Week in photos: 4 year check up, greeting cards, and cute things Ben says

A few photos from this week:

Ben had his 4 year check up.  It revealed a few things we already knew: He is huge (95th percentile for height and 75th for weight), growing big and strong, and is exactly where he should be in all his developmental areas.  It also revealed a few things we didn't know: He can draw a person (kind of - he has never shown any interest in drawing a picture or anything beyond a scribble, really - but when the doctor asked him to draw a face and a body, he did.  What?  The appointment also revealed that he needed to be referred to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist - apparently he had a pin hole in one ear drum and persistent effusion in the other.  The appointment with the ENT doctor just a few days later revealed he had 2 ear infections.  ?  (Marcia, I know you are freaking out as you read this)!  So he is on meds now and we have a follow up in a couple weeks.  So we learned he inherited his daddy's ears!

He also handled his vaccinations like a champ (the last he will need until he is 11)!  He even kissed his own owie after he got his shot (adorable).  He ended up with a red, rashy arm - but it was gone after 24 hours. 

  

The boys chillin'.

 

Me and Ben - I freaking love this hat on him.  I wanted to snap a picture before I left it in his cubby at school for the season.

Ben LOVES greeting cards.  We learned this after his birthday party, when I kept them by his mailbox in his room and he proceeded to pull them out to read multiple them times a day.  He has memorized who gave him each one and is so interested in the words (finding his name - and he now can identify "birthday" pretty well)!  I think this will be how he learns to read!

Side note - he calls his cards his "presents" and I'm pretty sure he will be getting some Xmas cards in his stocking this year :) 
 

 

 A few other funny things he has said/done lately:

One of my favorite things he says when he and Greg and doing something together: "We guys are playing together".

When I asked him if he wanted to share his cookie with me, he said "No, I'm sharing it by myself".

The day after his shots, he told me his arm was "sword - like daddy".  (Greg will tell Ben he is sore after work, but Ben always says "sword" instead).

Observing the fire in the fireplace: "The fire is dancing".

He calls the trophy he got from soccer his "piston cup".

While singing "Old McDonald", instead of saying "had a farm", he says "Happy Meal".

When getting into the bath with me, Ben walked into the bathroom with 4 matchbox cars.  (And there already were a bunch in there). I said he could choose 2 to bring in, and he immediately responded with "3??".  I said, "No, 2".  He then walked straight to the bath, not breaking eye contact with me, and gave me a sweet smile as he dropped all 4 into the tub.  The ultimate mic drop.  Greg and I about DIED laughing.  This kid certainly knows how to get his way.
 Ben is really into using all kinds of objects for playing pretend.  As I'm writing this, he is sliding his camera across the kitchen counter pretending it's "Ben", and pretending that my coffee mug is "Auntie Karen" and they are talking to one another.  The other day, I heard him in the back seat say "You're my best friend", to which I said "Awww, you are mine, too"!  He then shouted "NO - this shoe is Ben and this shoe is Freya"!  Apparently they were talking to one another.

He is obsessed with singing "Ben Ben Bo Ben".  It's extremely annoying.

He also is obsessed with singing "You'll Be Back" from the Hamilton soundtrack - which of course I can't get enough of.

He will randomly ask about his friends and ask me if they are doing the same thing he is doing.  For example, "Mom, did Oliver wake up?" (when he is waking up), or "Is Callie going night night"?

We have fun around here.  4 is officially the best.

3.5 year old chatter

Last night at 9:45 PM:

"Mommy, are you getting cozy?  I like to get cozy with you.  I like to get cozy with dada.  Can we watch Cars?  Please?  Can we watch the red car?  Can we watch the tow truck?  What is Mac doing?  Is he driving?  Mama, LOOK - he is driving with the red car!  Can I have a snack?  I want crackers.  Rocket ship crackers.  And juice.  Can I have juice?  DADA, will you get me juice please!?  OH YOU GOT ME JUICE.  I'm going to drink it.  Mmmmmmmmmmm it's SO GOOD.  Mom, do you have your water?  CHEERS!!! (Coughs).  I coughed!  I have a yucky cough. Coughs are so yuck.  DADA, where are you goin'?  Are you going potty?  Are you going potty like a big boy?  Mama, can you tickle me?  Whose tummy is this?  IT'S BEN'S TUMMY!  Can you do that please? (Laughter).  Mama, are you sleeping?  Are your eyes closed?  Mama, you don't want your eyes closed.  You want to be awake!  Can we read the hippopotamus book?  But not the hippopotamus!  But YES the hippopotamus!  They are drinking juice!  (Now singing): This is the way we wash our face, wash our face, wash our face, this is the way we wash our face, so early in the morning.  This is the way we go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, this is the way we go to sleep so early in the morning. No, we don't want to go to sleep.  I'm AWAKE! (No shit). Mama, should we whisper?  Can you tell me a secret?  DADDY, Mama is SLEEPING, let's BE QUIET and WHISPER.  (Not whispering). Mama, I want to see Grandma.  Is Grandma coming tomorrow? (Yes).  Is Grandma coming tomorrow?  (Yes).  She is coming?  She is going to drive her red car up the driveway?  (Yes). OH GOOD, I love Grandma.  Are we going to make cookies? Can I make cookies with Grandma?  I love you Mama.  Can we go to Benny's bed?  And read books?  And look at the stars? (We go to his room).  I have to go potty!!! (I take him). I went a LOT.  That was a LOT of pee."

