Sweet Benjamin, your third year didn't start out quite so charming. In fact, you were our first child to give us a true glimpse of the "terrible two's" that so many parents are afraid of! You had always been a mild mannered, even tempered little guy, and then you turned two..... I think it was a very textbook case of your desires not matching up with your abilities and the frustration that would build (and explode!) as a result. It was so hard for you to see your three bigger siblings having so much fun around you and not be fully able to join in! And on top of it all, your verbal skills had not caught up to your internal processing and that just drove you over the edge. There were tantrums. Loud tantrums. Tantrums that left us all wanting to throw tantrums of our own. I remember saying more than once that it was lucky for you that you were so darn adorably cute.

We've always taken the full month of December off from school and I remember this past December, after a particularly difficult semester of teaching the older kids while working through your fit-throwing issues, asking Daddy what he thought the chances might be of you being a new kid come January. He humored me (and gave me hope!) by saying that he supposed anything was possible... Well, guess what? Call it coincidence, call it a miracle, or just call is God's mercy on your poor, tired mommy, but by January you really were a new boy. A delightful, hilarious, pleasant, grateful little joy to be around. And that description only fits you better and better every day.

Your preschool this year has been a bit unconventional as you studied the Middle Ages right along with the big kids! You read with us stories about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, learned about Vikings, took a field trip to Medieval Times (where you were enraptured for the entire 2 hours), talked about things being "beheaded" very matter-of-factly, spent many days dressed as Robin Hood, tracked the paths that Columbus took as he sailed west, and learned to credit Patrick Henry as you shouted, "Give me liberty or give me death!". You still enjoy spending some time coloring, cutting and pasting and playing with play doh, but you much prefer reading about knights while wearing your armor. I felt a little guilty about your less-than-conventional preschool for a little while, but I'm learning to just go with the fact that the preschool days of fourth children will naturally look very different from the preschool days of his older siblings. You may still spell your name, "B-E.....S!", but you know a good bit about Paul Revere and the Red Coats, so that counts for something!

There are so many things about you right at this very minute that I hope we never forget. For example, your favorite book for the last few months has been Are You My Mother. You especially like to read it to us and I love that you read with the same inflection that I've always used when reading it to you. I also love that you say "muvvah" for "mother". Please say it like that forever? And while you're at it, you can also keep "fank" for "thank". You love to play house with Caroline, any type of fighting or war game with your "buvvahs", battle with your knights and horses and Connect Four. You sit and loot at books for a long time and you absolutely love to be read to. Books about animals have always been your favorites. Basketball is your favorite sport to watch with daddy and you turned into a huge Kentucky fan this year. John Wall is your favorite player and you call him, "Da best guy." Your favorite snack is a "pile" of cereal, you like your oatmeal with a few chocolate chips in it (like your mama!) and you can eat so much yogurt in one sitting that I had to find a way to make it in large quantities. You don't love plain avocados but can eat your weight in guacamole. when you want seconds of anything (which is most of the time), you say, "Can I have some nor?" The word "super" is one of your most-used; you put in in front of most any other word. For instance, you're never just hungry or thirsty, you're "supah howngy" or "supah firsty". And your knight set-up isn't just awesome, it's "supah awesome" (said in an awed whisper). You are quite independent and enjoy doing things "all bine self". You and I have "love talks" at night before bed where we say sweet things about each other and it always progresses to you saying, "I think you're hot dog soup!". It cracks me up every time. You love to pray. You are really good at learning hymns and your two favorites are Amazing Grace and All Creatures of Our God and King. You have an adorable stutter that you struggle through whenever you're trying to tell a story with any details. Your brain just works so much faster than your mouth! You have impossibly long eyelashes and ridiculously cute freckles on your nose.

Ben, I can't even begin to tell you how much you are loved and adored. You bring such laughter and joy into our family! You are growing and changing so quickly right now and we are loving every minute of it. I can't wait to see all of the things you learn this year and the big boy that you will grow into. We are so glad that God put you in our family! Happy birthday to our precious Benjamin. You're...... da best guy.