Tante's Twenty-Six

Every birthday princess needs a crown

After month(s) of planning and trying to secure the perfect spot to watch the CU Buffs take on the AZ Wildcats in Pac 12 basketball, we got to enjoy the game last night while helping Tante celebrate the big 2-6!
In the end we had to arrive extra early to get the seats we wanted but people joined when they could and we took over half of the Tailgate Room at the Blake St. Tavern and the young ones ventured out after to tear up the town.  
Ben did great considering his current attention span and the noise and crowd level in the room and we all had a great time despite the Buffs loss. 

Molly's friend Marie who lives in Austin surprised everyone!

MeeMee was sadly sick the next day so Tante hung with us at home and we enjoyed a DELICIOUS Whole Foods tapas dinner and dessert.  This is one of my favorite meals so I was delighted when it sounded just as good to the birthday girl.

Twenty-six will be a great year for Molly as she graduates with her MBA in May and as I tell her often, "the world is her oyster," and "an adventure for the taking."  I fears those adventures may lead to her leaving Colorado for a while but I'm pretty confident life will bring her back here.  If she leaves we'll just make the most of whatever fresh and daring locale she chooses!  I love you sissie! Welcome to more-real adulthood.

Ben v3.5

Yes, in what seems like the longest (many days) year of his life, Ben has hit the half-way point.   What I can say after half of this third year is that the trying times are more trying than I dreamed, but the fun times are exponentially more amazing.  When I taught preschool in high school and college, the three-year-olds were always my favorite and Ben reminds me it's because they were such amazing little sponges of words and knowledge and opinions.  I will say not keeping them through the dinner hour probably helped in my adoration of them.

Ben's latest obsessions are helping us cook, playing for long periods with Play-doh, and per my last post, taking pics.
One day Ben drug his bed stool to the kitchen to help me cook and he's done the same for nearly every meal since.  He helps by "cook, cook, cooking, " which involves banging a plastic utensil repeatedly next to whatever is cooking and be being in charge of the spices.  In fact, I can stand him with salt, pepper and a bowl and he entertains himself for long stretches.  While I'm absolutely thrilled with his help, it does make cooking lots more stressful in terms of keeping him safe and maintaining safe food-prep standards too.   I'm learning how to make it fun for both of us and to allow some extra time when he is helping.

Ben also has a new-found interest for playing with play doh. I will say he needs a little help with the imagining what to create and he does love to repeatedly attempt to eat the play doh until I give him the look.  I love that it gives us a fun activity to do together that I have the energy for post-dinner.  Any activities that keep us away from the TV in the evenings make me happy, especially in these last few tough weeks of winter.

This Cheerio stacking project I found on Pinterest has been a god-send.

Ben still LOVES to "go sleeping, take naps, go under(the covers) or snuggle," which all mean snuggling in mom and dad's bed with Jelly and usually someone else.  This is actually still the activity that entertains him for the longest stretches and I almost never mind settling into bed for 20 minutes at 2pm. :)  He has also recently started asking for kissies on his owies and though I'm sad anytime he's hurt, I don't mind the sweet requests and how quickly my kisses make everything better.

Our musical monkey is being more aware of particular songs and finally expresses opinions about them.  He also requests I do or don't sing regularly while we're in the car though I've yet to find much of a pattern to his opinion.

Everyday he seems to make new connections from observances in his world and just today said, "Mommy we have a really big big problem (from the show Peg and Cat,) there is no Christmas Spirit! (Elf.)"  He followed it up by letting me know he didn't have any Christmas spirit today either.

Basketball rules this kid's world and his dribbling skills are really improving.  I fear the next visitors we have might be awakened with his early morning bouncing on the hardwoods.  Any visit to the playground must also include a visit to the basketball court and we don't dare leave the house without a ball.  I am admittedly happy to say he's been playing soccer with the boys at school and really enjoys that too.

Ben's favorite foods are definitely mac and cheese, pizza, and burritos.  He would eat burritos for 3 meals a day if I let him and with whole wheat tortillas, black beans, and just a little cheese, it's a favored food I can keep pretty healthy.   He does still love many veggies and every single fruit.  Fruit is definitely rationed around here and is typically dessert.  We have also moved to a point where if Ben gets too picky and refuses to eat something we think he should like, he can have whole-grain bread instead but nothing else. I refuse to be a short-order cook and Ben is clearly not starving.

The biggest challenges in parenting Ben right now are expending ALL HIS ENERGY which keeps him happy and keeping his clothes on.  Did I not mention above that his preferred mode of dribbling is naked?  I'd let him run around in his underwear if that would keep him happy but he demands total nudity.  While the appropriateness of this must vary from house to house, this germaphob mama demands undies!

Ben is continuing to love school and between school and home is showing great competency with most age-appropriate concepts.  Writing continues to be a struggle and is something Ben has absolutely ZERO interest in, but we keep practicing everyday.  I know he's only 3 but when kids in his class can write sentences, it's hard to keep perspective. He has shown growing interest in painting and other art projects lately so maybe the writing will follow. 