2 realizations:

1) There was a time when this type of chatter was only a dream.  I knew I would look back one day and think, "Man, that silence was so nice"!  That time is now.

2) I think we might need to start cutting his afternoon nap a little bit shorter.

Week in Photos

A couple random cute things I wrote down that he has said over the past few weeks:

After going through the carwash we got to pick out an air freshener.  I chose Coconut, to which Ben yelled "COOKIE-NUT", followed by "I WANT COOKIES"!!

From the back seat, every time we have driven somewhere the past few days, "Mommy, you are a nice driver"!

Wearing Greg's hat. 

Enjoying a lovely evening at Callie's house making "Mores" (as Ben calls them).  Randomly, I asked Ben last week who his best friend was and he responded without a beat, "Callie". 



Often times after school, Ben will come home SO dirty  that it requires an early bath (which is awesome - dirt definitely indicates a good day)!  He has been obsessed with wearing his bear robe my parents got him for Christmas.  We snuggled and watched a little Cars before his nap.

Greg got a golf net for the backyard, so on the nice evenings, the boys have been going outside to dig and hit balls.  :)





Last Friday was had an awesome evening babysitting Raleigh while Rachel and Peter went out for an evening!  They bought us beer and Indian Food while I got to remember what having a 1 year old was like (snuggles, bottles, and early bedtimes) - so I'm not sure who got the better end of this deal!

Funny side note: When they got home, Rachel and I talked and hung out while Greg, Peter and Ben played some Grand Theft Auto.  Every day since, Ben has been telling me that he "wants to drive the black car", which I had assumed he meant MY car, until he elaborated and said "I want to drive and crash the black car, with Peter, at Baby Raleigh's" and then I understood what he meant.







Some fun at the park:



And finally, a school update! I am happy to report that just as everyone predicted, school is getting SO much better!  He still will tell me he doesn't want to go to school, but I'm almost positive it is only because he would probably still PREFER to be at home.  When he is there, he is napping, playing with other kids, getting outside, and getting a routine in his life :)  He comes home singing all kinds of songs and talking about random things and when I ask, he tells me he learned it at school.  I love it.

Today when I picked him up he and a little boy were chasing each other around the room.  When I dropped him off this morning, a little girl yells out "YAY! Ben's here"!!  And then I died.

As I was walking out the door to my car this morning, a little girl coming in with her mom goes "That's Ben's mom".  So, that was cute.

I can't explain how relieved I am.

Here are some of the pictures we have received from his time at school:

 

 

Photo Catch Up and Ben Says

These "catch up" posts have been coming more regularly lately (which makes it a lot easier for me). :)

I have been bad at keeping track of some of the things Ben has been saying and doing lately that have cracked us up, but one in particular I made note of was the other night after we both yawned at the same time.  He said "Mama, we YAWNED together"!  Minutes later, we must have both sneezed closely together, which prompted him to say "We yawned together, And we bless-you'd together"!

Unrelated, but Callie snapped this picture after Ben and Maylee got their nails painted, haha!  I guess she started with just one nail, but Ben kept requesting another one, and another one.

On Ben's last day at Callie's (sob) she bought him, Mira and Maylee a special "friendship bear" for them to always keep to remind them of one another.  SO cute.  I'm not sure if he completely understands yet (and I also have not been very clear that we won't be going back each week), HOWEVER, every time he sees the bear I tell him what it is and we talk about the girls.

A few photos I snapped from Becca's bachelorette party in Leavenworth!

Steph and I met up one morning and took the boys to the Play Happy Cafe and followed up with McDonald's for lunch.

One morning on the way to dropping Ben off at school, we stopped for a bagel.

Our little artist.

We went out to dinner with the Cougans, but beforehand, Ben snapped a few pictures:

I wanted to carry Raleigh home in the Ergo, and before we left the restaurant, the hostess exclaimed  (to me, because I was holding him), "He is sooooooooooooooooooooooo cute"! To which I jumped in before Rachel could respond and yelled, "THANKS"! LOL! #mine

A little Waldo searching.

Out for a little walk and found a bomb stick.

