benig-style crawl.  It’s not the usual tummy up crawl, but rather a combination of earthworm/accordion bunching of the body with some breaststroke-style arm movements.  (I’ll try to capture it eventually on camera.)

He’s not as much a fan of that though as he is of walking.  He has always enjoyed jumping and standing, so this comes as no surprise.

This picture documents among his first steps.

And here is a youtube video of Benig walking with Lola.

We’ve since been slowly baby-proofing the house, but it turns out to be impossible to do it all at once.  Benig inevitably finds something else to pull/break/eat that he shouldn’t have had access to.  Lawrence and I sure are learning quickly how to be parents as Benig learns how to be a 1 year old Benig!