We had Ben’s birthday party almost two weeks ago, man I’m behind. It was a ton of fun though and neat to see him experience it and really understand that it was his special day. The theme was diggers and construction with an awesome birthday cake made by Aunt Becky. She even made dirt cups for us too :)

We had mostly family and a few friends over to play too. Cassidy also got TONS of attention.

Annnnnd, Justin and Kate announced that they’re expecting a baby June of next year! Ben and Cassidy will have a little cousin! :)

Ben’s 3 Year Stats
Sizes
Height – 36.5″ (30th percentile)
Weight – 33lbs (60th percentile) … apparently he’s short and fat, kidding!
Wears 3T clothes, but we’ve been in them for a long time and some shirts are starting to get a little short.

Sleep
We moved to the big boy bed! I’ll post more about it soon, but he loves it, so far so good. He still sleeps 7:30-7:30 every night and usually naps 1:30-3:30. Sometimes we don’t get a nap, but he’s pretty good with book/quiet time. He wears a diaper to bed because he sleeps so heavily and doesn’t wake up. He still has 5,000 buddies (stuffed animals) tucked in with him at night.

Eating
Still an amazing eater, I really couldn’t want anything more. Vegetables, meat, fruits, everything. He has started to whine “I don’t like it” if I cook something he’s used to a different way. The other night we had sauteed carrots and he complained that he wanted crunchy carrots to dip in ranch…but ended up eating them anyway. We stopped using a sippy cup at 2.5 years and he does great with a cup half full of milk. I’m thinking of having him start using real silverware too, the toddler plasticware almost seems to babyish for him now, funny.

Milestones/Other Things
He talk talk talk talks! Sometimes it’s still Yoda speak where he has backward sentences, but I can still understand what he’s saying. He has opinions and thoughts on everything, it’s very cute.

I have noticed ever since Cassidy was born he’s started testing limits a bit more. Nothing terrible, just little prompts to see what he can get away with. It’s exhausting keeping one step ahead of him and repeating myself all day though “thank you, please, how do we ask nicely, gentle please, try it first before asking mommy to do it, no thank you instead of shouting no” but I guess it just comes with the territory.

He is still super sweet with Cassidy and brings her toys to play with (sets them in her lap). He gets frustrated when she cries and tells me I need to feed her or hold her. Or asks if I can turn her off :) She watches him like a hawk and fixates on his voice a lot too. I hope she continues to adore her big brother!

Very sweet, smart, OCD about specific things and gentlemanly is how I’d describe Mr. Benjamin. Happy three years buddy!