Ben often mixes things up like "I", "me" and "he", and will refer to himself as "he" more often than not.  During Superbowl, the boys were outside playing and Ben kept running to open the door to yell at me "We guys are playing catch with the footballs"

Ben, wanting to do everything Laryd did, snagged a spot in Dan's lap, too.

Fresh out the bath in his cozy bear robe.

I had some errands to run at the mall one day, so we stopped for a ice cream cone for lunch (since I was craving one) :)

And in case you are ever wondering how long it takes a 3 year old to eat an ice cream cone, the answer is 37 minutes.  Not kidding. 

"Oh, hi Ben"!

Grabbing my phone and looking at the screen saver I have, Ben says: 

Oh, hi Ben!  Are you having a nice snack?  Are you eating pretzels, and a squeeze-squeeze, and some juice?  You're so cute.  

WHAT A GOOFBALL!

Ben Says

Now that we have a full blown motormouth, I need to start writing down some of the funny things Ben is saying these days!  Here are a few I've heard lately:

Every night, after we have read books and I'm tucking Ben into bed, I will go over the agenda for the next day for Ben.  I usually start with, "when you wake up, we will have some chocolate (carnation instant breakfast) milk, we will play trucks, and then we will [fill in the blank] (go to Callie's; go to the grocery store; go see a friend; etc).  And recently, Ben has started to initiate this conversation on his own throughout the day and will say "And when we wake up, we will go see Laryd.....and go on the trampolines (Elevated Sportz)....and have a cookie.....and play hide and go see with mama, dada and Ben....."

The other day, I had helped Ben down from his chair at the counter after he ate his dinner because he was telling me he was ready to go play trucks, but then suddenly, he turned and ran towards the hall yelling, "ACTUALLY, I need to go wash my hands".  (First time saying actually).

When we were on our way up to Whistler a couple months back, we were all starving as we crossed the border.  We were singing a song we often sing about what we were doing (too hard to explain, but it started as a potty celebration song I made up earlier this year and it turned into a daily song that Ben sings that is bordering on annoying at this point, but obviously still cute to me).  Greg started singing that we were getting some nuggets, and then Ben chimed in:

Ben, trying to be extremely clear about what he wanted, told me "I want to have a treat, a chocolate treat, and I want to eat it in my mouth".  #duh

We recently toured the preschool that I'll be sending Ben to next year, and he loved it SO much.  I've been asking him if he wants to go to school one day, so now every time we mention a school, see a school, read a book about a school, he will tell me "I want to go to school one day", which is cute and I sure hope he feels that way when we actually go!

When we ask Ben what his name is, he will always switch it up and respond with one of the following: "My name is Ben" or "My name is Benny" or "My name is Benjamin". When I asked him what his last name was, he told me "Ingle - I N G L E", which cracked me UP because he has probably heard Greg and I do that a thousand times because we ALWAYS spell our last name out.  It's a habit I picked up from Greg years ago after discovering that everyone always thinks our last name starts with an E. 

Caught in the Act - ABC's!

34 Months Old

34 months.  2 years and 10 months.  2 5/6 years old.

I remember when Ben was not even 1 yet, I would think back to the prior year and reminisce about how "last summer, I was X months pregnant", or "this time last [fill in the blank holiday], I was only X months pregnant", etc.

Now when I do that, it was 3 years ago - and it kind of freaks me out!  It's now been soooooooo long since I was pregnant with him, and almost 2 years since I last nursed him - but it continues to feel like both of these were very recent events.  I suppose this is the exact reason why time flies so quickly once you become a parent.

If I talk obsess with you on a regular basis, then you already know about how back and forth we have been about whether or not to have another baby.  I'm not sure about how other people feel when making this decision, but for me, a huge part of it is the inability to come to terms that Ben is no longer a baby himself!  This, in addition to our original plan of only having 1 kid, (plus finances, lifestyle, visions for the future) has us leaning heavily this way these days - however, I will admit - watching so many people around us having (or soon to be having) their second child and witnessing that whole adorable family of four thing has had me wavering a bit from time to time.  

The good news is that I loved being an only child, and have TRULY treated each of Ben's milestones with the thought that this would be the last time I experienced each of them.  (Which could explain why I have not been in much of a rush to move him into the next stage along the way).

But whether I am pushing him or not, he is doing it all on his own:

Ben now speaks in full sentences that I would say are understood by others about 80% of the time.  In fact, we had our "exit testing" in speech therapy last week, and our little dude essentially aced (as in, was perfectly on track with his peers) each area of testing.  In fact, the area he tested highest in?  COMMUNICATION.  (!?!?!) 

It has cracked us up to hear him tell us exactly what he is thinking:

In the morning when he wakes up, I hear him over the monitor:  Mama, I'm all done going night night.  Mama, I want milk, mama.  I want mama/dada's bed.  Mama, I want lunch.  Go to the park!  Run, jump, play, dance.  I want my trucks.  THOMAS!

