just imagine

I read an article this week about how 5 is the most fun age.  It talked about how you can get five-year-olds to do chores without them knowing they are chores, their growing independence, and the incredible conversations that often shift to absolute crazy.  I related to every word of the article and have been thinking for a couple months now how fun Ben's current age is.  Ben's imagaintation is absolutely soaring (usually in the sky) and he if often flying Gru's airplane, while I fly Vector's helicopter and Ryan, Nana and Papa take the helm of a zeppelin.  My favorite story he tells right now is about heading to the blue cooking store where the chickens have their own door.  This door's shape changes from triangle to trapezoid depending on the day but the chickens always eat peanut butter and jelly balls.  "can we go there, mama? can we?"

This weekend we attended a wedding where many people and a few kids donned ties.  Ben was pretty jealous but soon was wearing "his own," and showing it off, "do you like my tie?" he would ask as he pretended to stroke it.

The next day he was pretending about something else but I missed the memo.  He gave me the knowing half eye-roll suggesting, "mom! get with the program, of course I'm talking gibberish, but could you play along?"

Ahhhhhh, Five is Fun!!

the biggest scare....

Ryan got home yesterday to end my longest streak of single-parenting in several years.  We made last-minute silly plans to join the Lineberry's on a quick trip to their Winter Park house to drop off an ATV.  We thought we could enjoy the drive-time to converse and grab dinner while enjoying the Fall colors. We traded planned burritos for a special dinner at Devil's Thumb ranch and the kiddos were able to run around while we looked on from the deck.

We got the ATV dropped at the house and headed for home back over Berthoud pass.  Not long after we saw a moose on the highway, (yes, a moose!,) Ryan said he felt nauseous and might need us to pull-over.  Amy quickly veered off and Ryan assured her he was ok for her to find a safe spot with a wide shoulder to pull off.  A second later he said he felt like he might pass out and then, bam! he did.  He was sitting next to me on the front bench seat and the seconds and minutes that followed were a blur but Ryan's blank stare is unfortunately crystal clear.  We screamed at him and shook him and started to call 911 but had no service on the pass.  Finally I blew into his mouth twice and Cole doused him with a bottle of ice cold water and he slowly came to. 

We decided to continue towards Denver rather than heading back to Winter Park and had intermittent contact with 911 on the way over and down the pass.  An ambulance met us just past the town of Empire and after running an EKG and checking Ryan's vitals, they transported him to St. Anthony's ER in Denver.  Pat and Jim met the rest of us where we had left our cars and took Ben to our house to put him to bed and be with the dogs.  Amy came with me to the hospital and Cole came to pick her up after Amy's mom kindly met him at their house to watch the girls.

Ryan had come to, very wet, with little recollection of what had happened.  The rest of us wish we could forget it.  He was out long enough that all of us thought we had lost him.  My mind went to the worst places and I try to remember that vision of his face will grow more blurry with time. 

 After not enough sleep for most of us, we took Nana and Papa out for breakfast and then laid low for the rest of the day and night.  Thankfully Ben was asleep through the worst of it and has little recollection of anything but fun.

sold!! (almost)

Please excuse the long gap in posts.  This one should explain why.....

As August wore on, Ryan and I talked more and more about a potential move for our family.  We had gained some decent equity in our tiny tudor in a short time and found ourselves repeatedly seeking out the swimming pools and quiet cul-de-sacs of our friends and family in the burbs to entertain Ben.  We spoke with out realtor, Ryan's Aunt DeDe, about the market and whether we needed to be in any hurry.  We all agreed we'd keep our eyes peeled for something that met most of our must-haves, but that we were in no hurry.  After all, we had no carpet in the basement, making 50% of our already limited square footage virtually unusable.  On August 27th, we looked at a couple houses, and decided to move forward with getting our house back together so we could be poised to move on homes we looked at.  That Sunday we got news one of the homes we had looked at had received an offer that was quite low.  Before that call, we were planning on making an offer if we could get ours on the market.  We discussed and decided we could make a contingent offer, never really thinking the sellers would accept.  Fast forward a month, and our tiny tudor is sold, we have completed inspections on both homes, and the Heimer Haus is likely making the move we said we never would.....to the burbs!  Our closing is slated for October 23rd and the new neighborhood is throwing a well-timed Fall festival to welcome us.  I'm not sure how much of the festival we'll get to enjoy while moving in, but the neighborhood has an active social committee, parents and tots group, and swim team, so it won't be long before the next event.  For now, we pack, keep our fingers crossed, and wait.... and enjoy all the parts of our neighborhood we'll miss the most.

5 year well "big boy" check

I took this yesterday as Ben enjoyed his first-ever chocolate milk.

Ben very proudly claims the "big-boy" title these days and likes to point out how babies are little and "so cute" (in the highest voice), but they are NOT big boys or girls.  We had his 5 year old check up with our favorite, Dr. Dean Prina today.  Everything checked out great including better than 20/20 vision and the Dr. called Ben a robust and darn-handsome young man.  His stats are coming together in terms of height and weight percentiles and the Dr. said Ben looks healthy and strong and as long as the figures continue to get closer, he's a-ok.  When he inquired about whether Ben was a good eater, I "a-hemed" and raised my hand up and down like a Price is Right model and Dr. Dean giggled with a, "oh. well, yes, I guess so."

Today Ben weighed 54 lbs-90th percentile 
and was just shy of 45in tall-80th+ percentile


At five, Ben loves books, musical instruments, and a few select toys.  Everything is better outside and basketball and swimming beat toys any day.  He finally has a strong preference to play with boys and really relates to other boys through sports and super-heros.  He strongly dislikes rice and the gag-reflex is strong when we make him try new things.  While he is great with fruits and veggies, he asks for pizza about 10 times a day and "what's for dinner today?" is always one of the first 3 questions he asks in the morning.  Ben goes to bed between 8 and 830 and sleeps until between 6 and 730 (or 545 on Sundays ;).  Names are important to Ben and he currently likes learning the names of the adult actors on our "grown-up" dvd's.  While he loves Tom Hanks, I can't get enough of him mumbling, "Philip Seymour Hoffman," and he nods his head in rhythm to the name.  Ben loves an audience, especially one that "claps ALL together!!"  He continues to be super empathetic and his teachers say his empathy and kind heart are very reflected in the classroom.

As I said in a previous post, five is really fun!  There is so much helpfulness and independence but lots of need for mama-snuggles and tickles, too.  

A favorite perch for our snuggly-monkey

stride no more

Tonight everything clicked and we officially have a bike rider on our hands.  Just when I was going to head to Target for a smaller bike, Ben took off and saved me the trip.  More videos soon....