JUST BENNETT

I wanted to do a post for my little pal. This kid is growing so fast - it's crazy. The things that come out of his mouth are so funny. It's not necessarily what he says as much as how he says it. My mom says he's two going on twenty, and it's so true.

So here's what my first little fella has been up to:

--Bennett has had daily chores for a couple of months now, and it works like a DREAM. After breakfast, we go straight to the bathroom to wash our hands and brush our teeth (yes, I consider these chores, because they're clean-ups and they're things he could care less about doing :) ). Then we go straight to his room where he picks up his clothes from the night before and puts them in his hamper, puts shoes away in his shoe cubby, and picks up any toys lying around. Then we make his bed and fold his blanket. From there, he gets dressed (again, a chore because he much prefers running around without a stitch of clothing on). I'm really proud of him, because he has taken to all of this like a duck in water. And goodness knows it makes my life that much easier :)

--He's still totally potty trained, and the bed wetting is pretty much none-existent at this point (fabulous). I'll take some credit, but not much. The kid just wanted to do it - he cared about it. That made a HUGE difference.

--Man, this kid LOVES his brother. The way he talks to Jasper and interacts with him is SOOO sweet. He gives Jasper a play by play on what he's doing with his cars or balls or what's on TV, and when Jasper is napping, a lot of times, he'll say "I miss Jasper. I wanna play with him." I am praying that they will be life long best friends, and so far it's looking pretty good :)



--My little boy is one of the happiest, sunshiny-est kids I've ever known - and he's passionate/dramatic like his Mama, no doubt about it. The way he cheers for his friends when he first sees them and gets so excited over the smallest things positively delights me (what a great parallel for how God views His children). He might be a stink pot sometimes and really keeps me on my toes, but the Lord knows he'll always do it with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. There's just not much that can get this little one down - what a wonderful disposition. I should learn from it, and our family is so blessed by it.

--Bennett has the memory of an elephant. He remembers routes to places we're going, and when we're going down a certain street, he'll name two or three places that are on the way that we might possibly be headed toward. He also still remembers crazy things, like details from his second birthday (almost a year ago), little things that happen at other peoples' houses from a long time ago, stores we pass by that we've only been to once in over a year, etc etc. Along with this, he's got the ears of an elephant, too. He loves to talk and he loves getting attention, but a lot of times when I'm riding in the car with Michael or my mom, he'll get really quiet and listen to our conversations without us realizing that's what he's doing, and then after we're finished talking, he'll sum up what we just said! Yikes. So I'm careful around these little ears :)

--I am AMAZED at the things my munchkin is learning at school, and so proud of him! He knows how many days are in a week, several of the months and what order they come in, he can count to five on his fingers (to 27 or 28 out loud) and is getting good at one-to-one counting up to five, he knows his birthday, and he's learned a bunch of new songs, including one where he thanks Jesus for his snack :) (Thanks Ms. Liz and Ms. Jessica!!)



--He's gotten to the age where we're able to have deeper spiritual conversations, which always ends up blowing me away. I feel like I learn more from him and his sweet, innocent questions and comments than he learns from me. Recently we've talked a lot about heaven and how we'll go there someday, and also about Jesus living in our hearts when we ask Him to. He often says he wants to play with Jesus, and now when he sees a heart-shape, he says, "That's Jesus in my heart!" We also talk about how God is bigger than anything that scares us, and that God protects us (apparently the monsters have returned - bummer). He's always singing praise songs and songs about God that he's learned from church, something that I'm so thankful for. It's wonderful to know that the Lord is guiding our sweet boy, as early as two years old.


I'm sure there's more, since he is my precious boy, but that's more than enough for now :)