Don't cry over black eyed peas

Oh I have so many stories to tell, but most of them probably won't make it on to the ol' blog.  Some days I feel like I have so much time and other days I am just trying to keep up and keep everyone fed, house picked up and dinner ready.  That really is a lot you know! 

My sweet, precious (and I do mean that!) Ben is the one who really keeps me on my toes these days.  He really is the sweetest thing but man does he keep me running around!  I wish I had a camera to follow me around just one day with him.  It would be quite entertaining!  I am not kidding, one day I started keeping a list of the things I found myself saying to him.  Yes, saying these things out loud, as in they were actually happening and I actually had to say these things!  Here goes the list:

1.  "Ben, put the knife down.  Put it back in the drawer and quit poking me with it! It hurts!!"  (This one spurred the list.  After I said it I just laughed at myself and thought hmm, someone might be concerned if they heard that!)  The real story isn't quite as exciting as it sounds.  He was playing swords in the kitchen and he opened the silver ware  drawer and pulled out a butter knife and was pretending to "get" me.  Oh boys.  Got to love them- I sure do!

2.  "Ben- DO NOT THROW THAT OVER THE BALCONY!!" (The upstairs to the downstairs inside) This time it was Addyson's underwear and it landed on the chandelier, which was great fun because it almost caught on fire.  Lovely!  Thank goodness I was standing there at the exact time it happened!

3.  "Ben, please stop referring to me as Booby head and Poopy Head".  It would be nice if he would especially follow this advice in public.  Yes, there have been several occasions (grocery store, chick-fil-a, etc) that Ben will yell Poopy Head or something of the sort to me and then just laugh and run off.  Love it when that happens!

4.  "Come back here with that handful of chocolate!!"  He is so resourceful and he is always moving chairs, ottomans, stools, whatever he can find to climb up on something and get to what he wants.  Uggg!! 


Icing on the cake was tonight when I was making dinner.  Ryan was not home so trying to make dinner and keep a close eye on Ben is not an easy task.  I enlisted his "help" so that I could keep watch of him.  Well, not such a great idea.  I was making black eyed peas and mexican cornbread.  I had just gotten the peas all ready to simmer for 45 minutes after several steps of prep work for them.  (sautee onion and bacon, puree rotel, season everything just right, etc).  I was looking for the garlic powder in the pantry, literally steps away from Ben.  I had my back turned for 4 seconds max and I hear him say, "I poured that in for you mommy!!"  So proud of himself!  Well, he had opened the Jiffy cornbread mix and poured it into my black eyed peas!!!  UGGGG!  I was so annoyed!  By the look on his face though, he really thought he had done something helpful for me.  He said he was sorry and he genuinely looked like he was.  I was able to skim most of it out and I thought, well, we'll see how this turns out!  Good news was they turned out fine, so no harm done! 

I really don't think he is malicious in any of the things he does.  He is being a 100% boy and he loves to explore, climb, build things, help and just get in to things!!  I love his love and interest in things but an extra set of eyes on him is really needed at all times!  Love having a boy!!!

One thing about Ben is that he is SOO concerned if anyone is hurt.  He gives the best boo-boo kisses ever!  He always says he is sorry if he accidentally hurts sissy or me or anyone really.  He is overly abundant with his please's and thank you's.  So sweet!  :)  He loves me to sing to him at night and he sings a lot during the day.  We tried out a new church on Sunday and his teacher commented that he LOVES to sing!  He always gets the sweetest remarks from sunday school teachers about how friendly he is, how attentive to the story he is and how much he likes to sing.  That just melts my heart!