I’ve been reunited with Smokey. My Nanna Burnie stitched him up and kept him, then he spent some time with my sister Stephanie in Montreal, and now he’s here. Ben decided it was his birthday, though I admit he’s a touch over 50. He actually spent time with me in the hospital when I had gastro when I was a baby (so I was told).
Visited a farm today. Ben hangin with the horses and the pigs.
Benji woke up this morning and declared it groundhog season. So there’s that.
It worked! This is the first weekend in 6 yrs 2 months that we got to sleep in past sunrise!
He put on a shirt for pants this morning. Pajama shirt still on. It’s afternoon now. We’ll try again tomorrow. Who am I kidding. Spring. We’ll try again in spring.
Dad and me or missy. Hard to say at that age.
Edit: probably Missy.
Me trying to prod Ben into the day’s activities.
He says to me - Dad! Give me some time, it’s been a rough morning tonight!
Doing computer school, and we had to use counters to do some subtraction problems, then upload the photos to be marked. Ok, well we were eating an orange so used the peels. And then Ben wanted in on the picture. Online teacher said she loved it.
Gorgeous day for a bike ride.
Ben this morning - dad have you heard of parashouting?
Me - do you mean paragliding?
Ben - no parashouting!
Me - wait, you mean parasailing?
Ben - no dad parashouting!!
Me - I think you mean parachuting.
Ben - no parashouting!!!
Me - ok Ben, what is parashouting?
Ben - it’s when you jump out of an airplane and shout HELP I DONT HAVE A PARACHUTE!!!!!
Apparently the kids are still playing donkey Kong.
It was a year ago today that the closures started here, and yesterday I got my appointment for the first shot. Amazing.
On my wishlist for after both Marcy and I get our 2nd shot...Being able to travel and visit people, and the first thing I’m going to do is enroll Ben in swimming classes. It’s something I’ve been promising him for a year now.
An out of focus tree bud, and a 6 year old.
I was explaining to Ben about what flying the flag at half staff means, and how it’s for when really important people die. He says to me, you mean like Mario (from the game) or Fonzie?
I love this kid. Ayyyyy👍
I haven’t facebooked in a while and there’s a bit of a back log, so without context, here’s a pig, a turkey, our dog, a wheel, and a bucket of bones. Now that we’re all caught up, good morning.
We averted an eggistential crisis with an eggtravaganza of colors. It was eggactly what the 6 year old wanted, he was eggcited to the eggstreme. That’s no eggaggeration.
Beautiful day for the beach but ya the water is too cold for me. Not for Ben though.
Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree with this one, except I prefer my baths inside. As soon as we got home for lunch from the beach and he’s back in the drink.
So Ben started snapping his finger today, and he won’t stop. It’s like living with a beat poet-jazz musician. I’m expecting to smell reefer smoke from his bedroom. Tonight, he leaves the room slowly walking backwards while snapping his finger, then stops at the open doorway and says, there’s no door here, I’m just gunna disappear. Then with a snap of his finger he turns and leaves.
I really need to occasionally monitor what this kid watches on tv.
Happy birthday Amber. When I told Ben he said wow you’re so lucky.
What a kid! Not only did he not wake us up early this morning, he cleaned his room, hung up his pajamas and got dressed. But what an ensemble. Wearing 2 sets of everything (cuz he literally goes through 2 sets each day, so he’s thinking ahead) and with some added accoutrements including his tie attached to his underwear. This kid is ready for the day.
Oh god I just realized what my son is chanting in the shower…it the yum yum song by Justin Bieber.
Out for a walk in the mud.
This didn’t work as a profile pic because the stupid circle cuts off the outer parts. Stupid circle! This was this years Mother’s Day framed picture.
Having Chinese tonight and Marcy rigged up some user friendly chop sticks for Ben. My wife isn’t just pretty, she’s handy too.
We found a broken hollow tree today.
I kept calling him Henri Fonda all day, and congratulating him on golden pond. Haha it was really starting to make him mad. My laughter just made him madder. It was great.
Ben’s take on the first hot day of the year…I’m breaking up a sweat!
Playing “store” with Ben when he gets the idea for a toy store just for adults. “We can call it an adult toy store dad, it’ll be great!”
…I think you just may have something there son.
Brood X is in peak, umm, mating cycle? We tried to go for a walk at the park but had to retreat to the car. The things dive bomb the face and they’re almost the size of a hummingbird.
This is his 3rd I think, and the other front one is about to go too.
Every so often I like to ask Ben what he would do at home if we left him alone all night. This time he said, eat surgar, watch tv that’s too old for me, and work on my secret experiment that would flood the house. (Wait what!?!?)
🎶All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth🎶. Good thing the tooth fairy left behind some cardboard dentures 🤣
Camping last weekend. Was great except so humid that none of us slept very well.
Ben must have heard the term “passed away” but got it wrong when we were talking about my old cat Seantelle.
He said, too bad we didn’t get Nova before Seantelle passed out.
Ben’s been taking swimming lessons for 4 weeks now. He loves it so much and is doing great.
Today after this jump he swam on his back all the way to the shallow end. Brian (the coach) who’s in the water doing the catching, thanked Ben for making him look so good (as a teacher) haha.
Brian is the best. He yells. He cajoles. When someone gets a nose full of water he screams, who’s drinking my pool water?! Did I say you could drink my pool water?! Ain’t no body allowed to drink my pool water!! But he’s a kitten inside. During pool free time after the lesson, he spends the time with any kid who is struggling or scared and does one on one coaching, just getting the kid to relax while floating. Then he’ll say (yell) to the kid, I am so proud of you! I am so proud of you!! Did you see what you just did?! I hope you are proud of you! It works every time and next day the kid is having fun and not so scared.
