The trouble with infomercials. . .

  Ben is a morning boy.  He likes to wake up early, and once he's up he doesn't want to go back to sleep.  This is good and bad.  It's good because he's very pleasant in the morning.  It's bad because sometimes other people in the house want to be left alone to sleep, namely me and Tom (Sam leaves for work really early before anyone is awake).  To remedy his being up so early we realized that the TV is a great entertainer for him.  So every night before Sam and I go to bed we make sure that the TV is set to a PBS channel so that Ben can watch age appropriate programs in the morning when he wakes up.  He usually watches 1-2 programs before the rest of us wake up and start the morning.  Last night Sam and I forgot to leave the TV tuned to PBS, and the results were hilarious and a little worrisome.

This morning Ben came into my bedroom after watching about 30 minutes of TV and asked,
 "hey mom, do you want a Genie Bra?"
I was puzzled to say the least.  I don't ever watch TV during the day, and maybe 3 out of 7 nights I'll sit down to watch about an hour with Sam before I go to bed.  I had no clue what Ben was talking about.  So I responded, "what do you mean, a Genie Bra?"
Ben, "Mom, you know, a Genie Bra.  You wear it on your chest."
Immediately I tried changing the subject to something else.  Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel super comfortable discussing ladie's undergarments with my 4 year old son.
So I got out of bed, put my glasses and slippers on, and we walked downstairs together.  When we got down to the family room guess what was playing on the TV, an infomercial for the Genie Bra.  My innocent little 4 year old son had watched an entire 30 minute segment about bras!  That's just great.

Ben the Birthday Boy!

Today was Ben's 4th birthday.  I can't believe that 4 years have come and gone.  I know that this is so cliche, but I really do feel like he was just a baby and that he's growing up so fast.

Ben is a very special boy.  His favorite foods are cottage cheese, bread with cream cheese spread on it, any kind of cheese, any kind of plain bread/roll, apple sauce, sometimes pizza, ice cream, and cake.  He can say the Pledge of Allegiance by himself.  He can get himself dressed, make his own bed, pick up after himself, and sweep the kitchen floor.  He loves to read books and have books read to him.  He loves watching Scooby Doo movies.  He goes to preschool twice a week and loves learning new things.  He has a very good memory and knows a lot of songs by heart.  He enjoys riding his bike and playing "monster" and "chase" with his friends.  He loves animals and dinosaurs, and knows a lot about different species.  He loves to help mom or dad cook and bake things.  He's mentioned that he would like to be a chef.

He made me a mother.  He makes we want to be better all the time.  I love my Ben Boy and I couldn't imagine life without him.

Here's some pictures from his birthday party today.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the recorder.  Don't be surprised if that ends up in Grandpa's suitcase after he stays with us next month.  :)

Tom was excited to get some bubbles of his own from Chris and Gina.

Sam and I made this cake by following some directions we found online.  Unfortunately the trunk started to break off by the time we were ready to eat it.

Tom actually blew out the candle the first time.  I had to re-light it so Ben could have a turn.

Thanks to everyone for the gifts.  Ben was so excited to open all of them.  It was such a nice birthday.