Four Point Five

Benjamin will officially be four-and-a-half tomorrow, which I think is a delightful age! He seems to be a lot more comfortable in his skin and very engaged in the world around him.

I remember him at two-and-a-half, right around the time when Peter was born, and how challenging that was. Peter's going through a little of that now, probably frustrated that he can't communicate as well as he'd like, but mostly frustrated at being a little too small and a little too big. Anyways, Benjamin is a lot more happy about having a new baby around this time. He loves playing with Nora and being adored by her. He gets a little wild sometimes, giving her "jiggy-back-snides" (which in our house are crazy piggy-back rides) around the house and shaking her tiny arms a little more aggressively than we'd like. But it really is night and day from the first time we were doing this with baby Peter.

Benjamin and Peter continue to be best friends. Putting them in the same room was a little rocky at the onset, but it is so nice now to wake up in the mornings listening to them playing and giggling in their room together. They're still boys of course, and get a little rough with each other sometimes. Peter has just started to test his own strength on Benjamin and now knows that he can have the upper hand. Benjamin is usually pretty good about not retaliating though, especially since he knows that Santa is always watching.
This year, he seems to be a lot more interested in the logistics of Santa Claus and his helpers. He decided to write a letter to the elves, and was delighted when they secretly took the letter he left outside for them. He wrote it himself, and asked for one thing: the Star Wars Echo Base Lego set. It will officially complete his ice planet of Hoth that he's been earning little by little. He also made sure to include his address so that Santa would know where to bring it, and said the necessary "please" and "thank you."

He's gotten to be a very confident little reader now that he's finished all of his Max the Cat sets. For his last prize that he earned, he read 11 books- mostly easy ones from the library and some Dr. Seuss. He's so cute after he finishes a book, announcing to Peter and Nora and whoever else will listen how proud he is of himself. Prompted by this last conference, we decided to start reading a few verses from the Book of Mormon every night, and he does a pretty good job reading a verse by himself. He especially loves reading the "And it came to pass..." verses.

He loves going to preschool three days a week, and has become very focused on counting. Every day, he usually works on the "chains," which are kind of like multiplication. Recently he's been busy working on his "big" seven-chain, which is seven cubed, or 343. Each of the beaded chains adds together to make a square of 49, then the squares add together to form a cube. This kid has a lot of focus and drive (but not so much when it comes to making a gingerbread house. I was so excited to make these this year, but he just quickly slapped on some animal crackers and some rice noodles for "hoses" and called it good).

He loves school for the social aspect as well. His best friend right now is probably Alex, who he's making gingerbread houses with here. They're really cute together.

Every day when I drop him off at school, he gives hugs and kisses to Peter, Nora and me. He is the first to greet Daddy when he comes home with a big hug and a kiss. Benjamin has a great enthusiasm for life, which is infectious. I love this little boy, and especially this little boy at four-and-a-half.