Anyways, Ben lives for swim time. He hates weekends now lol. Counting down the hours till swim time. He’s already a better swimmer than me. It’s mostly just nice to see him excited about something that isn’t on a screen.
My son was invited to join the swim team! Never thought I’d say those words lol
After just 5 weeks of swim lessons and here is Ben’s very first race in his very first swim meet. It’s a free style, so he’s relying on his two (only) strongest, the back stroke and the dog paddle.
Hard to believe that 5 weeks ago he’d never been in water over his head and that 2 days ago he’d never swam a full pool length.
Here’s Ben’s 2nd race, the backstroke.
In perhaps a Columbus swim meet first, Ben can be seen holding a strong 2nd from last when suddenly he got turned around in his lane and…and…started swimming the wrong way!
I don’t know what his pool is going to say about this today at lessons but it’ll be fun.
Edit: ya he was greeted with high fives and people saying his going around in circles should be ESPN’s play of the week. Lol
So today everyone in the beginners group passed their level 3 swim test, so they can go on to advanced beginners!!!
They all decided to celebrate together by doing the “alligator alligator jump off the wall” which is something they learned on day one. Coach said he’d never seen the kids do this without being promted.
We signed ben up for next level lessons but they are at a different pool. And he was invited back to this pool for swim team practice every weekday morning early. (I’m still not sure why lol, except they agreed that what he lacks in skill he makes up for in enthusiasm!)
So if he’s up for it he will be swimming a lot more starting next week. We’ll see how it goes but so far he shows no sign of slowing down or losing enthusiasm. He wants to join the dive team…so stay tuned?
I never know what’s going on. I come home, I say hey you look nice, can I take your picture? He says yes but hurry up, I’m two hours late for work, then he runs off.
Well if you’re really bored here’s a video of Ben pulling a log up a hill.
We went to “meet the school bus driver” yesterday, for first time riders. Learned the safety rules and got to ride in a bus!
Ben got his ‘ready for school’ haircut yesterday. This morning I hear him exclaim to Marcy, “look mom I’m cool like the Fonz cuz I don’t even have to comb my hair and not one hair out of place!”
Some photo memories of our second to last day before school starts on Wednesday. We walked and talked, and then drove around playing Old Town Road on repeat really loud. Tonight we meet the teacher and check out the classroom. I am so not ready for this. I just want this summer to never end.
He is so ready for this and rarin' to go I could only get pictures of his back. That’s Ben! I’m so proud of him! He’s not afraid, or if he is he doesn’t let it hold him back. He has the confidence of a thousand me’s, and that is all I ever asked for. Look out world, here comes Ben.
Thanks everyone for Ben’s well wishes this morning. He loved his first day, but we’re a little low on details. Ok actually zero details. We grilled him, but each question was met with a…umm I forget.
He did tell me though, when he first got off the bus, that he used his legs to push himself on the swing just like I showed him, because whenever he asks me to push him I would always give in but tell him that he’d have to learn because I wouldn’t be there to push him when he’s at school. So that choked me up with joy.
Me: Hey nice pasta! Did Ben help?
Marcy: Oh ya. His is on the plate. We won’t be eating that cuz he used his head to roll it out.
Me: Oh good.
Almost an inch in one month?! What an age! And it’s not only physical. His sarcasm and independence level has grown just as much.
After having a (mostly cream) coffee this morning, Ben proclaimed, “I gotta pee, this coffee just ran right down me!”
Picture day today.
My son is so sweet. He’s been sick since Thursday, sore throat, cough, slight fever, snotty, pukey. We figured he was good to go this morning so sent him off, but poor guy threw up on the bus.
We found out that he didn’t tell anyone and had gotten to school and collected a bunch of towels from the bathroom and was trying to go back on the bus to clean it up. Such an independent little guy.
Anyways, I woke up this morning sick. Same beginning symptoms, and asked Ben where his puke bucket was in case I need it. He ran upstairs and wrote my name on it for me. So cute.
Didn’t notice until Ben got off the school bus today that his pants were on backwards. He had his reading assessment test today, and I’m sure he did great, but i can’t imagine what the teachers think while he sits there reading with his shorts on wrong way.
He honestly has never cared which way his pants are on, and his parents don’t even notice, so it probably won’t be the last time.
Scarecrow this year.
Ben would say to every house - do you have any crows you need scarring? Or - have you seen a tin man or lion? Or he would just walk up to the door and stand with his arms out like a jesus nailed to a cross and wait for a reaction. For this kid it’s not just about the candy, but also a way to stop and chat with every house, and he will talk for as long as you let him. If you don’t keep him moving on he’d just keep talking.
Ben got his first shot of Pfizer today, and received a hundred buckeroos for his trouble! Thanks Columbus Public Health!
I think I told you all about the time Ben threw up on the bus and instead if telling anyone, he tried to clean it up.
Well here is his telling of the story for a writing assignment. Like I always tell him, write what you know son, just write what you know.
#1 One time I vomited on the bus but my mask caught it.
#2 I said bye to the bus driver Ms. Nicky.
#3 Then I told the nurse to put the thermometer in my mouth.
School picture.
If there are two kInds of kids in this world: ones that will stick their tongue on a frozen lamp post, and ones that don’t, then I guess I found out which one my son is this morning at the bus stop.
Because it’s been a while, and he’s just looking so grown up this morning. (He’s doing his Fonzie in the second pic).
Ben has taken to calling his constant kid energy, Benergy!
And 7 years later, he’s trained to bring me a (non alcoholic) beer when ever I ask. So this parenting business is finally paying off I guess.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Jumpin Jehoshaphat! Like a weed I tell ya. Like a weed.
