Babysoroos

Today, Ben turns four years old. What a wonderful kid he is!

The day he was born:

One:

Two:

Three:

And today, at four:

Happy Birthday, kiddo!! We love you.

I have a couple of child laborers around here. But rather than forcing them to work, sometimes it’s hard to get them to stop!

But, you know, little boys, summer, basin of soapy water….. it’s a recipe for fun.

Today Ben mopped my kitchen floor. All by himself. Last time I tried to do it, there were three of us fighting over the mop: me, because I wanted to “do it right”; Ben, because he wanted a turn; and Timothy, because if Ben wanted a turn, it must be good. This time, I gave Ben his turn first while I did something else, and before I knew it, he’d finished the whole thing! The floor might not be perfect, but it’s better than it was when I was avoiding cleaning it so I didn’t have to fight over the mop. And he didn’t flood the place, so that’s a bonus!

Ben has been fascinated with the violin for a while. Every time we visit some friends who have child-sized violins at their house, he wants to play with them. At home, since we didn’t have a child-sized violin, he made do with some sticks from the yard.

He would “play” the sticks and sing Twinkle Twinkle. Pretty cute.

These are old photos, from a few months ago. We do now have in our possession a rented violin, and this coming week, Ben will be participating in a Suzuki method violin camp at Greenbank. For his age group, the camp is just one 45 minute lesson each day, which Timothy and I will attend as well, followed by a picnic lunch with various activities and recitals by older students. It should be an interesting experience, at least, and perhaps give us an indication of whether this is something he wants to pursue a little more.

After we all recovered from the bug, we did manage to enjoy ourselves somewhat.

These are koi fish in a pond where the kids can feed them at the Des Moines zoo. They were seriously so densely packed that it looked like they were climbing over each other, even out of the water, to get to the food.

More pictures of this on Eric’s blog here, here and here.

Timothy loved the sandpit in the kids’ area.

Both of them loved running in and out of these tunnels into/under the prairie dog exhibit. Tim had a little easier time of it since he could stand up. 🙂

And of course, since there was a train, we had to take a train ride. Both of them enjoyed that.

Then there was some fun at the park in Indianola, too, one day.

Climbing and jumping….

Swinging and sliding….

And little brother wanting to imitate big brother in everything.

But this time, something different.

We made cheesecake, and since we needed crushed graham crackers for the crust, I put some boys who love hammering to work.

They enjoyed themselves, the cheesecakes (little individual sized ones) were delicious. Sorry, no photos before they all got eaten. What was I thinking?

I’m sure we’ll do it again soon, it was a hit all around.

He wants to learn to do everything.

Hammering:

Embroidering:

Finger paints. Focus. Messy. Wash hands, touch paint, wash hands, touch paint. Repeat. Paint on the bathroom door. More paint! Touch each other’s work. Smoooooosh.

Our local library system is co-sponsoring a program where they will be framing pieces of local kids’ art and displaying them in local businesses for a month. We used a couple of pieces from this session, since it was recent, and they were both so very very into it for a while.

If we have the opportunity, we’ll try to get photos of their art when it’s framed and displayed!

We went into town this afternoon, primarily to drop off some pieces of the kids’ art at the library (they’re doing a project where they’ll frame them and display them in local businesses during May and June). It was such a gorgeous day that we walked around town for a little bit.

Then Ben asked to stop at the little playground we pass on the way home. Of course, it was the perfect day for it. They both love to climb and swing and climb and slide and climb.

Yesterday, Ben watched as Daddy got a haircut at the barber’s in town (who also happens to be the mayor).

Today, Ben got a haircut too. This was possibly the best haircut ever in terms of behaving and sitting fairly still and not freaking out.

Also possibly the best haircut I’ve ever given him — I watched the barber a bit too and maybe picked up a few tricks.

Pictures, however…. not the best, to start with at least.

Mr. Goofy Face:

Caught unawares:

And finally a happy smiley boy: