The one where Ben turned 6

I was really good about posting when Shelby turned 2 in April and have not even posted anything about Ben turning SIX last month! Partly because I was planning his crazy Harry Potter party and it was the end of the school year and I haven't taken his 6 year pics yet (well, his 6 year pics not dressed as Harry Potter). ;)

We are so lucky to be Ben's parents! He is just one of those kids that EVERYONE likes. I don't know anyone who doesn't love him. It's kind of weird sometimes, though, because we're often told from people that they want to kidnap him or marry him or steal him or they want to adopt him. That's great and all but he's mine you can't have him! But we really are grateful he's such a fun kid that he has that kind of impression on people. I mean, when his principal tells you that if Ben ever comes up missing he's probably at his house, then you know you've got a good one.

He's in that phase of life where he's so independent and he's the oldest he carries a lot of guilt about what he does and mistakes he makes. He's VERY hard on himself when he does something wrong. I know he calls himself stupid out of need for attention, because he is very clearly not stupid.

He love Shelby more than anything. When we were decorating for his party at our church's Institute building Shelby was in the other room and I asked Ben where she was. He panicked for a second and ran to find her, then came back and said "I just could not live without my little sister!" So sweet!

Ben did GREAT in Kindergarten this year! Despite a mishap with a couple of other students and moving him to a new class with only 6 weeks left, he had a great year. He adjusted really well to his new class and teacher but still always gave his old teacher a hug when he left at the end of the day.

Ben's been reading since before he started Kindergarten. My sister asked me what reading level he was on and they didn't test him for that so we checked out a few chapter books from the library and he read about 30 pages of a 3rd grade level book in about 15 minutes while we were waiting at Discount Tire. So I'd say that's pretty good for a 1st grader! If anyone out there has recommendations for book on a 2-4 level Ben is on his way to reading a lot this summer. (Especially since he can get a free Rangers ticket through the library, great incentive for him!)

Now while everyone else is totally in love with Ben I will be honest that he saves all his crazy for me. It's better that way, I realize, but sometimes I want to strangle him. He talks back, he says NO way too much, he cries when I get mad at him because he feels stupid when he does something wrong, he thinks HE'S in charge a lot of times. So at home we struggle sometimes. Especially after school when he would be really tired. I was honestly dreading summer! That sounds horrible, right? So I found some ideas on Pinterest and started us a good summer schedule of things to do every day and we're 4 days in so far and he loves it. It's work for me because we're actually doing school related things. This week we're learning about big cats and doing sink or float experiments and practicing sentences with his 1st grade word list. And we have themes for the days of the week like Make Something Monday, Time to Read Tuesday, stuff like that. Ask me in July to see if we're still doing it!

Ben still loves all things Star Wars, Harry Potter and Texas Rangers. John won a Kindle Fire at a work retreat that Ben has games on and gets to play, like Oregon Trail, Tiny Village, PebbleGo and Angry Birds. But one of his favorite things to do on it is check the weather on the weather ap.

He still lets me pick out his clothes every day. The only thing he refuses to wear is tank tops.

He loves to draw and make books. He made a book about sharks a few weeks ago with a diagram of a shark with every fin correctly labeled. I asked him if he learned it at school and he said he learned it from PebbleGo. He's a lot like John where he remembers so much about so many things and can actually recall that information when he wants it. I can't remember anything!

He hasn't had his 6-year appointment yet but I do know he's 49-1/2" tall and weighs around 56 pounds.  That puts him around 97th for him, which is normal for him. He wasn't the tallest in his class (one girl was almost 5 feet and not held back!) and definitely not the shortest. He was probably the 4th tallest in his first class and 1st or 2nd tallest in his new class because most of the kids in that class were pretty small.

Girls at school LOVE Ben. Shocking, right? From day 1 of school kids teased him about having a girlfriend. We were at Levitt Pavilion yesterday for one of their kid concerts and he spotted a girl who went to his school, but wasn't 100% sure because she had on a hat so he wouldn't go talk to her. Then a few minutes later I look over and she'd come over to talk to him and was SO CUTE, blushing and talking to him.

I started this post over a week ago and never posted it! Ben definitely hasn't gotten the shaft because I've planned our summer schedule mostly around him so that's what's kept us so busy the past couple of weeks! It's definitely been an adjustment adding a 6-year-old into the daily schedule me and Shelby had down so well! But it's been fun.

So a few more things about Ben:

He LOVES his extended family. His grandma, cousins, aunts, uncles, no matter who they are he loves them immediately. He was really sad when his uncle Mitch died this year because he didn't know who Mitch was. He was my mom's sister's husband and had been very sick for a long time and had a hard time getting around so Ben never really got to see him. He was so sad at the funeral because he never got to know Mitch. He's got such a sensitive heart that way.

He has a very limited diet of things he'll actually eat. I always blame myself for this because I never gave him variety when he was a baby/toddler. So he sticks to his usual PBJ, chicken nuggets, corn, some fruit, chocolate milk, etc. We're trying to teach him to try new things but he HATES it!

