Ben's First Birthday!

Ben's first birthday came and went without much fanfare (September 14th), but we had a little party and a lot of fun and that's all that matters. 

Birthday boy in the morning.

Birthday shirt courtesy of Grandma!

Not impressed with my homemade applesauce cupcake.

Zoe liked it though.  She asked for her own candle.

Still not impressed.  We put a little cake in his mouth and he kind of gagged on it (the cupcakes were yummy!  I swear!)  so we gave him some yogurt instead.

Not impressed with the yogurt either.

But it certainly didn't dampen his spirit.  Here's what happens when you are busy taking your three year old to potty in a different bathroom and the baby is left unattended for five minutes.  What a mischievous grin!

Ben also 'celebrated' his birthday by having surgery to correct his tongue-tie (a frenectomy) and to have a cyst removed in his mouth.  It was scary but we all got through it with flying colors.  Since then, Ben has been making more sounds and babbling more often.  He's gotten a late start because of the mouth issues that we didn't know about, but I am sure he will catch up.

In regards to the gagging on the birthday cake - the doctor also mentioned that it looks like he might need some speech/mouth therapy to get him on the right track as far as his eating habits (he is still taking a bottle and eating only thin, pureed foods).  I have noticed that he doesn't seem to know how to chew, and this may be why he can't eat the solid stuff.  I'll know more tomorrow when we go to our evaluation at a speech therapy clinic.

Regardless of the mouth issues, Ben is still happy and healthy and has the best smile of anyone I know.  I can't believe he is one year old already!