Bennett at 3 and a Half Years

Bennett turned 3.5 last month and I've been reflecting more and more on where each boy is at in their development and I so miss recording it. Poor Crosby has literally had nothing documented of his first year. In any case, I want to keep up at least every 6 months with where they're at. So, here's what I know about Bennett right now and some of my favorite pictures of him from the past 6 months.





Bennett is SUCH a three year old. Happy one minute, melting down the next. He has a whine that sounds to me like nails on a chalkboard. I'm pretty bad at just giving him WHATEVER it takes to stop that sound immediately. Bad mom, I know. When he's happy though? He will light up your life.



He's sweet and snuggly and easy going. He loves to play with trains, legos, "shooters" (ugh), balls, tinker toys, the matching game, Sequence, Jenga, Go Fish, puzzles and books. He loves being read to and really enjoys getting new books from the library. His favorite thing is probably dressing up in costumes. He mostly prefers to be Elsa or anything that involves a dress. I think he's the most beautiful princess.



I love that he's fully his own person. He's not easily influenced by what others want to do or play with. He just wants what he wants and he's not afraid to express that. He LOVES being around others and playing with friends, but if they're not doing what he wants, that's fine, too - he'll do it anyway! He's learning to share with his baby brother, a task proving much harder than it seems :)





He's tracing larger letters (ones that take up a whole page) and can recognize some numbers but not many letters yet. He loves to do "school work" as long as I don't help him or ask him any questions. So.... basically I'm choosing not to worry terribly about what he knows or doesn't know. I figure he'll get there eventually. He can count to 13 without help and his 1:1 correspondence with counting is up to about 5. He's dressing himself with ease now with the exception of his socks and shoes.





It would be a marvelous thing to report full potty trained status but alas, I cannot. He can pee in the potty without assistance, but he's still pooping in his pants. Again, I'm trying to remember that he will get there. Bennett cannot be pushed into something he doesn't want to do. He's stubborn and self-assured. Bribing isn't working.



Bennett likes to change his clothes about 6 times a day and prefers pajamas to all other clothing choices. But, he also likes to accessorize sometimes. Hats, scarves, gloves. He enjoys them all.



He has enjoyed gymnastics and is looking forward to soccer in the spring. He LOVES preschool and always looks forward to going.





He's adventurous. He'll try pretty much anything once. He may never do it again after that, but he's always game to try. He does try to keep up with Max in regards to sports and physical activity and in most cases, he can easily keep up. He's a very physical child and needs to exert his energy daily. Sometimes this means at bedtime he's going crazy and jumping and climbing because he didn't get it out earlier. Whoops!



The child will eat ANYTHING. He's not picky, although lately he's shown much more preference for certain foods (toast, cereal with milk, fruits, chicken and rice, etc..) as opposed to just eating whatever I give him. He's a pretty adventurous eater and will try anything once. He likes spicy food and hummus and things that Max won't touch.

A terrible photo for its quality, BUT this is my boy on Christmas morning. Pure joy.

I really GET Ben. He's completely my child. Looks like me, acts like me. It's easy for me to empathize with ALL of those big emotions because I have them, too. This makes the relationship between Ben and me pretty easy. I don't raise my voice or lose my temper as often with him. He brings out the patient side of me (well, most of the time - I'm so far from perfect it's not even funny).



He'll say his best friend is Kira and he's been hugging and kissing Crosby A LOT lately. He tells me he loves me and says he needs a hug often. He's starting to not want kisses anymore (thanks a lot, Max!) but I sneak them in and he doesn't seem to mind. He loves to help, sit on my lap and be by my side.


I'll leave you with my favorite photo from the past 6 months. A Daddy and his boys. Bennett kissing him. Bennett, giving love. That's how I always think of him, so this is the perfect last image.

Ben is treasured in our family and I often think he'll be the link for the bond between his brothers. Because, I believe, anyone can get along with Ben. He's just so likable. And loving. He provides something in our family that is irreplaceable and I hope he feels loved and valued every single day.

Bennett Turns 3!

Little Mr. Ben. A whole 3 years ago I was snuggling my chubby second baby. He has grown so quickly. Too quickly. He still requires too little sleep for his mama's liking. He's up with sun with lots of energy everyday. He has an intense love of television and snacks and things that go. Right before he turned 3 he decided he wanted a Hulk birthday cake (it was his only request) and so we ran with it and did a Hulk themed celebration for our special 3 year old.

We started out with a family celebration at Chuck-E-Cheese. The kids had SO much fun there, it was sort of unbelievable. They've been asking to go back EVERY day since.








We stopped for cupcakes on the way there (we knew we'd have a cake at his party on the weekend, so we wanted something easier for our small celebration) and the choice was froggies or cookie monster. Ben told me he wanted cookie monster so I got 4 of them. THE WHOLE WAY to Chuck-E-Cheese he cried and cried because I did not get the frogs. Ahh, 3 year olds. It was a true grand entrance into this territory of being 3. Tumultous? Yes. Adorable and loving? Absolutely!




