Ben Turns 3!

I can't believe my baby big boy is THREE!!  I just love him so much.  He is the sweetest, smartest, most sensitive, most athletic, and most fun little 3 year old I've ever met.  His vocabulary amazes me on a daily basis, and more amazing yet is his excellent grammar.  ;)  He uses good/well like it's his job.

He is always listening to everything everyone is saying, and he doesn't miss a beat.  His memory is crazy good and he will often reference things from 6+ months ago that I totally forgot about.  He knows all of his letters and can count to 20+ (though he usually misses 15).  He's thoughtful and always concerned if one of us isn't feeling well or if one of us had a bad day.  He is seriously in love with his baby brother and I hope they are always best friends.  Although we probably shouldn't encourage this, he sometimes climbs in to Josh's bed in the morning when Andy and I are still sleeping.  Hearing those 2 giggle on the baby monitor just might be my favorite noise ever.  Speaking of sweet sounds, one of my favorite things Ben does these days is SING!  He recently started to sing complete songs.  He usually sings the songs from music class, but yesterday he sang a song he learned at school and I almost died.

Just for the fun of it, Ben is about 26.5 pounds and a little over 36 inches tall, I think.  His only favorite foods are fruit, fries, goldfish crackers, chips, pretzels, string cheese, grilled cheese, and chocolate milk.  He still needs a lot of encouragement to eat, but he is growing, healthy, and has a ton of energy, so it's hard to argue with him.  He loves any and all sports and loves to play outside.

In addition to being the most loving and snuggly guy, he has a bit of a stubborn streak as well.  If you ask him something, he will often intentionally say or do the opposite of what you want to hear.  Stinker.  He really likes to be in control so we are working on him not always getting his way.   He is a curious little thinker which can get him into trouble at times, (like when he threw a GOLF BALL down the air vent in his room) but the majority of time he is as sweet as pie.  While I was a little bit sad for him to no longer be two, I am so excited to watch him grow and learn.  I sure love the little person he has become!

Ben had the best time at his much anticipated birthday party.  He came in to our room the morning of his birthday and said, "I saw some presents out there but I didn't open them."  Such a good boy.

For some reason I don't have a picture of it, but we got Ben an orange watch for his birthday.  He is obsessed with anything Andy has these days, so he was thrilled to get a watch, just like daddy.  (Side note, when I say he wants to be like daddy, I mean he REALLY wants to be like daddy.  Same shoes, undershirts, jeans with "pockets on the back like daddy," protein cereal, and he even likes to wear daddy's deodorant!)

I'm really bummed that I didn't do a better job of taking pictures at the party, but rest assured there were about 30 of Ben's favorites in attendance.   We decided to do tacos and it was a huge hit.  Hopefully Ben will take after daddy in the cooking department.

My mom decided to make Ben's cake, so the 2 of them (and Josh) went to the party store to pick out some decorations for the cake.  After a long deliberation, Ben decided on the follow:

He was beyond spoiled with gifts.  We are blessed with so many loving family members and friends.  My dear mother got him a drum set, keyboard, AND an electric guitar.  Those will be making their way to Nana's house ASAP.  

And because I can't forget about the other sweet baby boy in my life, I have to add some pictures of Joshy-pie too.

As soon as everyone left, both of the boys went down for a much needed nap.  Ben was waiting for me to go up and read him a book, and I went in to his room (after a 2 minute delay) to find this: 

It was an absolutely perfect day to celebrate 3 beautiful years of life with my Benji-boo!  My 3 boys make my heart so full!