My Boy Ben

Today was the Mother's Spring Party at Ben's preschool. The little kids came out singing, "I love mom, I love mom, I love mom" waving streamers. Then they sang a couple more songs before we ate cupcakes together on our homemade place mats. We were given personalized potholders and magnets. It was fun to sit back and have some time with Ben and think about how fast he has grown up into my little boy. These are my 10 favorite things about my Ben:

1. He is one social butterfly! From the moment he wakes up, "What are we going to do today?" Where are we going? Who is going to be there?" When I pick him up from school he never tells me what he learned, but rather who had to go to time out or who was sick that day. He has never once had a problem with us leaving him at someone's house, nursery or school. I can't tell him what is happening until the very last minute or he will drive me crazy wanting to start ASAP. Its a wonder he wasn't born before 35 weeks!

2. He is a mommas boy! From day one he has loved to be by my side. There are days when he literally follows me from room to room like a little puppy dog. He can't stand to be alone. He even brings his toys to the bathroom door while I take a shower. There are times when David just won't cut it for him, and he never hesitates to let him know it. Some days it has to be mom that does almost EVERYTHING!

3. He has an ever sensitive side! He can start or stop real tears at the drop of a hat and notices when others are having a hard time as well. When I had my second miscarriage I was home alone with Ben in tears. At the young age of 22 months he noticed I was sad and sat by me on my bed for over an hour hugging me, playing with my hair, and patting my back, not saying a word. When one of his cousins is mean to the other he gets very vocal until they apologize to each other. If David or I even raise our voice in the slightest he lets us know to stop immediately.

4. He has an abundance of energy! From the moment he wakes up in the morning until we can get him to go to sleep, he is on the go, go, go! As uncle Mike puts it best, "If only the world could figure out how Ben functions the energy crisis would be solved." It would put an end to high gas prices! I am confident that coupled with his genes this is why Ben is so small. He burns off every single calorie that enters his body.

5. He says whatever he is thinking! It doesn't matter who is in the room or where we are. This has created lots of laughter in our home. If you think my "life according to Ben" section is funny, you should know I am only brave enough to blog a fraction of his comments.

6. He loves "loves and kisses." No one in our family can leave the home without giving everyone else a hug and a kiss before we leave and sometimes two or three. He gets very sad if his friends are not willing to share their parting loves as well. We can not leave Aunt Di's house without his fair share there from Nat and Kat.

7. His imagination is soaring! His dinosaurs traveled to California yesterday, but first stopped in the state of Episota.

8. He loves his baby. From day one he has loved Kate. He was not happy with me when we first brought her home, but he sure loved her. He is very protective of her. If he notices any other kids touching her, especially at church, he will literally yell, "Don't touch my baby!" Oftentimes I am awakened to Ben's laughter. When I follow the sounds it usually leads me to Kate's crib. He loves to climb in and play with her. I can only hope she was already awake. Either way she gets excited when he joins her.

9. He is very particular about certain things. His slippers must be by his bed at night, he has to exit the car through Kate's side, his bed time story must stay under his pillow during the night, the DVDs must be placed a certain way when he starts a movie, his hair has to be fixed a certain way depending on the day, and he notices EVERYTHING. Now David doesn't seem to understand where this trait comes from, but if you know David you won't have to search any farther for your answer!

10. He can be very determined and down right fiesty! He unexpectedly growls at opponents on the soccer field, sits by the door until I take him out to play, or often pleads "just 5 more minutes," or "just give me a chance." I am betting my mother would say the determined part comes straight from me.

Sometimes I can't even remember life without Ben. He was born with a unique personality and it hasn't changed a beat from that first moment we captured it on film. He was naked and screaming on the hospital scale moments after entering this world. His expression is still one he makes today. A true Ben face. Then I watch a short video of him laughing hysterically for several minutes in the bouncer when he seemed to young to even smile. He was known as the baby who laughed ALL the time. This same contagious laughter still fills our home today. I love my boy, Ben.

Ben's New Do!

Some people say Ben and Kate look alike, some say they don't at all. Others say they look just like me, others say David. What do you think? Ben has big brown eyes, brown auburn hair and is skinny as a rail. Kate has big blue eyes, blonde hair and chubby little cheeks. One thing is for sure, they both have those red, rosey cheeks.

Ben got a new haircut today at the Pratts. He was soooooooooo proud of it, he wanted us to take some pictures when we got home. When he was done (gel and all) he asked everyone in the room if they wanted to feel his hair. Then David took him outside to jump on the trampoline while I was getting my stuff together and he told David he needed to go inside because his hair was getting blown. If you know Ben you know he NEVER wants to go inside. Diane asked him to do a front roll for her and he started to do it, but then worried about messing up his hair and asked her to fix it. On the way home he told me that my hair looked "awesome too." Thank heavens for moments like these in your day.

Ben has a new face. We think its pretty funny and he knows it. We finally captured it on film.

If you read the section, "Life according to Ben" you will know he is taking a tumbling class at the YMCA. Yes, David agreed to it, but made sure I knew Ben would not be advancing in gymnastics! We don't really need something stunting what growth he does have. I usually work out at the Y while he is in class, but I went to his class this last week. I was so proud of him, he is a natural! A definate pro at the bunny hop. He keeps his feet together and hops so well. Even the 6 year old had a hard time with it. The teacher used him several times to show the older kids how it was done. Then he got on the mock balance beam and put his little arms up to balance and walked all the way across at a pretty good pace and even jumped in the middle. David was happy to hear that the climbing wall is still his favorite part of class! I will have to work on taking some pictures to post.

