Bit of Ben

Following are stories that the "grands" (aka grandparents) and possibly a few other close friends and family would thoroughly enjoy.  I've realized if I share them with almost anybody else, they will force a polite laugh and pretend as if my story is actually interesting to them when it actually is not.  Good thing I have a blog so all those unsuspecting souls I run into on a daily basis are spared.

Ben informed me about a week ago, "You are the very best mommy in the whole wide world."  Then he gave me a huge hug.  It is these moments of unbridled enthusiasm that make me adore having a three year old in my life.  

One day our cable company repair person was sent to fix our cable, apparently our whole block was out of cable.  Well, when the cable person came, Ben was so excited to watch him at work.  He loved all of the equipment he had and that he drove a truck.  Even better, the repair person got to climb up a ladder to look at the cables.  When the cable guy came down from the ladder he informed us that it was a bigger problem than he had anticipated and that another repair person would have to come and do the repairs.  Ben asked him, "Do you have to have a girl come to fix it?"  He didn't mean it in a taunting kind of way, he sincerely seemed to be under the impression that if this guy couldn't fix it then a girl could.  What a wonderful world Ben lives in where girls are able to fix all the problems when the boys are unable to do so. 

[caption id="attachment_239" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Ben or Ellie?"][/caption]

The other night, Ben came into the bedroom and used his very first contraction.  He said, "I didn't know there was a bed and window in here."  I didn't say that his first contraction sentence made any sense, I just said that he used it. 

When Ellie first started walking for exercise this summer, we bought an odometer so we could track how long we were walking.  One of the first times we used it, Ben wondered why Ellie was wearing a thermometer.

Every since Ben first started saying, "Grandpa", he has been confused about the distinction between "GrandMA" and "GrandPA".  So Grandma would say it so he could hear the difference, "No, I'm GrandMA."  Until Ben started saying it like that, "GrandMA."  Now, however, he is back to saying it the way he used to, "Grandpa & Grandpa".

[caption id="attachment_155" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Ben in his favorite outfit."][/caption]

As we were riding in the car the other day, I asked Ellie where she was born.  She replied, "Chicago."  Then, I asked Ben where he was born.  He replied, "I don't remember", as if he didn't recall the actual day he was born. 

Ben & I have been discussing what happens when you eat food.  How the mouth mashes it up, how it goes down the esophagus, into the stomach, etc.  One day he started choking on some food or water and I asked him if it had gone down the wrong pipe.  He responded immediately that it had gone down, "The poop pipe."  Well this was a pipe I was unfamiliar with, and I didn't realize that such a pipe would actually take food in rather than putting food out.

[caption id="attachment_284" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Ben head"][/caption]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog that I was anxiously awaiting feedback from my husband.  I repeatedly asked my beloved throughout the day, "Have you read my blog?"  Until Ben chimed in and asked, "Why daddy no eat him log?"  For some strange reason Ben thinks that you put a log on a fire is to cook it up and eat it.   We've never actually eaten logs, but I guess he'll keep waiting for that particular meal.

Ben refuses to use his spoon or fork in more than one food.  If I suggest he use the spoon or fork already next to his bowl or plate, he looks at me in disgust as if he can't believe I would suggest such a thing.  Now our dishwasher is constantly full of flatware.  Our small spoons seem to be always dirty.  I think he misunderstood when he joined the Kennedy family which branch we are.