Ellie Bellie: These are a few of my favorite things. . .

1. Sliding! I love to slide on any slide I can find at home, school or church.

2. Eating! I have a huge appetite and if I am not strapped in my booster seat for a meal, I am requesting a snack.

3. I still love to stir my tea and “taste” the pretend drinks I have made.

4. Brother’s cars (or really anything of his) – I now have my very own Hotwheels as Ben bought me one at the store so I wouldn’t go after his anymore. It is blue and very fast!

5. Going places – I love to get my shoes on to go to the store, for a walk, to school . . . anywhere you will take me!

6. Reading – I have been asking for books all the time and love to climb into Mom or Dad’s lap after dinner for story time.

7. Growling (or whatever bizarre animal noise it is that I make for every animal) – I love to “talk” to animals on TV, in my books, in real life, my stuffed animals, etc. It sounds like a mix between a hiss, a growl and some guttural noise from another language. I have finally added “Mmm” to my repertoire for cows and “Kack” for ducks.

8. Mirror time – I still enjoy looking in the mirror and brushing my hair. I am a girly girl!

9. Hiding – I have learned well from Brother and love to run behind the couch to hide or wherever I can fit. I giggle so hard when someone finds me!

10. Talking on the phone – it starts at an early age – I love my play phone and the real phone and Mommy’s cell phone. I have long conversations on them and will talk to anyone that calls.

Lessons from a Three Year Old

With all of the “educational” TV that Ben has watched in the last week while Dad has been out of town and Mom has needed to tend to Sister off and on, some of the “facts” have stuck. Ben declared at lunch to some grownup friends that ‘canoes (volcanoes) have lava fire, are very big and make very loud noises. He also taught them that they needed eyes to see. All were impressed. Ha ha!

On the topic of “learning”, Ben has also been asking to learn to read. He has been enjoying some letter games and activities and has a few books that he can “read” based on some sight words and picture context. He practices writing his letters and drawing new shapes. His favorites right now are hearts and crosses. His fave letters have not changed – they are still B, E and N. Go figure! While we are not reading in any real sense, he sure is excited to be able to read to all of us soon and loves to talk about rhyming, spelling and everything letters!

Ben's Generosity

Ben was devastated to find out that last weekend was Uncle Adam’s birthday. Why wasn’t he invited to the party? Why weren’t we eating cake with Adam? Well, now the plan is that when we see Adam in July we will celebrate then. Ben’s plans include buying Adam a hammer so he can fix anything on his house. Ben will also buy Adam a drain system so his house will never flood. Ben was also sad about the celebratory menu and stated that we would bring you a cake for your own and cupcakes to share. And last, but not least. . . . .Ben was planning to buy Adam a motorcycle. Adam, if you are reading this, we are sorry to tell you that Ben just doesn’t have the money to buy these things. Maybe next year. :)

Once Ben was in gift giving mode, he immediately jumped to Christmas. He told some friends he would ask Santa for a motorcycle (we seem to have a theme), a car race track and a dog. Interesting since he also claims to be “scared of dogs”. He will also be taking flowers from the garden to his teacher for Christmas. Mom suggested that maybe we should do that this week, since they might not be blooming still in Christmas. That seemed to be an okay idea.