Last Saturday was the big fireworks display here in town, and Ben had a blast (no pun intended). After a fun afternoon of swimming and BBQing at our friend’s annual Fourth of July bash, it was off for some fireworks. Family and friends joined us as we made the walk up to the high school to grab a spot for the show. And things couldn’t start fast enough for Ben. As we all waited for the sky to go dark, Ben repeatedly asked where the fireworks were? When things finally got started, it was loud right from the beginning and Ben wanted his ears covered … but he was smiling and giggling the whole time. He even clapped along with everyone after the finale. It was the next morning, when we asked him how the fireworks went, and he replied “Blink, Blink. On, Off… Boom!” Yep, that about sums it up.
Ben has an interesting way of putting things into words like that. I think it has something to do with his active imagination, which we are starting to see more and more of. Like this week, Ben and his cousin Ryan came up with a new game to play over at Gram’s house. The two of them go behind the bushes by the house where only they can fit. To them its the Jungle. They laugh and think its fun to go hide back there, thinking no one knows where they are. When we got home today, Mommy asked Ben what kind of animals are in the Jungle, and right away he replied “tigers, and elephants… and robins”. If that wasn’t funny enough, when Gram ventured too close to the Jungle, she told Ben she was scared of big animals like elephants. Ben quickly assured here that it was safe, because the elephant was all the way down by the end of the driveway.
Another new game Ben introduced to us recently is ‘driving’. Its not enough to just sit on the couch and watch TV together, now we have to go driving. This consists of Ben gathering pillows up around him, and possibly a stuffed friend or two. Once everything is in place, he will tell you where to sit, either next to or behind him. Then, before you can drive, Ben insists that you buckle up (this is accomplished by pulling the blanket across your lap and pretendingto buckle it). At this point, Ben grabs his invisible steering wheel and announces “Away we go!” and proceeds to make race care sounds as you tear around invisible corners and turns. Its usually a very short drive, because then you have to rearrange everything and start all over again. Good times!
Every day is filled with these fun little moments, and it cracks us up to see what Ben comes up with next. Whether its climbing in and out of empty boxes, pretending to water the flowers with aplastic hose pulled off his toy vacuum cleaner, or making believe he is doing his homework, Ben can always find some way to amuse himself…. and in the process amuse us. Even a deflated balloon can be fun. Ben entertained Mommy the other day by piling his toys onto the deflated balloon and then using it to drag them from one side of the living room to the other. He made at least 5 or 6 trips like this and ended up with a big pile of stuff at the far end of the room. Who needs a wagon when you have a dead balloon to haul things!?
But that’s Ben being Ben. If there is nothing to play with, just make something up. You can’t help but play right along with him.
That’s all for now. This weekend we have the 4th of July, and a big parade and picnic over at Nana & Poppop’s! We’ll have pictures and a report back next week. In the meantime, everyone have a great weekend and a fun holiday!