He loved his hulk costume and hulk smash fists.









Even Crosby enjoyed Chuck-E-Cheese!



Over the weekend of B's birthday, my mom was in town and we, along with the Gillette's, went bowling. Bennett was sort of iffy about bowling (but he was sort of iffy about anything) so he was in a bit of a bad mood. It was a bummer, but I think overall he had a good time. If you ask him about it, he'll say he loved it!







The kids scored just as well if not better than the adults thanks to this handy little ball guide gadget.










We're thrilled to be able to celebrate with our great friends this year!! It's a first of many :)






My new favorite family shot! It's SO hard to get 5 people to look semi happy and decent. Score!




These kids... I love them all. But, this photo is PROOF that Crosby looks like Ben (haha!!)


His Hulk cake! Thank goodness 3 year olds don't care what their cakes look like! Box cake for the win!


Oh, Bennett. Your whole family loves you SO much. You're fun and loving and a great mix of sweet and spunk. Watching you grow is one of my greatest joys. I love you!

They're Definitely Brothers....

Ok... I know this is painfully obvious based on time/place and the fact that I just posted a bunch of pictures of Crosby, BUT let's just see who looks like who here with a little guessing game!

A

B

C

D

E

F

Can you guess who's who? And the larger question in this house is... who the heck does Crosby look like?? See, Max is clearly Ritchie's child and Ben is a DEFINITE Rieger (in more than just his looks) so that begs the question.... does the Crosby favor Maxton or Bennett more? (And therefore more Ritchie or me?) 

Answers:

A. Bennet B. Maxton C. Maxton D. Crosby E. Bennett F. Crosby 

Bennett at 2 and a Half

I haven't done any updates on the kids in SO long and I actually use this blog as a reference for their development or happenings for their yearly books often, so it's TIME! 

Bennett is 2 and a half years old. He's such a love. 

Ben LOVES:

• Thomas the Train
• Watching anything on television 
• Eating! He's such a great eater and will munch on anything from spinach leaves to cupcakes. 
• Building train tracks with people and then hogging all of the trains 
• Running
• Pretending to be animals. Top choices are bears, dinosaurs, kitties and froggies. 
• Books! Favorites are The Hungry Caterpillar, A Crack in the Track, The Color Book and Good Morning, Good Night. 
• Asking the same question over and over and over... 
• Mimicking his big brother 
• His lunchbox

Ben DISLIKES:

• Being told TV time is over 
• Sleeping in. He prefers to be up before the sun. 
• Brussels Sprouts
• The word, "No" (when we say it) 
• Going to preschool (or at least being dropped off there...) 
• Sharing 
• Sitting on the potty... or anyone even mentioning he sit on the potty. 

He's actually a pretty easy going kid. He throws his fits, he gives out hugs, he touches your arm when he talks to you. He's 2. There's something so refreshing about doing the twos a second time around because it's much less stressful. I know he won't always struggle to get his point across. I know he'll eventually use the toilet. I know that both the joys and the trials and tribulations of this phase will end all too soon. He's charming and loving and freaking adorable. I can't wait to watch him become the big brother. I think he'll be really good at it. 

Bennett, you are SO loved. 

Throwing the "RULES" Out the Window

Me: (to Ritchie): If this baby is a boy, 

I really think he is Finnley. 

I feel very strongly about this. 

And, I would be giving you three boys so 

I feel I should be given the name choice."

Ritchie: Whatever you want, babe. 

Me: Really?! 

Ritchie: No. 

That was a conversation I posted on Facebook last night. The name conversations have been in full swing around here since even before I was pregnant because we were also choosing our adopted daughter's name. There's a been a bit of a "formula" if you will for choosing our current childrens' names. It's not something that was intended, but rather something we fell into. Here's the story behind each of their names:

With Maxton we KNEW we loved the nickname Max. I was adamant about a nickname because I've never had a nickname. Ritchie was insistent on a longer name because Ritchie is his legal name and he feels like he has a nickname for a name. So, we needed a longer version of Max. I immediately ruled out Maximillian or Maximus. We're just not cool enough to pull those names off. He was called Maxwell in utero for a good while before I decided that he was NOT a Maxwell. So, the longer name conversation began. We landed on Maxton (which we totally thought we made up - turns out there are lots of other Maxtons). It took Ritchie some time to love the name Maxton, but he's CLEARLY a Maxton so it totally works. 

Now, middle names need to be from my side because the last name is Ritchie's. Another name rule. We gave Maxton the middle name James after, well, me. Jamie... James.. close enough. 

