They had never been to our new house, so first we had to show them around. Ben loves holding hands with his cousins.
MV's favorite part of our yard was the dirt. 
Ben wasn't so sure about sharing his swing with Janey. He said, "Janey get out. Blue swing for Ben." I told him he had to share with Janey and that he could swing in the yellow swing. (You can see my shadow taking the picture. I feel like Peter Pan.)
All three Elder cousins playing together on the swingset.
Ben's new twin-sized bed came in two boxes. The bed itself went together pretty easily. Of course, a project like that can't be simple. When John put the mattress and box springs on it, it looked terrible. Very, very tall. The top of the mattress reached the top of the footboard. Without the box springs it looked great, BUT the bedrail is made for a bed with a mattress and box springs. The side can't drop down when it's sitting inside the slats. Our temporary solution is to use the mattress and bedrail without a box springs. However, I called the furniture store and they are going to exchange the box springs for a "low profile" set. It has to be ordered, though, and will take approximately 10 days to come in.
Ben was very excited to get in his new bed at naptime. He wasn't as excited once I walked out of the room. He did go to sleep within 10-15 minutes though. 
When I went to check on him, I found him sleeping like this. Good thing he has a bedrail.
John turned the full-sized bed in the guest room to make room for the crib. We had to take the crib apart to get it out Ben's door. Putting it back together, is a project for another day.
Last night was Ben's last night in his crib. And since we also moved the rocking chair out of his room, it was the last night of Daddy rocking him while they read bedtime stories. The bedtime stories, Bible reading, and prayer time will continue, but will have to move to the bed or maybe the couch if that's too uncomfortable for John. We'll see.
Ben likes a last pat from Daddy before we leave the room.
Ben likes to pick the flowers in our yard.
Then smell them.
And of course Cat has to smell them, too. This isn't a great picture of Ben, but it's the only one I got of Cat smelling the flowers.
Because someone was on vacation last week, John had to work long hours (10 a.m. to 10 p.m.) and didn't get to spend much time with Ben. They had lots of fun playing together this weekend. 
Ben walked down the backsteps this evening without holding on to anything (his hands were full with a ball and Cat) for the first time. He was very proud and shouted, "Good job!" He did it again and again. Once he fell on his head, but only cried for a minute and then returned to going up and down the steps. I thought his lip was bleeding after he fell, but when I looked closely I realized it was just a smudge of chocolate chip cookie. 
Shouting, "Good job!" 
We were so thankful for the beautiful weather today. Ben, Cat, and I spent hours outside this morning and then went out again after naptime. 
When we ran inside to get some juice, I realized it was actually lunch time. We fixed sandwiches and took them back outside for a picnic.
All that playing wore Ben out. He literally fell asleep while sitting outside eating.
Ben loves to watch videos of himself. He asks for specific videos. He doesn't recognize himself in the older videos. He'll say, "Watch baby swim" or "Watch baby play ball." Since he's watched the video of himself climbing the ladder so many times, he repeats the same nonsense words everytime he climbs the ladder, "Coo-cag, coo-cag." 
In that earlier video, I stopped filming when Ben got to the top of the slide because I had to hold onto him to keep him toppling forward while sliding. Yesterday, he was able to slide down all by himself. He thought it was great fun. 
And a video: 
Everyday after lunch, Ben plays "I don't know." He is always finished eating before we are and we let him get down from the table and play. As soon as he gets down, he says, "Play I don't know." Then he goes into the office and sits in the window (which we can see from the table) and says, "I don't know. I don't know. I don't know." We don't know where this came from, but it's been going on for weeks. I want to get a video of this, but am always so rushed at lunchtime that I forget to have my camera ready. 
I had my monthly check up today. I had gained close to three pounds since my last visit. It was a quick visit. I go back in a month.
house, a clock, an "a", a "5", Thomas. And it goes on and on. Last night, he asked John to draw pajamas, a bed, Cat, and a rocking chair. Do you think he may have been tired? Sometimes I'm asked to draw as well. I try to stick to letters and numbers. I don't think Ben was impressed with my drawing of Hal.
This is a quick sketch John did of Cookie Monster. I'm trying to convince him to draw pictures for the baby's room. He says he doesn't draw flowers. I've suggested lady bugs, butterflies, and dragon flies as an alternative.
My picture doesn't make the blog very often so I asked John to take some pics of Ben and me cooking this evening. Ben has progressed from just stirring to pouring ingredients in. He really, really wants to crack an egg, but I don't think he's ready for that yet. 
Patting (kneading) the dough.
We took turns rolling out the dough.
Today is Dr. Seuss's 106th birthday. I had planned for us to have a Dr. Seuss day -- green eggs and ham for breakfast, Story Hour at the library, and reading our favorite Dr. Seuss books. Ben colored a Green Eggs and Ham placemat that I printed from the Internet while I cooked breakfast. Honestly, neither of us ate the green eggs. I don't like scrambled eggs and Ben is adverse to pretty much all green food. He's completely opposed to vegetables. 