He loves the Incredible Hulk.

And here are his answers to some interview questions I found on Pinterest:

1. What is your favorite color? green
2. What is your favorite toy? my Legos. Especially the ones I got for my birthday.
3. What is your favorite fruit? bananas
4. What is your favorite tv show? Phineas and Ferb
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? PBJ
6. What do you like to do with your family? go to Fuzzy's
7. What is your favorite game? R2D2 Trouble
8. What do you love to learn about? Texas
9. What is your favorite animal? Tyranosaurus Rex
10. What is your favorite song? You Don't Know You're Beautiful by One Direction
11. What is your favorite book? Lego Star Wars Save the Galaxy
12. Who is your best friend? my cousins
13. What is your favorite cereal? Frosted Flakes
14. What makes you sad? When Shelby hits me in the face
15. What makes you happy? When mommy tickles me
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Ralphie and my blanket
18. If you could meet someone famous who would it be? George Washington (without hesitation)
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Rainforest Cafe
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? a race car driver

I will share pics from his birthday party extravaganza in another post, soon. But here's a couple of pics of him from his Harry Potter photo shoot we did! SO FUN!!

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Ben's Birthday Part 1

On Friday when John got home he had the mail in his hand. I asked him if there was anything good and he said yes and handed me a big manila envelope. I opened it up and found a big card from Ben's class at his old school for his birthday! I started to tear up the minute I saw it. I know it's silly, but he LOVED his school and all of his teachers. And I thought it was just a really awesome thing to do. Ben was SO excited when I pointed out each of the hand prints and who they belonged to!

His favorite people in his class were Joshua and Maddie. Ms. Amanda was the one that bought him a really cool dinosaur pop up book when she found out he was leaving. Ms. Kim LOVED Ben! Ms. Kelly (whose hand print isn't on there) was the one Ms. Kim would call when Ben was misbehaving, she could always keep him in line! Anyway. I just thought this was really thoughtful! Ben and I will be making them a proper thank you card!

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Ben Turns 3 on Sunday. 3-year-old Ben...

... is 40 inches tall.

... weighs 39 pounds.

... is a happy kid.

... repeats everything we say. And I mean everything.

... says "I love you" and "I love you too" all the time.

... can count to 20.

... can draw the letter M.

... is still in pull-ups.

... has pretty much stopped taking naps.

... love love loves trains.

... quotes lines from movies he watches.

... is really very shy around people he doesn't know, or new situations.

... loves his friends and his family members.

... plays with his Cars cars and trains like dialogue from a book "'Boy, you're in a heap of trouble,' Sheriff said."

... wants all of his toys to "be friends."

... has started singing more.

... doesn't forget anything. He will take you to task!

... can still throw a tantrum like a 2-year-old.

... HATES going to time out.

... is afraid of dogs.

... loves cats, especially a sweet cat that roams our neighborhood.

... rarely plays in his bedroom, the living room has more floor space for his train tracks!

... blows me kisses every night when he goes to bed.

... makes sure we leave the hall light on when he goes to sleep.

... has an obsession with blankets. He has 4 or 5 on his bed he sleeps with.

... calls us Mom and Dad a lot of the time now.

... has the craziest little fake laugh when he gets overly excited.

... still talks about his old school a lot.

... listens and obeys Dad waaaaay more than Mom.

... talks in attached sentences, he sticks 'and' or 'because' between all his sentences making them one long protracted one. There is no limit to the amount he can talk now.

... says "Whatever!" all of the time now. Thank you Cars...

... has some weird Ben language. "I want to go to the store then to the park because bah mah pooka blah shmama boo waaaaa meh meh meh blah!"

... can identify all upper and most lower case letters.

... is still a scribbler.

... kisses on the lips. And kisses boo boos (mine, his, yours, whoever!)

... is very unaware of his physical self and injures himself all the time because he doesn't pay attention to where he is going!

... has more bruises on a normal day than I can count.

... has a huge round head and tons and tons of hair.

... sticks his hand in his pants when he sleeps (I'm just keepin' it real alright?)

... still thinks it's hilarious to run away, but he's getting better.

... is a picky picky eater.

... drinks too much milk.

... could go to the pet store every day.

... his favorite things at the pet store are the cats and the crabs.

... helps feed our fish.

... loves to help unload the dishwasher.

... loves ketchup.

... says prayers at night (with a little help from Mom) and insists it's his turn almost every night.

... understands the intestinal system (says "my food goes in here" [points to mouth] "then comes out here" [points to bum] just keeping it real again!)

... finally likes sweets (believe me, it took a lot of convincing!)

... gives big hugs and squeezes.

... is a bit dyslexic in his speech. He will fip the last letters in some words, ie bunnit instead of button.

... plays with his Thomas trains all day long.

... loves Harry Potter.

... has started to read books to himself when he remembers how the story goes.


I could go on and on. We love this kid! We're hoping to have time to take his 3-year-pics tomorrow!

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