Their latest unit was on reducing/re-using/recycling.  This is re-use art. :)

I absolutely adore how out-going Ben is and he frequently asks strangers, (usually men) after patting their leg (and once in Home Depot a pot-belly,) "Hey Big-guy! How ya doing?" Yesterday after a young man nearly mowed over him in the mall, Ben patted his leg, said his usual and kept walking as the man responded.  Ben looked back and said, "It's ok, It's ok, but I just gotta get to the playground." It was such a grown-up and hilarious exchange.  

Three has been the year of greatest delight and entertainment but also DEFINITELY the hardest.  In recent weeks I've described Ben to Ryan as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," and "a loose cannon that can start firing at any moment." While Ben's language skills have improved by great strides, I do sometimes wonder if they tough moments are fueled by frustration in communicating.  Although, based on what I hear from other parents, Ben is "just being 3."  On most days he leaves his listening ears in his bed but that makes the days when he remembers them all the more delightful.  And while he tests us and his boundaries at every possible opportunity, he is quickly learning that mom and dad mean business and that we will indeed follow-through on loss of activities or objects.  He is also benefiting from short rests on some school days and I quickly realize which days will require said rest.

As trying as many moments are, I always...well, almost always, know a great snuggle or belly-laugh is just around the corner.  I am continually blessed to spend my days with my little prince and the knowledge he'll be gone from me all day all-too-soon motivates me to make the best of our time together.

cheeeeeeeeese!!!!

Ben has a new-found desire to use my camera to take pictures himself.  It's a continuation of the standard, "Ben do it!" attitude that's been creeping around for more than a year now but had never forayed into photography.  Of course I want him to love taking pics as much as I do so I try to help him and allow him to explore but that exploration has definite limits when the equipment could pay for several of his college credits.  I've started to explore kiddo cameras and have even sent a hint to the Easter Bunny that maybe Ben would love a camera in his basket.  We will see how his interest holds between now and then.  Here are his first pics...............

it's his party......

and mom is not welcome.  Ben's class Valentine's party was the last straw in my attempts to help at his classroom parties.  Although our morning drop-offs and mid-day pick-ups usually run smoothly, Ben really acts out when I try to join him for class activities.
I had known this from previous parties so attempted to just pick him up at the standard time while balancing a slightly early pick-up to head to lunch and meet Tante and sadly the party was still in full swing.  Ms. Bailey was just heading to the hallway to get Ben's Valentine's (that I had left there after re-doing 50% of them thanks to a single deadly arm swoop by Ben as we were leaving the house,) to hand out.  

Tying these cars on was much more difficult than my craft-mind imagined.

I instantly grew nervous as when Ben sees me, he thinks it's time to go home-NOW!  So I enter the classroom and there he sits quietly with a bag full of tempting candy.  A mix up by the teacher of his and a classmates bag caused a fight that ended with a bag ripped in half and Valentines EVERYWHERE! At this point, as I sat in the corner feeling the stares of the several other parents in the room, my fight or flight instinct screamed RUN! RUN! LEAVE THE KID AND RUN!
I helped Ben hand out his Valentine's while trying to contain him and his own wishes to RUN! and we were out of there as fast as possible. 
The sweet party mom came out with one last Valentine that Ben had made for me and assured me he'd been a perfect angel until my arrival.  She and I get along great so I knew her intention was sweet and sincere and that she was in no way questioning my ability to make my child mind as could have been inferred. :)
We left the school quite promptly and headed to catch the "EEEEE Train," to have our annual heart day lunch with Tante.  Ben was still 3 during lunch and on our journey but not as 3! as he can be sometimes and we had a delightful afternoon until Tante returned to watch Ben while Ryan and I went to a delicious Valentine's dinner at Carmine's on Penn.  We put a Christmas gift from the Lineberrys to use and enjoyed bolognese and gnochhi pomodoro that were both delicious. We picked up our favorite Whole Foods chocolate decadence cake and took some home to Tante and Ben and enjoyed a couple new House of Cards episodes to close out a wonderful day of love. 

The EEEEE train never disappoints.

Lunch with Tante was delicious and time in the sun on the Davita Deck was a bonus.

I found this card a while ago at a West Elm/Etsy local pop-up shop and Valentine's Day proved the perfect day to give it.

Touch-a-Truck Two

This morning Papa Jim met us bright and early at our house so we could head south to Colorado Springs for the second annual Touch-a-Truck. Aunt Christy is part of the Colorado Springs Junior League who puts the event on each year.  Christy mentioned there were fewer trucks this year but I thought it was fantastic and a last minute addition of a cement mixer made Ben's whole day.  

 

There was also a really neat taekwondo demonstration that kept Ben's attention for a long time with it's high-flying action. 

He had a death grip on the board piece Daddy caught for him.

Then there was this puppy at one of the vendor booths that Ben fell instantly and completely in love with........
 

He couldn't walk past him without this same hugging routine and begging him to come along with him.  Might be a blessing Disney didn't work out this year.

There were many more interactive opportunities this year.

Papa and Ian

 

Papa Jim treated us to lunch at BJ's after as Ben had been requesting pizza for days.  A LOOOOoooooooong delay in our lunch meant two tired and wired little monkey cousins but the food was delicious and just the thing to help us settle into wonderful snoozes on the ride home.