{Ben: Three Years Old}

As you might remember, Ben turned three on December 12th! With all the holiday craziness, I am just now getting around to writing out what the last year has held for our second born. I can't believe that he is a little boy now...definitely no longer a toddler. We did his three year check-up with the pediatrician right before Christmas! Although a few weeks late, here is Ben at three years old in a nutshell:

 

1.  Ben is still a very big boy! I am so glad he is finally three so people stop the stares and comments when they realized he was only two and the size he was. At three years old, he is about 41.25" (99%) and weighs 43.5 lbs (99%). He is about an inch and a half taller than Luke was at this age and about 4 to 5 pounds heaver. Even though he is quite the big guy, he has slimmed down so much. He is just very dense and broad, so it makes him look that much bigger. He wears a size 11 shoe (Luke was a 10 at this point) and is wearing 5T in most shirts and 4T/5T in shorts/pants. Ben still resembles me the most in his face, but the curly hair is still in full force and that is definitely not me! We still get comments daily about his hair!

 

 

2.  Unlike Luke at this age, Ben has always been our talker. He talks all the time and is very loud. Half the time I swear he is screaming when he just is talking normal. I have to remind him to use a quiet, indoor voice a lot! Lately he still has a bad stutter. It started back in the spring, went away for a few months and now has come back. He has trouble getting the first syllable out of the first word of a sentence. After discussing it with the pediatrician, he is still in the "normal" range and we are just going to watch and wait. If he is still showing signs in the next 6 months to a year, we will get him evaluated.  

 

 

3.  Sleep --  Sleep has never been a strong quality of my boys. Ben could run on very little sleep I have concluded. He doesn't really need a nap everyday, but also struggles without it. So we try to get him down early for about an hour and then wake him up (which I hate!). If that happens, we get him to bed around 9:00 pm. He is definitely our night owl! He could stay awake till midnight if we let him. He also likes to sleep in. Luke wakes up around 7:00 am every morning no matter what, but Ben will sleep till 8:00 or 8:30 sometimes if he goes to bed late several nights a week. I can't wait till naps are a thing of the past and everyone is in bed by about 8:00 pm. I give it a couple more months and I think we will be there. We transitioned him to his big boy bed in August and had a rough month or so, but now he is pretty good with it and won't get out much once we put him down for the night. The boys have loved sharing a room!

4.  School/Activities -- Ben is going to school three days a week and for the most part loves school this year! Last year he cried at drop off every day, but this year is much, much better. He likes being a panda because he thinks it is a 'big boy' class. He sometimes has a hard day every now and then, but for the most part he is one happy kid at school. He is learning a ton and just really enjoying the other kids in his class. Unlike Luke, I have not enrolled him in swim or soccer yet. I plan to start both around March and hope he is ready! Luke tends to be his security blanket so we will see if he can do these activities on his own.  

 

 

 

5.  Potty Training -- For the most part, Ben is potty trained. He started showing a lot of signs when I was in my first trimester and I felt terrible. So I did the easy thing and put it off and continue using pull-ups and diapers. His teacher pretty much told me that I had to bring him in underwear one day, so reluctantly I did. He has been potty trained at school for several months with zero accidents I believe. At home, I am pretty lazy. If we are at the house, I put him in underwear and he is pretty good with pee and poop. If we head out somewhere, that is when my laziness takes over and I put him in a pull-up or diaper. It is just so much easier than underwear and I don't have to worry about it. I am trying hard to give him more opportunities out with underwear on, because he is ready for it, but this lazy mama has trouble just ripping that bandaid off. 

 

6.  Ben is still a cuddler and loves to snuggle with me. Usually in the morning, he comes and finds me in bed and wants to climb in a snuggle for a while or will even fall back asleep in my arms. He likes to be carried a lot still -- which is very hard considering I am pregnant and he is almost 45 pounds. But he likes to be close and feels the most secure and comfortable in my arms.

7.  Ben is not a task-oriented child. When you give Luke a task (no matter how boring), he is eager to please and to finish it. Ben...not so much! He hates to clean up or put things away. He is definitely not Type A at all. Even though this makes certain things a bit more challenging, I love how different my boys are!

 

 

8.  Ben loves food, picking out his clothes, bandaids, his sleepy friends (stuffed animals), dinosaurs and trains. Luke to this day will not wear a bandaid, but Ben would cover his body in them if he could! And he is very opinionated about what he wears. He pretty much will only wear a few shirts and his pants have to be soft and he prefers shorts mostly. We have a lot of trantrums in the morning getting ready for the day. I usually just wash his favorite three shirts and two shorts daily and he just wears them over and over. He definitely has different interests and I enjoy seeing what makes him tick. He loves to ruin board games that Luke and Daddy are playing. He has started to love riding his scooter more and more and still enjoys swinging outside.

9. He has a bit of a potty mouth! He loves to say poo-poo at the end of anything and just start laughing hysterically. Anything bathroom related, he loves and says it over and over and over. At the most inappropriate times I might add! He got in trouble at school a few weeks ago for saying 'stupid' and just likes to walk on the edge a bit more when it comes to language. So I have to be very careful!

10.  Tantrums are still present and when he gets mad, watch out. He is mad! He is definitely a bit more defiant than Luke was at this age. Three is proving to be a bit more challenging than I thought it would be already (and we are only a few weeks in!). We constantly work with him on things and let him work through things on his own. We have our ups and downs, but overall he is one happy boy!

 

 

All said and done, I love this boy more than my heart can stand sometimes! He is my sweet, defiant son who is going to be a big brother this year and I can hardly wait. Love you Ben!