My baby turned five last wednesday, that's a whole hand! It was a very exciting day for him and I cannot wait to see what this year brings. It is just so fun how old he is getting to me. It's fun to have a real little person in my life with all kinds of thoughts, ideas, and opinions of his own. I love seeing all those expressed more and more as he grows older. There are so many wonderful things about my Ben, but for his birthday's sake I thought I would record just five things.
My very favorite thing to observe everyday is the way Ben "brothers" Jackson. Now believe me he is not always the best big brother- but this is his birthday post so I am going to stick with only positives here. I love how Ben still tells him he is the cutest, and still uses a baby voice when doing so. I love how Jackson always wants to be with Ben, even at bedtime now. Jackson escapes his crib almost nightly now to sleep with Ben. Ben is still my hawk eye when it comes to his little brother. He yells for me very loudly and with great concern in his voice whenever he thinks Jackson is even remotely in trouble. Often I have to tell him to calm down because he's just fine. Ben hates when I let Jackson cry it out before bed. We often will lay in my room right next to the boys room after Jackson goes to sleep to watch one show or read stories before Ben has to go to bed. Jackson isn't always thrilled to go to bed anymore these days and so will often cry. Ben begs me to go get Jacky. One time out of frustration after Ben told me that Jackson was still awake and crying I responded, "I don't care. He will fall asleep soon." Ben said and quite emphatically, "but, I care!" And he really does. He likes to say. "Jacky's not just my brother, he's my best friend."
I love how he thinks about the future. I know all little kids like to imagine what they are going to be when they grow up, usually for little boys it's something like a police officer or a baseball player. Maybe it's not all that uncommon for kids to think about when they grow up, but I have a feeling that Ben may be a little unique in how much thought and detail he puts into it. He has always talked about having "lots of babies," but a couple days ago he put a number on it- ten! We will see about that. A few days before that he told me that he is going to work at Apple when he grows up because their phones cost a lot of money so he would make a lot of money. So when he told me he wants ten kids I told him he better have a really good job to be able to take care of all those kids. His response was that he was going to work at Apple, remember? He then asked me what kinds of jobs at Apple make a lot of money, and I told him maybe an engineer. He asked what that was and I told him that they help to make the phones and computers. He said that he wants to do that. And then added, "that's a serious job, huh? I can do serious things." He also tells me that he definitely wants to do "extra college (i.e. masters), so he can have another graduation. I hope that his dreams are always so big and that his dad and I can help him to achieve them all!
Ben is a pretty practical kid. His feet are very much on the ground. He has never been much of a daydreamer or one to create fantastical ideas or stories in his mind. He is reasonable and can be reasoned with. Although his lack of imagination can sometimes be a little alarming. He understands for the most part, mostly from his mom's constant mantra, not to be wasteful or to spend money frivolously. He had $20 that his granny sent him for his birthday. And of course it was burning a whole in his pocket. So off to Target we went. And instead of grabbing the first gimmicky action figure off the shelf we walked isle by isle for about an hour all around the store gathering ideas for his $20 gift. He even picked out something that would be great for me, if it were my $20 to spend: the perfect pancake pan. When at last he decided that he wanted a game. After narrowing it down to three he chose to bring home Pop the Pig. He is very proud of his choice, because as he puts it, "even baby Jacky can play it."
Ben has an excellent memory. This used to be my strong suit, but after kids that's another story. He remembers that smallest details from the longest times ago. It always amazes me and takes me a while to recall what he does, which gets him very frustrated. With his excellent memory he enjoys holding me accountable for stuff. Like things I told him we would go do, and even punishments I threatened: "you said if I did that one more time I was going to go on a timeout." I need to figure out ways to keep his so sharp always, because it will serve him very well in school, as it once did me.
I love that Ben enjoys getting better at things, especially things he really likes. He is an extra attentive listener when this is the case. He soaks up everything his daddy has to teach him when it comes to baseball, and most recently golf and has really shown great progress, which motivates him even more to listen and learn. Yesterday we took him to the driving range for the first time and James showed him how to grip the club one time and then he had it down.
Overall I am just super proud of this kid. He's a good one most of the time (like I said I'm omitting any negatives here for his birthdays sake). He is so smart, quick witted, and funny. I know great things are in his future. Love you my big boy. Cannot believe that you are five!
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