Saturday, June 15, 2013
A four-year-old boy
Today, on this perfect Summer day, our boy turned four. I'm always amazed at what a difference just one year makes in the life of a child. This boy of ours, with sandy brown hair and a smile that can make a mama melt, has grown. In so many more ways than height, length, and shoe size too. At the start of Bennett's third year of life I braced myself for a ride, and boy did he gives us one. Many, many days I wondered where my sweet, gentle boy had gone! Many, many more days I spent praying, disciplining, learning, and probably pulling a few clumps have hair out along the way. We had fun too, I promise. Like listening to him try to say his version of such big words and telling stories even bigger. Like learning to ride a bike and finally getting the hang of the tire ladder at the park. But, here we are now. At FOUR. And this boy? He is sweetness. He is gentle and friendly and loving. He is adventurous and he is tall. He speaks kindness and thankfulness and never misses a beat to return an 'I love you' for this mama. He is a blessing to this family, and I mean that in every sense of the word. He has grown, so much.This Benny boy of ours loves the outdoors. Fishing, hiking in the woods, snowshoeing, swimming... insert every outdoor activity and he's there. He adores his Dad and his Poppy (R.Jay's dad) is just about the best thing ever. He loves music and friends and watching The Princess Bride and Robin Hood. As of late, he's now come to enjoy and ask to do projects at the table with Annabelle and I. He can now form 'BEN' on his papers and has just about the cutest round 'people' drawings I've ever seen.
He'll be an official pre-schooler this fall at home and he's getting pretty stoked about it. He likes books about trains and can spend a ridiculous amount of time creating things with Tinker Toys. He loves going to church and tells us often how he'll be on stage soon. He dotes on his baby sister with such gentleness and obsesses over her little toes. He can pronounce Emmalee's name correctly now, but I'll be honest, I miss how he said "Ehmoney" just a few short months ago. He says "baby suit" for "bathing suit" and "Poppy-sickle" for "Popsicle" and I'm finding I'm just not correcting him anymore because it's just too cute.
For this big four-year-old birthday his Daddy made him a big red sandbox and tire swing for the backyard. His camping birthday party was so much fun. You can just imagine his excitement. I thought he might burst like a firework at any point during his party.
Photos of Bennett are not as easy to capture as they were when he was younger. And still. He is always on the go and stopping for a photo-op just isn't in his game plan.
Boy, do we love this boy! Annabelle thinks he's just the greatest when he agrees to slow dance and be the prince. Emmalee laughs and coos and thinks he's just the greatest for not mauling her like Annabelle does. Mama & Daddy think he's just the greatest because he's our boy! One-of-a-kind and making us proud every single day. Happy 4th birthday, Rushton Bennett!
Heather Dowling at 11:25 PM