Feeling crazy

Some days Ben decides to skip a nap, and then you never know what will happen.

Boston Marathon

This year, we had a friend, Dave Kezer, Julia and Charlie's dad, in the Boston Marathon. We went down to see the marathon and joined the cheering squad. It was a cold day, but as always, great to see the runners (and Dave did very well too)

Helping mom

Ben really loves winding balls of yarn with his mama (to the extent that at least once, mama unwound the yarn back into a skein just to give him something to wind). He carefully checks the yarn on the swift to make sure it is unwinding correctly, and he does a great job with the winder. Once he even attached the yarn onto the winder himself, to his mama's great surprise.

Pizza

Ben loves an episode of Caillou where Caillou and his friends made pizza, so he was thrilled when we found pizza dough at Trader Joe's. Mama or Daddoo stretches out the dough (although he likes to help roll it too) and then he carefully puts on tomato sauce, cheese, and ham. He even makes pizzas for his parents too.

Fire, fire!

There are a lot of fires at our house. Ben has turned his table and another small (and sturdy) table into his fire truck. He loads up the drawer with axes (stick shuttles) and hoses (flexitubes) and other necessities, puts on his turnout (kept in the nearby fire station, pants on boots just as with real firemen), talks parent or a stuffed animal into joining him on the fire truck (helmet and all), and, siren blaring, goes off to take care of a fire at Bill's pizza, Liam's red house, the TV, the desk, or wherever is burning.

Easter with Max and Isabel

Jessica's friend Celia was in town Easter week with her family, and we all went over to paint eggs. Ben had a wonderful time playing cars with Max and also playing with Isabel. He liked that Isabel was wearing his favorite color (he's a little obsessed). We also did some egg dying at home. Ben thought it was great fun. He also really enjoyed using the leftover dye to dye wool. He keeps asking to do more dying.

Cousin Laura

Jessica's cousin Laura came to town from Wisconsin, and we all got a chance to visit with her. Ben thought she was very nice (which she is) and Laura thinks he is the spitting image of her own son when he was little. It was in the height of Ben's fireman phase (which he is still in, just not quite as intensely) so he of course had to wear his full turnout.

Early spring at Broadmoor

We also took advantage of the warm spell to visit Broadmoor wildlife sanctuary. Because we were visiting before there were any leaves, we spotted evidence of beavers for the first time, which Ben found very interesting. His favorite thing about Broadmoor, however, remains climbing rocks.

Fun on the street

We had a nice warm early spring day in March, and everyone on the block came out to play. Julia and Charlie's place down the street became the center of activity. They all enjoyed shoveling snow. Ben was particularly thrilled by Julia's scooter, which Charlie also found interesting, if a little hard to maneuver (Charlie is just a little over 1 year old).

Crash!

Ben likes to set up very elaborate crashes, which his "nomobile guys" respond to in fire trucks and ambulance. The ambulance came with one male and one female figure, so he has named them Tom and Mariah, after Liam's parents, who met on an ambulance crew.

The New New New Children's Museum

Now that the semester is over, Ben's mama is finally going to update his blog, starting with things Ben did back in March. That was when we first took a trip to the Children's Discovery Museum in Acton, which Ben calls the New New New Children's Museum. It is in a Victorian house, with each room made over in a different theme: water, trains, chain reactions (Rube Goldberg style machines you roll balls through), colors, jungle, treehouse, ocean, and diner. Ben likes them all. He has his parents sit down at a booth in the diner (hard because they are not sized for adults) and brings us all sorts of interesting meals (chicken and asparagus ice cream anyone?) and lots of coffee. They have handmade costumes for most of the rooms, based on vests, mostly. Ben particularly liked the ocean ones, which include a life vest (orange, his favorite), a captain's outfit with epaulettes, a mermaid, and sea creatures such as lobsters.