Another update

It seems like the best I can do blogging is an entry every 2 months.  At least it's better than nothing!  The last time I wrote, Lila was just beginning to get over her colic.  While she still has a quick temper and cries her fair share, I think it's safe to say the colic is gone.  Praise God!  That was definitely a very stressful thing for the whole family.

The past two months have been nuts!  We had Sav return from Kenya, Sav leave for England, Sav's Birthday, Ang's birthday, Mom's birthday, Ben's birthday PARTY, Ben's birthday, a family reunion, and the Life Challenge.  Oh, and the Ranger's trip to the World Series... oh so close!  It's all a blur!

We had Ben's birthday party up at the church to save money.  It was the Saturday before his actual birthday and it was Toy Story theme.  We got a great deal on a big bounce house with a basketball hoop and a slide.  Hector did balloon animals and we had a teen paint faces.  Ben had a ball!  We invited all of his friends from church and school, although alot of his church friends couldn't make it this year.  He was very polite opening all of his presents.  The only problem came when they started to take down the bounce house at the end.  Ben started bawling, saying, "my birthday going by by", "no, wait, please".  It was so sad.  He got lots of Toy Story and Spiderman toys.  Spiderman, along with Batman and Power Rangers (just in the last two weeks) have become his new obsession.  That's all he wants to watch, and of course, act out!  On his actual birthday, we had family over.  It was much lower key, but very fun for him.

So, for the month before his birthday, we kept telling Ben that when he turned three, he was going to be a big boy and wouldn't need his paci anymore.  We actual got him to the point where he would say it.  We would ask, "Ben, what's coming up?"  He would say, "My birthday.  I'm a big boy and throw my paci in the trash".  So, we planned on letting him throw them away himself on his birthday.  Mind you, I was very doubtful that it would work, but it was worth a shot.  So, as we were leaving his birthday party to go to mom's, Ben said "I don't want to go night night".  And I told him it was way past time for his nap.  He then shocked me with his next statement.  He said, "I'm a big boy now.  I don't need my paci.  My paci in the trash".  We had not planned on attempting to get rid of it til his actual birthday, but he initiated it so I went with it.  Now, almost a month later, he hasn't even seen one of his paci's.  We never even actually had him throw them away, because we didn't want to tempt him.  We just acted like we had thrown them away.  The first week, he asked for it a few times, but there was never a meltdown, and now he doesn't ask at all.  What a blessing!  We couldn't believe how smooth it went.

So, Ben is still an incredibly low maintenance child, but he is definitely three.  He's pressing his limits more and is far more dramatic.  But he's also so much fun.  His faces are priceless.  And he still acts things out impeccably.  He is becoming very particular in what he wants.  He has his exact idea about how things are supposed to work, how his clothes are supposed to fit, and he makes it very clear to us, especially concerning his masks that he loves to wear. Unfortunately, we frustrate him often because we can't meet his expectations.  We should have seen it coming last year with the playdoh.  We had to make that disappear because we couldn't make the figures he wanted good enough!  I'm very interested to see how this perfectionist side of him translates into adulthood!

Mrs. Hill is Ben's teacher at school.  He has done much better this year going to school.  Not near as clingy to me, and typically very well behaved.  But one Sunday at church, the children's worship leader told Hector that Ben would not mind her.  Hector had a strong talk to Ben and we hoped that would work, but just in case we prepared Mrs. Hill that he was having a rough week, and to let us know if she had any problems.  Dad picked Ben up from school that day, but Hector went to open house that night to meet mrs. hill (i already had gone to the meet the teacher day).  She told hector that she typically didn't tattle on the kids, but since I had asked, she felt like she had to tell me.  She said that for the first time in 20+ years of teaching, she had to put a kid in time out.  It was time to go outside, and Ben decided he wanted to take his shoes off.  When she tried to get him to put them back on, he ran from her and hid in the tunnels so she couldn't get to him.  We were so proud that our son was her first time out!  She was very kind about it and said it was no big deal.  We actually had a good laugh about that since Ben is typically so well behaved.  And it was partially our fault, because through the summer we had let him take his shoes off whenever he felt like it.  That's not the case anymore!

So Miss Lila is growing so fast!  She is a little chunk but so stinkin' cute.  She is completely different from her brother.  Everyone says she looks so much like me.  I love it!  Ben looked nothing like me.  Everyone says Ben looks like Hector.  But everyone also says that Ben looks like Lila.  Very interesting.  Her personality appears to be following in her mama's footsteps as well.  She's very vocal, knows exactly what she wants, and is a little impatient.  Oh, and she likes to eat :)  Ben is much more like Hector, very creative and mellow, but he get's his intensity from me.  Last week, I threw a toy at him to get his attention while he was watching one of his shows, and he didn't even blink.  Come to think of it, that sounds a lot like his dad too!  Lila is starting to belly laugh which is so cute.  She's got one big dimple, one little dimple and a little dent on the left side of her nose when she crinkles it.  Dad's the best at making her laugh.  She only crinkles her nose when she smiles extra big.  She's now rolling over both ways.  She loves outside!  Too bad it went from blistering hot to what's beginning to be freezing over the course of just a month.  She is still quite a mama's girl.  I love that too... most of the time.

Just recently, she's really started paying attention to Ben.  She'll watch him move across a room.  In the car, when she's crying, if he sings to her, she stops.  She already thinks he's the coolest thing ever.  He think's it's pretty cool too.   I don't even have to tell him to sing.  As soon as she starts fussing, he starts singing.  His favorites to sing to her are "Jesus loves me" and "My God is so Big".  It is so neat to see them interact already.  I can't wait to see how that relationship grows.

So Halloween was a great success.  Ben was Spiderman and Lila was a pumpkin.  We did trunk or treat Sunday night and then went trick or treating Monday night.  We knew Ben would like trunk or treat at church, but we figured he would be too shy to trick or treat the neighborhood.  Boy were we wrong.  We went all the way down our long street and back.  Hector or I would walk him up the driveway, but then he would go by himself to the door, know and say "Trick or Treat" loud and clear.  He would then say "Thank you.  Happy Halloween" when he left.  It was precious.  It was a reality check for me of just how fast he is growing up.  Lila had a ball.  She just chilled in the stroller for most of it.  I carried her towards the end and everyone commented on what a precious pumpkin she was.  It was such a neat family night.  It was yet another reminder of just how incredibly blessed I am.  Thank you Lord for the family you created for me.  It is far better than I could have ever asked or imagined!