Easter Weekend

We love Chubby Cheeks!

Ben coloring at the Easter Party

Ben loves to make his Mean Face, especially for Uncle Mike trying to take a picture.

On Saturday we went to the Easter Egg Hunt at Ben's Preschool. He really enjoyed the hunt this year. He was picking up all the little eggs in the beginning because he liked them better. Then he saw a big one opened and he looked at me with a stunned expression and said, "Mom, the big ones have more candy." At that point he started to trade the little ones out for the big ones. David says he is a true Behrmann. Always trying to get the most bang for the buck. On Easter morning we drove down to Lawton to David's dad's house for church and a wonderful Easter dinner. We had a good time there. Ben especially liked playing outside with Nana's new dog, Ozzy. On the way home he was mumbling, "Where's Ozzy? Where's Ozzy?" in his sleep. David drove to Houston Monday morning to take a clinical skills part of his boards exam. He will return late tonight or early Wednesday. It will be nice to be one step closer to graduation. Although it won't be fun to wait 2 months for the results of his exam. We hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

A Moment Captured!

Still sinking in...................

Sunk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The director of Student Services from David's school emailed us these pictures tonight. Apparently he knew where David had matched and decided to take pictures of us opening it. You can see how surprised we were.

We matched at.........

JOHNS HOPKINS! My sister Ruth, David's dad, Justin & Erin Linton, and Tina Berrett all guessed it right. We were definately stunned to say the least! We will stay in Oklahoma for David's intern year at the University of Oklahoma and then move to Baltimore to start in July of 2009! We will be there for 4 years and possibly 5 for a fellowship. I have no idea what to expect. I can't even picture Baltimore. It will be something completely new to me. I am a true blue midwestern girl. I hear there are tons of things to do so you will all have to come and visit us. Washington D.C. and New York City are both very near. We matched at the farthest place from ALL of our family! Not a single relative east of the Mississippi. Should be interesting and definately a new experience. I am proud of David and all of his long, hard work. We are thrilled.

We Matched!

David found out today that he matched! Yes, there are people who go to 4 years of undergraduate and 4 years of medical school and don't match into the specialty of their choice and either have to pick something else or wait a year to try again. So, he will definately be a radiologist..........in 5 years! Now we just have to wait until thursday at 1 pm Eastern time to find out where. We have absolutely no clue where it will be. So lets hear your guesses. These are your choices from his radiology rank list in NO particular order:
Mayo Clinic: Rochester, MN
University of OK: OKC, OK
Johns Hopkins: Baltimore, MD
Integris Baptist: OKC, OK
University of Wisconsin: Madison, WI
University of Nebraska: Omaho, NE
Washington University: St. Louis, MO
University of New Mexico: Albuquerque, NM
Wake Forest: Winston-Salem, NC
Baylor Dallas: Dallas, TX
University of Iowa: Iowa City, IA
Mayo Clinic: Jacksonville, FL
Scott & White: Temple, TX
UTSW: Dallas, TX

I am excited to hear your guesses! It will be our own Match March Madness bracket!

Our Soccer Star

The whole first half!

Ben with the Traynor twins. David told them to make a wall. Ben decided a squat would cover the most territory. They were the only 3 that would play at that moment. :)

A great throw in

Notice the tongue. He gets that from me!

Today was Ben's first soccer game! What a great time. We signed him up at the YMCA with a group of friends from church. The Y was short coaches this year so in order for them to be able to play I signed David up to be their coach. Trying to coach eight 3 year olds is a large task. Thursday night was the first practice. One boy cried and ran to his mom when David said his name. Ben picked up the ball and when David stopped him to take it away he cried and ran to me. Another wanted nothing to do with the rest of the group and hung out on the other side of the field. On the way to the game today David was rehearsing the line ups and deciding how to sub the kids. When the game started only 4 would even go on the field, one of which was laying on the ground! Ben refused to play the entire first half because he was cold and they weren't using his ball. He sat on the sidelines bundled up on Katherine's lap. I guess David didn't have to worry about favoring his son. For some reason, Ben decided to play during the second half. It was so fun to watch. He even scored a goal...........do we need to mention it was in our goal? It was a great shot :) He did pick up the ball one time, but he excelled at the throw ins. One time he dribbled across the whole field horizontally right in front of the goal and kept going when he reached the side lines. It was so funny to watch them all. Sam was frequently found in the other teams huddle. At the end of the game two little boys from the other team were sneaking our team's snacks. We have twins on our team that are a year older than the rest and it showed. They were definately the stars. Jason, the boy twin scored over and over and was so proud of himself. At the end of the game I asked him how many goals he had and he said, "Um, I think 8." Then I asked his sister how many she had and she said, "I think 4." Jason very quickly corrected her and said, "No, just 2 Nicole." One poor little girl on the other team, who was actually doing a very good job and had even scored a few times was scolded by her mother. I couldn't believe it. She took her to the sidelines and yelled very forcefully and loudly, "This is not a social event. Do something out there." I wanted to say something to her like "She's 3!", but held my tongue. And I thought I was competitive. I will admit though, I did get into it when Ben finally started playing. Hopefully by the end of the season he will put 2 and 2 together. Until then, we will enjoy the great entertainment. For those of you who won't recognize him in the pictures, he is the one with the lovely green sweat pants on and the blue and white stocking hat. Notice David in the background. He displayed great patience out there.