Factually speaking

Miss Rachel started talking early, and profusely. She's always had a wide vocabulary and surprises me even now with how precisely she speaks, often with big words.

Today she told me she got to be the line leader at school, and Hosanna was the caboose. Hannah was the napkin helper (at snack time), and no one did the weather. I asked who did the calendar, and she said "Isabel. Isabel did the calendar, as a matter of fact."

It just makes me laugh to hear a 4-year-old (I know, she's almost 5) speak like that. "As a matter of fact" is a phrase she's been using for a while now, and usually in the correct way. She also likes to change the consonants of a phrase or sentence to all be the same, to play with the language. Sometimes it results in...interesting changes. "Missy pants" (a nickname my mom has used with her) all of a sudden becomes "Pissy pants," and it's all we can do not to laugh over that, thereby having to explain and bring about repeat performances.

Happy Birthday, Little Man

One year ago, we were marveling at a new little person who had entered our lives, wondering what he'd be like. We know already that he's got a great sense of humor and a BIG sense of mischief. He loves his sister and parents, as well as his other relatives and our second family of friends. He notices a lot and is curious, adventurous and not afraid to tell you when he needs something. He delights in playing and loves when someone gets down on the floor and rolls around with him.

Ben, you are a sweet, sweet boy who is a joy to know, and we're so thankful that God put you in our lives. Daddy & Mommy are blessed to have you. We love you!

A celebratory lunch at Red Robin:

He wasn't too sure about the birthday serenade, but just gave one "Uh!" at the end - no crying:
He thought the balloon was cool, though:
And here he is, getting all nice and clean and ready for bed later in the evening:
That's a cut on his nose that he got while snagging a can of soup from a grocery bag, carrying it away, then falling forward and banging his nose on it hard enough to cut it and to scrape the skin off the end. Cans are now being put out of reach if I can't put them away right away.

Today was just a mellow day with lunch out for the four of us and not much else planned. We'll celebrate his birthday with an actual party on Saturday and are looking forward to a fun time with family and friends!

Mother's Day

This morning started out with Ben sticking his sleeper-clad foot in my cereal bowl while I was nursing him. I kept eating the cereal because James was upstairs showering and couldn't get me a new bowl. Then he had a nasty diaper, and inconveniently, James wasn't done getting ready yet, so I changed it. I thought briefly about letting it wait until James could do it, but it didn't seem right to let poor Ben sit in that.

And while changing Ben's diaper, I hear Rachel from the kitchen saying "Emergency! Emergency!" She didn't sound too alarmed, so I finished up with Ben and came downstairs to find her standing in the middle of the kitchen floor in just her socks and panties, with her pajamas in a heap on the floor, peach applesauce all over them. Thus started my Mother's Day.

Today is my 4th "official" Mother's Day, 5th if you count the year I was hugely pregnant with Rachel - which I do :) At the time I remember thinking "Hey, I've been giving this baby a home for the past 8 months, dealing with gestational diabetes, major indigestion, sciatica, contractions, gagging and throwing up - I think I've earned my stripes to consider myself a mom."

Yesterday Rachel and I took my mom out to lunch near her apartment. We went to Applebee's, and while that's not hugely expensive, it still adds up. Plus Ben didn't nap this morning, and I knew he would be tired and getting fussy. So I was reluctant to spend money eating out a sit-down restaurant but felt like I should be served food other people had cooked. I ended up ordering two meals to go from Azteca Mexican Restaurant, and we shared some of our meals with Rachel. (I didn't think Ben really needed rice and beans and Mexican food - he's a gassy enough boy without that kind of fuel.) It was a yummy meal, even if it felt a bit harried feeding Ben and trying to keep him happy. It's easier now that he eats a lot of solid foods, but when he's tired, he often just wants to be spoon-fed baby food, or wants that in between bites of other food that he'll feed himself.

I was able to take a nice long nap afterward (briefly interrupted by Rachel coming in to show me something she'd made out of her Dora lego pieces), and had a mellow time with Ben and Rachel after that.

Nothing major today, but it was a nice day of celebration, with church, a gift from the kids, a card and lots of love and appreciation.

Mean Girl and Danger Boy

Rachel is at the stage where she's saying things like "I don't care." and "No, I won't.". And the only thing that seems to work is to take away whatever she's playing with at the time.

Which tonight was all the non-cushion pillows from the living room.

So I begin removing them and she starts in with her very loud very fake crying. I ignored it, I've heard it too many times. I know what it is.

So I go over top of the baby gate with the pillows and up the stairs to our room. As I'm coming back down, Ben is at the gate looking at me. I see Rachel coming from the living room, walks right up next to Ben, still crying.

I can tell she knows exactly what she's doing. She moves in close. Ben finally stops looking at me and realizes she's there. And because he just adores her, if she's upset, he's upset and he justs crying. Only his is real.

I'm watching this unfold incredulously. Like a car wreck in slow motion. I knew it was coming, I was powerless to stop it and my options to deal with it even more limited. That was just a stone cold move.

I did the only thing I could, I scooped him up, completely ignoring her. In my arms, he stopped crying immediately. Knowing she was foiled and no one was paying attention, he crying quickly came to a stop as well.

In other news, Ben had his first unplanned visit to the doctor after grabbing an unopened can of vegetables, trying to walk off with it, dropping it, falling onto it and causing what turned out to be a surface cut and scrape that didn't want to stop bleeding on the bridge and tip of his nose, respectively. I arrived home after they all got back from the hospital and hung out with him while Lori was at choir.

He seemed completely unfazed by it, not once doing anything to indicate he was aware of anything amiss or that he was experiencing any pain. Just our happy little laughing baby. Who will sadly have a really scraped and red nose for his first birthday party.