Loft Bed

Ben also loves his new loft bed. It has a desk underneath and a play space. He loves sleeping way up in the air. We still have to find a mattress that fits because it is about 3 inches too skinny and 6 inches too short for a twin mattress. Any suggestions are welcome. He's sleeping on a pile of blankets, but doesn't seem to care at all about being uncomfortable.

Ben's New Glasses

Ben did lots better today when we went to get his glasses. I have definitely felt some strong impressions that the best way to encourage him is to make everything no big deal. With Maddie, we do crazy wild potty dances to celebrate and get her excited. That never really worked with Ben. Same thing here. When I try to talk about the glasses or make an exciting show of anything in his life, he clams up and becomes very uncomfortable. We talked about going to pick them up and that he would have to wear them all the days after then. He just took it in stride.

No throwing glasses on the floor this time. He let the doctor put them on his face and check for a second that they fit right. Then we got him to mutter a "Thank You" before we left the office. He told me he didn't like them and that it made things bigger and the sun was brighter as we drove to Fosse Preschool. I agreed that he didn't have to wear them to preschool, but when I picked him up, he would wear them the rest of the day. I went to my meetings and upon my return put his glasses in Potsy's hands and went inside to get him.

He was excited to see me and Potsy. He noticed the glasses and didn't say a word. He held them as we talked for a minute. As soon as we got in the truck, he put them right on. While we drove home, he casually asked simple questions about them, like can they get water and rain on them? Where do we put the glasses case? Etc...

To quietly celebrate, we had a Mommy-Ben Library Date after dinner. We got lots of books and read them together without the constant interruption of Maddie pulling books off the shelves and me having to chase her. It was really nice.

If Odds Were In Your Favor, 9 to 1, Would You Gamble?

So the doctor was in no rush today. He said it is kind of fun for him to use his smaller ultrasound to figure out if it is a boy or a girl and asked if I wanted him to try. Figuring we were only 16 weeks and I thought even at 20 weeks with the monster machine it is hard to find out, I said yes. He won't be able to tell anyway, right? Well, he says he's 90% sure the baby is a BOY! Time will tell of course, but how fun to be able to start planning. This totally throws off the plans to be just like the Soderborg family as explained in my previous post, but hey, hopefully Ben can defer his best planning and judgment to God. Right now, Ben was super excited it was going to probably be a boy because now we can name it A.J. His friend brought their next door neighbor to the park a few months ago and Ben had lots of fun with him. Since that day, he's been planning to name the baby A.J. after the neighbor kid.

Travel Plans Change Again

So first we were coming home to visit Utah in August for family reunions, then my brother Jason got engaged and planned his wedding date for December 27. We stopped looking and figured we'd just go then. The cheap ticket window passed, then Jason eloped, crazy kid. Now we couldn't get cheap tickets anymore, so we said we'd just let it go and figure out another time to come. Looks like the plans have changed...Brett is probably getting married on August 6. For picking August, he couldn't have picked a better week. Zufelts have a reunion on the weekend before and Robinsons have one the weekend after. We're excited about the trip, and really excited Brett found someone so great!

Sunbeam Substitute

I substituted in Ben's Sunbeam class in Primary yesterday. He was totally excited about it. All Saturday night and Sunday morning he would just randomly give me advice and let me know how they did things.

• If I raise my hand, that means I want to tell you something, okay? Then you have to choose me so I can talk.
• It's okay to go potty while we're in our first class, but when we go to our big class (i.e. sharing time) we have to all try reeeeeally hard not to have to potty until it's over.
• If you forget Linda's name, it's okay, just ask me and I'll tell you that it is Linda.
• If we have too many wiggles, we can just stand up and wiggle. Then Spencer Packard can just push them right out the door and hurry and shut it before they sneak back inside.
• I can sit by you because you're my mom.
• etc..... :)

Planning Ahead

Ben and I were watching cartoons this morning when Ben turned to me and shared his big plan. Next year for Happy Fathers Day, we should go to the fabric store and buy some fabric and sew a shirt for Dad. It could be his favorite colors, like a rainbow so it will be bright. He is also obsessed with as they say, keeping up with the Jones, or in our case, keeping up with the Soderborgs. Not long after we told him we were expecting baby #3, he decided on his own that we were having a girl. It took a while for us to figure out why it was a girl. Eventually, he told us that the Soderborg family has 7 people in their family. They have two boys, the dad and 2 year old Ben. We have a dad in our family and he is the Ben for our family. The Soderborgs have a mom and 4 girls, one named Maggie. We have a mom in our family and a Maddie. So, by 4 year old logic, we are going to have 3 more babies so we can get our whole family here, and they will all be girls. At least now that I know the future, it will sure help me plan better...right?

Puzzle Fun

Brian has been gone for almost a week now. We've been helping two friends move and not getting our normal schedule for naps this week. It's been fun to help and sad to say goodbye to great people. Ben has totally loved the play dates though.


When we got home today after emptying the Miles fridge and delivering the loot to friends, Maddie was crashed out in her car seat. She moved nicely into her bed, only demanding her customary 3 binkies. When I came downstairs, Ben wanted to do a new puzzle they had gifted us. It was a 100 piece puzzle with some serious detail of a small dinosaur scene. I almost told him no because I figured he'd be too frustrated to do it. Well, it took an hour, but he loved it. Since I've loved puzzles for years, it was totally fun to teach him a little puzzle strategy...

It did take some serious self control not to just do the puzzle or to wait and let him tell me silly stories while we sat side by side working. Mostly because he can't talk and work. I just had to listen and wait for him to be ready to work again. Good lesson in real listening and patience for me.

We had to have a snack break in the middle. He got cereal and goldfish in a bowl and a bottle of water and a cup. He explained the entire process of how he got the water in a bottle because he thought I might be getting thirsty from all the hard puzzle work like he was. So the bottle was so I could pour my own water into my own cup and he could use the cup he chose for himself. Then he had to demonstrate how pouring water was to be done. It was real cute how thoughtful he was to me. I can't believe how great he did with the puzzle too! Once again, time to upgrade my expectations of what he can do.