Ben continues to have the summer of his life at school! Painting, exploring in the woods, yoga class, show and share, building, and most importantly: building friendships and social development.
One of the things that I remember so clearly from when school wasn't going so well, was that his teachers told me that Ben was struggling with understanding the "rules of the games". The way they explained it to me was that socially, many of the other kids were starting to play pretend, create little games for themselves, establish rules, and understand how to interact with one another in those scenarios. When Ben first started school, he wasn't quite on that level with the other kids. He would get frustrated with the games they were playing because he didn't understand how he fit in and how to play them. They had told me in a matter of months, he would be up to speed and that they would help encourage him to understand and fit in better.
Fast forward to today - where Ben has countless friends in his class (and in his old class), is the king of pretend play, and is obsessed with creating and playing these little games with his friends (and with us). His progress has been so fast and furious and every day he comes home with something new to tell us about. It's one of the best feelings as a parent: to know that the place he is spending so much time during the day has been such a rewarding and educational experience for him!
Other developments: he has started to (try to) color in the lines, draw more pictures, plays pretend non stop, writing numbers, a tiny bit of math, and of course: READING.
Having a lazy almost bedtime moment on the couch:
Taken while going on the bumpiest golf cart ride:
Grandma Marcia is here and I really need to take more pictures! She has been here for 2 weeks now and leaves next week. She has been doing her usual: making us our favorite meals, baking cookies with Ben, playing with Ben nonstop, and doing ALL the yard work we have failed to maintain since her last visit (seriously - come and visit us right now because our yard looks fantastic)! Basically, she is taking great care of us!
Since Ben has been interested in golfing lately, I had the bright idea to take him mini-golfing - which was a BIG hit! My mom joined us at Family Fun Center (previously Funtasia, for all you locals) and it was so much fun.
There were some other fun "rides" that Ben enjoyed there, too!
Going out to eat with Ben - always a fun experience.
Out for ice cream - which actually IS always fun.
Ben got stuck in the tinker-toy bin:
This just amused me. So calm in the biggest disaster of a room. I envy him.
One particularly amazing meal we had last week: Filets and crab.
Last weekend I got to join Lisa for a night at the McMenamin's in Portland: The Edgefield. We had a great 24 hours of relaxing, drinking, hitting the spa and the pool, wandering the gardens, eating, etc. Loved spending some quality time with her!!!
The Saturday before Pepper was born, I volunteered to take Raleigh for the morning so my poor, super-pregnant friend could have some relief! (Peter started his paternity leave the next day) :) Raleigh and Ben always have so much fun together!
Ben helping Raleigh put on his shoes!
On August 24th, Pepper was born!!! Everything happened so quickly: and after texting with Rachel learning that she thought her water broke that morning (while I was getting ready for work) I was able to go visit them ON MY LUNCH BREAK. And she is perfect.
Visiting them at home when she was 5 days old:
And while holding sweet Baby Pepper may have temporarily given me the urge to have another one, I decided to just swaddle my BIG baby at home instead :)
