Happy Ben

Ben turned 2 over a month ago and I am just now getting around to writing about it. Sorry Ben!

We had a great little party at the house with friends and family. My Mom (Nana or Nanny as Ben calls her) made Ben a Thomas the Train cake that turned out much better than the dinosaur I attempted last year.

Here is Ben eyeing the left over birthday cake the next morning (I could not move this picture to the bottom and I am trying not to obsess over it being out of order.)

Ben was very excited when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him. My favorite part of the whole party was when he turned around to hug me before leaning over to blow out his candles. Melts a Mama's heart!

We had a house full of 1-2 year olds and they definitely made the most of their resources. All toys were thoroughly examined and utilized in one fashion or another.

It was fun to see how the kids played together this year compared with last year's party. There was much more interaction this year. A little too much in fact. Ben is going through a bit of an aggressive stage and loves to move in for a hug that quickly turns into a headlock that usually ends up with the other kid on the ground. I'm hoping this is just a phase and that Ben will not grow up to be the playground bully.

I like this picture because Beckett and Ben look like they're having such a grown up conversation.

This is Ben's mad scientist look. Fortunately he recently had a haircut, just not in time for his birthday party.

Ben is becoming more and more entertaining every day. He is so much fun to talk to. He is not shy at all and he loves being around people. He loves loves loves to dance and run around in circles. He does this a lot, especially when we have company. He loves Curious George, Finding Nemo, and his trains, but his absolute favorite thing to do right now is color

with his "markies" (i.e., markers). We draw together every night. He loves drawing circles and asking me to draw various items (witch, airplane, train, kitty cat). Hopefully he will be able to draw much better than I can.

For a while now Ben has been saying "happy" for a while now. I don't even remember how this started (because I need to blog more often) but he will often go through a list of happy things/people: "Happy Mommy. Happy Daddy. Happy Doggie. Happy Ben." It is the cutest thing in the world and we are so lucky to have a Happy Ben.