When Max was only 4 months old I recall having a conversation with my BFF where I said I think we'll have two more children, another boy and a girl. Our girl name has ALWAYS been Isla. I think I said we'll have another boy and then a girl - in that order. She said she agreed that we'd have two more, a boy and a girl, but that Isla would be next and Benji would be our baby. The point of this long, ridiculous story is that by the time Max was REALLY little we knew our next boy would be Ben. However, when Kim said "Benji" I shuddered. (sorry, Kim!) I dislike the nickname Benji VERY much, so I knew right then and there that we would not have a Benjamin, but rather a more unique long version of Ben. Fast forward to getting pregnant with Ben and we chose Bennett for the boy name right away. His middle name is Andrew, after my brother. Funnily enough, those two love each other! 

Have I lost you in all of this wordiness? 

When we decided to adopt a girl, we tossed around the name Isla, but it just didn't feel right for her. I couldn't picture it. Plus, we now have a definite theme going with our kids and found ourselves discussing all of these "rules" for determining a name so that it would work with the boys' names. 

RULES:

1. One syllable short name (preferably a more common one) 

2. Unique, two-syllable longer name (not the common long form of that name) 

3. Middle name must come from my side (well, not for our adopted daughter because her Chinese name will be her middle name) 

4. Since everyone thus far has their own first syllable, we wanted to continue that. So, no R, J, M or B names now. Those are taken. 

Anyway, clearly Isla doesn't fit that description. So, we began throwing around short names. We landed on Ann, Ellie or Kate. We couldn't find longer names of Ann that we liked and Ellie is actually two syllables (and a bit too common right now) and all of the longer versions of Ellie that I liked (Eleanor, Eloise) are VERY traditional. So, Kate. I mean, Max, Ben and Kate is pretty damn perfect. However, as per our rules we couldn't do Katelyn or Katherine. Too traditional for the long name. So, we finally agreed on Kadence. Unique, could (sort of...) be shortened to Kate. It worked fine. 

Fast forward about 2 months and I find out we have to name a fourth freaking child. 

So, the name convo immediately begins. Side note: how do people get to the end without a name chosen? I usually know what I will call him/her before we even find out the gender. I'm THAT insane. Okay, so the name convo. We were having a HECK of a time trying to find either a second girl name or a third boy name that fit into all of the rules. Plus, the name Kadence was starting to bug me. I just didn't LOVE it and I felt like it didn't shorten easily to Kate. Like, Maxton to Max and Bennett to Ben is super obvious. Kadence to Kate is a bit of a stretch. So, we started trying to think of TWO girl names and one boy name. 

Do you have a headache yet? 

I mean, these are REAL problems, people! 

My poor friends. Kirstie has been name texting me things that I keep shooting down for weeks and poor Kim is probably tired of hearing about it all. I love them dearly for putting up with me. It takes a special person to be a close friend to me. 

So, where have we landed.... 

Basically, we're going to just break our rules. You all saw last night that my preferred boy name is Finnley (Finn) but Ritchie's not loving it so far. I still think I could get my way on this one. 

Other boy options include Will (long name??) or Cole (Coleman? Reminds me of the camping gear) or Griffin (also Finn - but that has the whole Kadence/Kate problem to me) 

The boy names basically follow the rules. It's the girl names that have really broken the rules. We've chosen them and I ADORE them both equally. But, they both break at least two of the rules and I just don't care one little bit. 

Sometimes you just have to choose names that you love and figure it won't seem weird with your other childrens' names because you love them all. 

Thanks for reading this. It was pretty ridiculous and I didn't even tell you our girl names. Sorry about that. And no pictures! Jeeze, I really am a rule breaker. 

Bennett is 2

Our sweet B turned 2 today. I know, I'm supposed to say, "I can't believe it!" But, I guess I sort of can. I honestly can't even remember life without him in our family. He was meant for us. He's stubborn, yet sweet. Rambunctious, yet snuggly. Strong willed, yet generous. He's just two-year-old perfection.

On Saturday we had a party for him at the pool:







The party basically consisted of Ben double fisting various sweets.





He really loved when people sang him "Happy Birthday"





It was a hit!





Today being his actual birthday we decided to take him to a petting zoo and little park and train ride. All of his favorite things!





Then home for presents and dinner and cake.









While the evening and day look all fine and dandy, it was actual rather terrible. I don't know what's up with Ben, but he's feverish and not feeling well and right before cake, he barfed. So, he didn't eat cake (obv) and went to bed early. Poor guy! It was a rough day to get through, but this past year has been more than enjoyable. He's truly a ray of sunshine in our family, bringing happiness to every day.

Happy Birthday, my sweet, sweet Bennett. Mommy, daddy and Max love you SO much. I cannot wait to watch you become a big brother this year. Remember, no matter how many kids are in this family that YOU have a very special place in my heart. My B. I love you!