Ben's First "Original" Prayer

I say "original" because none of the words or phrases were his own, but it was the first time that he put them together in a way that we hadn't modeled for him before. It was very sweet.

So, I'm putting Ben to bed tonight and we are getting ready to pray. I've asked him recently if he'd like to pray, but he's always said no. So tonight I hadn't asked, but as we were closing our eyes, he said, "Can I pray tonight?"

"Sure," I said, expecting to hear the mealtime pray of "Dear God, Thank you for the food and help our family. Amen."

"Dear God," Ben started. "Thank you for today and please help our family. In Jesus' name, amen."

I just about cried when I thanked him for the nice prayer. I had to kiss him on the cheek first to get my voice under control enough to tell him good night. What a sweet and amazing thing to experience. Thank you to all of our family who gave us the legacy of faith that makes it a reality for Ben to grow up knowing the creator of the universe.

Brotherly Love

The love between Ben and Kyle is continuing to grow and it's so much fun to see them interact. Especially Ben's actions toward Kyle.

It is so sweet to see Ben pick up the puppets and just jump right in with Mindy or I to entertain Kyle. One day Mindy even found him making the puppets do the Hokey Pokey for Kyle in the living room.

Ben also likes to love on his brother sometimes, and though he tries to be gentle it's not always as gentle as we would like, but Kyle seems to think nothing of it. Ben will kneel down next to Kyle and give him a big hug with one knee firmly planted on Kyles hand or arm. And Kyle just grins up at him. Then Ben says, "Look, Kyle's grinting at me!"

Whodunnit?

Ben and I had gone upstairs after dinner last night to see something he'd made in his room. As we were getting ready to come back down I said, "I notice the light is still on in your room."

"Why?" What other response should I have expected.

"Because you left it on," I said in an attempt to answer the latest in a never ending stream of whys.

So Ben headed for his room and then paused for a second, turned and looked at me and said, "But Daddy, you turned the light on."

I was floored; I didn't know what to say. I probably stammered something out, and Ben went ahead and turned his light off, but I can see I've got to be on my toes more everyday

More Language Fun with Ben

Ben is continuing to learn all the intricacies of the English language and it's so much fun to listen to the stages he goes through. For example the other day, he was having Ritz crackers at lunch. Near the end of lunch we were talking about when he was going to get up from the table.

"You should eat some more of your Ritz," I said.

After devouring all but one, Ben turns to me and says, "I have one more Rit to eat and then I can get up."

"What was that?" I asked to confirm my suspicion. It sounded like he had dropped the z (s sound) from the end to make it singular. Too funny.

"I have one more Rit cracker," he said proudly.

In an effort to not crack up laughing and also to model the appropriate way to say it, I said, "Yes, you do have one more Ritz cracker."

O Be Careful Little Nose

Don't you love how kids take something that makes sense and using their pre-schooler logic, turn it into something that doesn't quite fit. Well, apparently, in Sunday School they have been singing "O be careful little hands what you do."

If you're not familiar with the song it has multiple verses each with a different body part: be careful little feet where you go, little mouth what you say, etc. In the interest of participation, they asked the kids to choose the next verse and we now have "O be careful little nose what you smell." Of course, that is the verse that sticks in Ben's head and we've been hearing it all week. Cracks me up.

Is it morning yet?

Ben really doesn't want to go to sleep when it's bed time so he usually spends a fair bit of time playing in his room before crashing. This is a battle we chose not to fight because unless we do surveillance, we can't really enforce that he should be in bed. He gets the sleep he needs, so we don't sweat it.

The problems started when he could start coming out of his room on his own. Like any toddler, he's very curious, so when he hears stuff going on, he wants to know what it is. He also really wants to join us sometimes, depending on what we're doing.

Well, last night, we heard a new one. We were downstairs watching the end of the football game and we hear from the top of the stair a plaintive cry of, "Is it morning yet?"

It's so much fun to see him figure things out. For awhile we've been having questions about when bedtime is over, or when nighttime is over. The answer has usually had something to do with morning, so now he has come up with a new question.

Blow Me Down

I still crack up at the literalness of toddlers. The other day at lunch, Ben was messing around as usual and not eating much. Mindy and I had both finished eating and Mindy was in the kitchen getting us some dessert, so I called in to her.

"You know what, Mama, I think Ben is finished with his lunch, he hasn't eaten anything for quite awhile."

"I think so," she said as she peeked back in. Then Ben quickly shoved a piece of cheese in his mouth and Mindy added, "Or not."

I looked back over to her and said, "Well blow me down."

As I was turning back to Ben, I heard him blow a puff of air in my direction. He sat there and smiled waiting for me to fall down I suppose and Mindy ducked back into the kitchen to laugh hysterically. I was speechless. Nothing to do but laugh with Mindy and Ben who loves to make us laugh (like most toddlers) soon joined us.