Gratitude, Part 2

Today I am grateful for Ben (well, not just today, but I will write about him today!) Benny is my fierce child; he has a will of his own, and has been that way since day one. I can remember at six months old, he would throw a fit if something were taken away from him. He is still that way; if you take it, he freaks out, but if you ask him very nicely, with a “please,” he will happily hand it to you, his sweet smile lighting up his face. Ben wants respect, plain and simple.

I’ll be the first to admit that we totally babied Thomas, but this hasn’t been the case with Ben. He wants to be big, and has reached milestones earlier than Thomas did out of sheer determination. I think it helps that there are older children at his babysitter’s house who have showed him how to be big. It’s nice in that I don’t have to do everything for him; he likes to feed himself, get himself dressed, go to the potty by himself, but I sometimes I miss helping him a little.

I think Ben wants to be just like Thomas. His first words in the morning if he can’t see his brother are “Where is Thomas?” He is happy to follow Thomas around all day, but he won’t take any crap from his brother. I used to worry about Thomas hurting Ben; now I worry about Ben hurting Thomas. Like I said, it’s all about giving him respect.

What I remember best about Ben as a baby was how content he was. He loved to be cuddled and held close, but he was equally as happy to have his own space to look at the world and figure things out. This has translated into him being able to entertain himself very well now that he is older. When he gets bored of watching mom all day, he will go and play in his room with his toys and be happy as can be.

I never expected to have two boys together. Coming from an all-girl family, I pictured boys as loud and obnoxious, with bulls-in-a-china-cupboard mentality. I’ll admit that often my boys are like that, but I have loved being a mom to boys. I’m learning to reach them on their level, and to appreciate their physicality and love of the rough-and-tumble. Ben is happiest playing what we call around here “the tickle game.” Apparently, nothing makes my boys happier than tickling and attacking their dad while he tickles and attacks them back. Personally, the tickle game doesn’t do much for me, but they love it, and I throw in a few attacks myself when they play, and they get so excited.

I am so grateful for my little Benny. He knows what he wants, and won’t let anything get in his way. I love him for how fierce he is in all that he does, including the love he shows me. I feel so blessed to have him in my life.

Ben at five months, his first 4th of July.

My little superman.