It's a...

Baby! We went for our 20-week ultrasound yesterday, and had a great opportunity to see what Peanut/Bono/Kator Tot has been up to since we got to see last (about 3 months ago). The baby was very, very active, kicking legs (which I feel), and moving arms - baby's right arm was over the head at one point. Everything medically looks great - closed spine, nicely formed brain and heart chambers, pairs of arms, hands, legs and feet, and measurements are good too - baby's femur, for example, is 28 mm long. I'm not sure how that measures up to other baby femurs of similar age, so I can't comment on our child's brilliance at this point, but it was amazing to see how much this new person has been growing. We had been debating finding out the baby's gender, but decided to wait until June to find out (along with the rest of you). The pictures I'm posting are a profile shot, with baby's head on the right, spine to the bottom of the frame, and legs curled up; a front shot of baby's face and stomach (too hard to tell if baby's more Kline or Kator); and a shot of the bottom of the baby's feet - one on top of the other. That last shot is completely amazing to me. Our child has feet.

Benny vs. Stocking

This post is devoted to our slightly nutty dog-cat, Ben. He's feline in looks and purring, but has several odd dog habits like drinking from the toilet (we're so proud) and waiting at the window for us to come home, then racing to the back door to meet us. He also has wonderful dog-like nagging skills when it comes to begging us to put out food (even though he looks at the bowl, eats a bite, then seems to completely forget that there was food there in the first place).

For all his quirks, we love him, and he proved to be highly entertaining during the Christmas season. "Santa Paws" brought Ben a stocking with a new cat toy, some catnip mice, and a couple of bags of treats. When his stocking was on the floor, Ben figured out that his treats were inside, and frequently attacked the stocking in an attempt to get out the bag of treats. He was successful once or twice, but lacked the manual dexterity to open the bag. I tried for about a week to capture this on video. The clip I'll upload isn't his best form, but gives you an idea.