Three Again

So here are very belated pictures from Ben's 3rd birthday party in January. Better late than never, right?

We had a joint party with Ben's best friend from school, and the love of his young life, C.

I think all the kids had a great time, but Ben did especially. He didn't stop moving for the entire party, hence his red cheeks and sweaty hair.

Ben and his little friend both picked out Toy Story cakes, because you can apparently never have too much Buzz or Woody.

We were very grateful for all the friends that came out to help Ben celebrate, and Ben was especially thankful for all his loot! We are still rationing presents, which is a good thing when your birthday falls right after Christmas.

Next up: gratuitous belly photos!

Three

As hard as it is to believe, Ben turned 3 on December 30. We celebrated by opening a few presents when he woke up.

Please excuse the mismatched pajamas. It happens sometimes and was an incredible lack of foresight on my part.

Despite the incredibly pathetic look on his face (not unlike a look he once gave me when he was only 3 months old), he did actually have a good time opening his presents.

The presents were followed by birthday pancakes. I believe Ben actually ate several bites of these pancakes, which was a record. Despite the fact that he wants to make pancakes every weekend, he rarely eats them - which has nothing at all to do with the quality of my pancakes, I am sure.

After the pancakes, we took a very exciting trip to the train station where we picked up my parents who had taken the train from High Point to Raleigh for their own big city adventure.

We had a very busy afternoon, with lunch at the Pit followed by stops at the history museum and the natural science museum. After that we all needed naps so we reconvened for dinner that evening and then went back to my parents' hotel room for a little bit.

Ben was quite taken with a rather old-fashioned piece of technology he found in their room.

We topped the evening off with birthday cupcakes. And as is often the case with Ben and cupcakes, he did not eat a single bite, despite the fact that he'd been talking about his birthday cupcakes all day long. Thanks to the various holiday parties and birthday celebrations at his school, Ben strongly feels that cupcakes should be present at any kind of gathering that might be construed as a "party," however loosely defined. Cupcakes are required for everyone's birthday, even Mortimer's. And yet, he never eats the cupcakes. Cupcakes, pancakes...there seems to be a theme.

But he did blow out his 3rd birthday candle, and that was the most important thing.

Happy 3rd Birthday Ben! You are such an adorable little guy and your Dad and I are so lucky to have you in our lives. You make me and your Dad so "berry berry" proud every day. You are already such a little caretaker and I can't wait to see how your personality and spirit continue to develop as we embark upon another exciting year together. As your friend Buzz would say, to infinity and beyond!

A Purple Present

When we asked Ben what he wanted Santa to bring him this year he said, very confidently, "A purple present." Hmm. So I inquired as to the desired contents of this purple present and found that they included crayons, pencils, and a hippopotamus. The first two were pretty easy, and somewhat surprising, since we currently have a house full of broken crayons (with all the paper peeled off, as peeling this paper seems to be Ben's primary interest in crayons at the moment), and pencils. For that matter, we actually have a plastic hippopoatmus, a PURPLE hippopotamus no less. But Ben's list of purple present contents did not change, regardless of how many times I asked him.

He did however, have some other ideas when he made his Christmas wish list at school.

Once again, we actually already had all of the items on this list, even the carpet. Anyhow, when Christmas morning rolled around, some purple presents were waiting for Ben under the tree.

Inside his purple presents Ben found crayons, pencils, and markers, as well as a toy hippopotamus that walks, and of course everyone's favorite classic, Hungry Hungry Hippo. Hungry Hungry Hippo was actually a big hit and we played lots of games over the next few snowy days.

Ben was a great present-opener this year. He said "Oh wow, look at this!" almost every time he opened something. But of course, the more presents he opened the less he cared what was in each present and the more he cared about opening the next one. At Harold's parents' house on Christmas Day he kept following Harold's Mom around saying "Is that present for me, Grammy? Is that one mines?" It was very cute, but it has the potential to become highly obnoxious as he gets older. We will definitely have to keep an eye on that! But right now he is still a sweet little boy who is thrilled to help anyone open any present, just for the sheer excitement of it.