When he is playing with his cars: Drive cars, mama.  Crash!!!  Time to wash the cars.  (He carries them to the bathroom).  Wash in sink.  Car wash - I cry.  (He remembers - quite vividly - how much he hated the car wash last time we went, which was months ago).

I've also caught him saying "One second!!" lately, which clearly is what I must be saying to him about a hundred times a day!

Loves: Trucks, trains, trips to Costco, tickles, jumping on the bed/couch/ground, being chased, hide and seek, taking all of the pillows off the couch and making a big pile to jump in/on, helping me take the garbage out, playing in the sink, going to the park with Greg, Monsters (movie), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (movie), music: the "Happy" Song, Scream and Shout (Britney), "Boom Boom Song" (Black Eyed Peas), pointing out every letter, number and color we see, alerting me to each motorcycle he hears/truck he sees, watching videos on YouTube (which he pronounces "Videots", going on walks around the neighborhood, picking out his clothes ("Ben gets to pick!!!"), singing "Twinkle Twinkle", Mira and Maylee (and Callie, too!), Fridays with Grandma, Grandma's iPad, the "blankie Grandma make" (the closest thing he has to a "lovie"), kisses and hugs.

Sleep lately has been good most of the time.  It has become clear that the whole "you will eat what I make for dinner" plan I was aiming for is not working well to our benefit when it comes to sleep.  If he doesn't have a big meal or a hearty snack at night, he will often wake up at 4 am asking for milk or "lunch".  We are working on it.  I would say that 5 out of 7 nights a week, he goes down to sleep happily and we don't hear from him until the morning - but those other 2 nights can result in him needing to come back into our bed to snuggle until he is almost asleep (and sometimes letting him sleep with us for a few hours), or will require us to get him a snack or some milk.  He also still naps an average of 2.5 hours a day (sometimes longer!) so perhaps that needs to be shortened to help him go down at night better....

....but I'm certain all of this will change because his BIG BOY BED arrives on Tuesday.  Hell shall break loose.  Stay tuned.

Ben is wearing 3T clothing for the most part (plus a few favorite 2T pants and T shirts that I try to squeeze him into and some 4T jammies that we got handed down from Laryd).  I got him some size 8 tennis shoes and sandals a few months back that should last him awhile.

As far as potty training goes, we are not rushing it at all.  We read books and watch videos about the potty and allow him to decide when he wants to try it (which is usually only before bed and is used as a tactic to stay up later) ;)  He has pooped on the potty exactly twice.  I bought him some pull ups for when we are around the house, but he FREAKED out when I put them on them and requested a diaper immediately.  A selfish part of me really hopes that we can wait until AFTER our trip to Mexico for him to be fully out of diapers, because it's going to really suck to have to put down our margaritas and rush him to the bathroom every 10 minutes - but it's all up to him! ;)

I would say the biggest thing I have realized over the past few months of parenting is how much I need to let go of my own selfish desires to have a child who always listens to what I say, cleans up after himself constantly and is always quiet when I want him to be.  :)  We are raising a little PERSON, who has his own feelings, thoughts, ideas of what he wants to do, and different ways to learn.  I am starting to understand more and more that my job as his mom is more about keeping him safe, letting him explore, letting him be loud/emotional/willful, and guiding him with good morals and boundaries.  

A few weeks ago at the beach, Ben was running around and I noticed myself trying to keep him away from a water fountain (that was getting him wet) and coaxing him to walk the direction I wanted, and to hold my hand (when it really wasn't necessary).  I'm sure with my words I was telling him to "listen to mama", to the point where when he nearly ran out into the parking lot away from me and I yelled at him to STOP!!!, it probably didn't sound drastically different from the way I had been acting all morning.  I truly want him to know the difference when something could be dangerous, so I'm making an effort to not coach him through all of the other moments just because it might make my life easier.

Anyway, being a mom is the best thing I've ever done and while the growing pains can be a challenge, I'm more than up for it.  Anything to give Ben the best little life I can :)    

Watch What You Say

Having a toddler is the biggest mirror to your own behavior - what you do, what you say, how you react to things, etc.  It can be both amusing and horrifying.

We are officially being careful about what comes out of our mouths these days, because Ben is repeating EVERYTHING we say.  

Lately, we are particularly noticing some of the phrases Ben has been repeating and then incorporating into his own vocabulary:

"Hey guys, what are you doing?"

"Sup"?

"Guess what"?

"Hey, watch this"!

When he bumps into us lately, I've notice he will laugh and say "Oh, sorry Mama!", which sounds like "Oh, saucy Mama" because R's are hard sometimes. :)

And my favorite, from this morning when he had been up since 4:45 and refused to go back to bed, "You are bugging me" - which, BTW, he REALLY WAS :)