Another year has come and gone and my “baby” isn’t really a baby anymore. Ben is now four. It doesn’t seem possible. Year after next he’s going to be packing off to kindergarten where he will learn lots of bad words (he certainly would never learn them from us, of course) and the exact way to make farting noises in his armpit. What I learned in kindergarten…boogers taste salty. Little boys will pull your hair in order to be first in line for the drinking fountain. It is not possible to hang from your knees on the monkey bars, flip and land on your feet unless you are the Chinese boy who has taken gymnastics since birth. Falling on your head from the monkey bars really hurts. Macaroni is its own art form. Paste is an edible food.
Ben, my baby boy. He weighs 42 pounds now. I will never forget how relieved we were to see him on the day of his birth, after nearly two days of labor and a wild trip to the hospital from the birthing center. Marti’s terror when he found out we were having a C-section. The evil anesthesiologist who made wry comments just as I was going under and couldn’t make my arms move quickly enough to hit him. Ben peeing as they weighed him and still coming up at 9 pounds 14.5 ounces.
Now Benjamin is a real little boy, just like Pinocchio. He loves trains and cars and superheroes and making pictures with watercolors. He is, from time to time, the “real” Spiderman. I love the way he runs, a little crooked, while he makes sound effects. I love that he calls cinnamon rolls “cinamoles.” Or “cimaniners.” But most of all, I love my sweet little boy that’s growing up so terribly fast, and who is now big enough to say, “I love you” right back.
Happy 4th Birthday, Benjamin
Ben, sleeping on the last night he’s still three years old.
Sorry grandparents, the coolest gift of all came from my friend T. (whom Ben adores because she brings him things like this). It was a “real Batman sword,” to use Ben’s words, along with a handful of Batman masks. (We like to keep corporate toy companies in business.) The sword makes cool clanging sounds when you push the button, and lights up like a saber. He chased the daddy-monster around the house with this for hours before finally dropping into an exhausted puddle. I loved this gift.
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