Anecdotes to Remember

This past weekend Ben and I took his tricycle for a spin around the block. It is too small for him, as is the bike helmet that he insisted on wearing even though it barely fits on his head. Safety first! He has become quite taken with the bike helmet recently, and was even keeping it on his bed for a while. After we cruised around the block, and he demonstrated that he can pedal on his own and that he " needs a bicycle" (are you reading this Dad?) because the tricycle is too small, when we got back home he told me the baby could ride the tricycle and have his helmet. Lets hope this sharing attitude sticks when the baby actually gets here.

Monday night I was telling Ben about the lunar eclipse and he said back to me "The moon is going to turn red and do flips!" He thought that was pretty cool. He then said "Aww, maybe the moon wants his Mommy and his Daddy and his baby." Again, super sweet, and I hope he is as enamored of his baby when she gets here.

Thumbs Up

This past summer/fall we signed Ben up for soccer and basketball classes with the Raleigh parks and recreation department. They were a lot of fun and Ben is now a big fan of playing both sports. At the end of every class the coach would ask all the kids to do a thumbs up. It took Ben a little while to get the hang of this, as he kept wanting to hold up his pointer finger and thumb (kind of like a gun, but that's another post), but he finally got the hang of it. And ever since he did he likes to occasionally walk around the house saying "thumbs up!" (It doesn't sound that exciting, but it is really cute.)

So it seemed especially fitting that during my last ultrasound Ben's little SISTER gave him her very own thumbs up.

That night I gave Ben a book about becoming a big brother along with a copy of this picture so that he could feel like he and his sister have something in common. He liked looking at the pictures and was somewhat excited when he found out he was having a little sister (who, regardless of gender, Ben believes should be named Max a la "Where the Wild Things Are"). It was a little anticlimactic, which, I guess, shouldn't be all that surprising since he is only two. But he has talked about his baby sister quite a bit in the last few weeks and even suggested that she might need a Christmas present. So I think he is getting used to the idea.

Thanksgiving Recap

We had a lovely Thanksgiving this year. Harold and I hosted for the first time, giving our families the much needed breaks they deserved. Even though it was a lot of work, it was a lot of fun too. And Ben thought it was great to have most of his family in his house all at the same time. So we have now started a new tradition, which is very nice.

Harold did most of the cooking and coordinating, and in the spirit of the season I donned a lovely apron for the occasion. Unfortunately we didn't get the camera out in time to photograph the tables but we had lots of delicious food - two turkeys, a ham, and all the traditional sides plus a few more. If you're thinking that sounds like a lot for the number of people pictured in the photo above, you would be right. We will cut back substantially (maybe) next year.

Ben was especially excited to hang out with "two Grammys" (actually a Grammy, a Nana, and a Granny - whose cane he was fascinated with) and "two Papas!"

At Ben's school they say a very cute little prayer before eating so we asked him to recite it for us. He said most of it and then ended it with "Lets eat everybody!" We couldn't have said it better ourselves!

Halloween Retrospective

Halloweens past:2008: My little bear, with Grammy

2009: Max, Where the Wild Things Are


Halloween Present:


Woody, Toy Story

What this retrospective really tells me is that I seem to have a very hard time capturing photos of Ben in costume, with cute, non-asphalt, Halloween backdrops. Alas, maybe next year.

We had a great Halloween that included a Halloween parade at school and trick or treating in our neighborhood. Unfortunately we live in a lame neighborhood when it comes to Halloween. We took Ben to a few houses on our street but it was mostly empty of trick-or-treaters. Ben was not at all shy about going up to houses and saying "Trick or treat" and "Happy Halloween!" As much as he enjoyed trick or treating, he loved handing out candy even more. Unfortunately we only had a few people stop by, but Ben took his duties very seriously. He kept asking when more friends would be coming to our house so he could give them candy, which was really cute but also kind of sad since we didn't have many trick or treaters or "friends."

Ben is still taken with the idea of being Woody for Halloween. Anytime I call him my pumpkin or little monkey, he responds that he is going to be Woody for Halloween. I guess he is not considering any other costumes at the moment, even if they are only terms of endearment.