I haven’t added any stories about the kiddos lately, so in honor of Ben’s birthday last week, here are few gems from the last week or so. We celebrated the day of his birthday with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese with all the visiting relatives and some present opening. We also had a brunch party in the park on Saturday morning. I am suffering a bit from second child guilt because I always feel like Will got my best and Ben gets the leftovers, so I overcompensated this birthday in the form of gifts, sugar, and multiple celebrations. I’m working through my issues, I promise.
Ben turned two the day before Thanksgiving, and this was the first time in his life that he has really understood presents and the present-opening process. Will stood quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) by, offering assistance. At first, we kept telling Will to stand back and let Ben open his presents, but after a couple of presents, we told Will he could help. Ben opens presents like an old person. I kept waiting for him to whip out his pocket knife to slice through the Scotch tape so he could save the paper for later. The spirit of Grandpa Claude lives on. If Ben starts requesting new coffee travel mugs and crossword puzzles for his birthday, I’m putting my foot down.
The conversation I have with Ben a couple times a day:
Me: Ben, I need to change your diaper.
Ben: No.
Me: But you have a poopie diaper.
Ben: No, you have a poopie diaper.
Me: I don’t have a poopie diaper. I go poop in the toilet because I’m a big girl.
Ben (pointing and laughing): You pooped! Poopie diaper!
I’m being bullied by my two-year-old.
One of Ben’s new favorite things to do is climb up sweetly in my lap and then stealthily grab my ponytail with both hands and yank as hard as he can, all the while shouting, “NEIGH NEIGH NEIGH!!!” Cute, but slightly painful.
Another fun thing Ben has started doing is singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” while I change his diaper. While I enjoy his original rendition during which he sings, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your FEET...,” it makes for really difficult diaper changes.
And here are a few birthday week pictures of my beautiful Ben, who is no longer a baby which makes me both happy and sad:
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| Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool...at the Cheese |
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| Taking forever to open his presents |
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| Taking time to read each card out loud to the room (Will really did read all the cards out loud, making old people variety hour even more special.) |
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| Taking a ride on his new "Power Quad" |
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| Ben's Oreo birthday cake, which he happily shared with Mawmaw, Papa, and Daddy who all had significant birthdays this week. 2+30+55+60=147 |
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| When I asked Ben what kind of party he wanted, he said, "Balls." |
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| Waiting patiently for his guests to arrive at his birthday brunch in the park |
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| Showing off his Batman swag to an interested party |
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| I. LOVE. THIS. BOY. |
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| The Fam |
aww, he's so cute, he has great eyes. He's gonna be such a lady killer especially with wheels like that!
ReplyDeleteand very diplomatic interpretation of his birthday theme, you might have had to knock some numbers of the cake if the grandparents had attended a differently interpreted balls party ;)