Happy Birthday Baby!

(This pic was taken in March 09)

I can't believe my baby is turning 2! Two years have flown by and I can hardly remember them. This is going to be one of those indulgent posts where I go on and on celebrating his first two years so if you care to listen, read on. If not, that's okay...this is for my Benji to read in the future anyway.

Poor Benji is sick today so the celebration wasn't that grand. It started early at 4:00 am while he and I laid on the couch together bemoaning our sickly state. First I got it, now he has it only worse. It's so sad when the little guys get sick and there is nothing you can do to fix it. We snuggled for about an hour and his coughs subsided so I placed him back in bed and tried to sleep before the sun started peeking through my window which unfortunately was not long.

We did frost some cupcakes together and I do have pictures. (yeah for mom, remembered the camera) I don't have a card reader at the moment so those will have to wait. Even in all his snot and sickness he gave me some cute smiles. We would wish him happy birthday and he would wish it back. I don't know that he quite got it but he did enjoy singing the happy birthday song and we taught him to say "I'm two".

So who is Benjamin, Benji, Benji wa-wa, Baby Ben? He is my baby. He's cute, smiley, a real jokster, and loves to be the center of attention since he has 2 older siblings that laugh at everything he does. He's cuddly, snugly, and likes to stick his hand up my sleeve (or sometimes down the front of my shirt) when I'm carrying him. He reminds me of a little monkey. He's so smart and picks up on EVERYTHING! We went to a nursery the other morning and the guy there gave him a sucker. We had to go back later that evening and the first thing he said when he saw the guy again was "sucker?" He has a real bad sweet tooth! He loves to be tickled, play song games like Patti Cakes and Itsy Bitsy Spider. He is a true boy - he loves balls, dirt, cars and destruction in it's finest form. He will sit outside and dig in any dirt he can find. We call him the troublemaker which is funny because that's what I've been called quite a few times over the years (although it's not true...I never cause trouble). He gets into everything which my other 2 never did. If my house is too quiet I know he's somewhere squeezing lotion all over the floor or he's found the hidden candy stash in my closet. I probably treat him the most babyish of all three at his age,knowing that he may be my last. But he's probably the sharpest and smartest of all three at his age and definitely has a wider vocabulary like poo-poo head and Stop It.

Sometimes I feel bad because being the third child he hasn't gotten the benefit of having as much mommy time as the other two. Then I watch the three of them together (when they are actually playing nicely on rare occasion) and I realized he hasn't missed out at all. He has not just mommy & daddy but an older brother and sister that would bend over backwards for him. Even if at times they treat him like a plush toy and drag him around everywhere.

He's been a good sport thus far in life. From being dragged around as a newborn back and forth from preschool (it was always during feeding time and he was always screaming) to being picked up and carried down the hallway or around the grass by big brother and sister. He's one tough kid and we love him. Happy Birthday Baby Ben.