Yesterday Ben tried his hand at photographic composition while poor, sick Mocha was tethered to the kitchen table (I did not want to have to clean up after him again). This composition using our flexible cutting boards was entirely Ben’s idea.

And here’s the best shot, straight off of the camera that Grandpa Steve gave to him!

Today we had a lot of fun at the roller rink. Ben was pretty good! We went onto the rink for awhile, but spent most of our time on the carpet. By the time we left, we was getting around completely by himself.

We discovered that roller skates and roller rinks haven’t changed a bit in thirty years. This brought back a lot of memories for both of us! The rink was complete with arcade, skee ball, air hockey, and a snack bar (with pizza!). I spent so many, many hours playing Jungle Hunt at Skate Estate…

…for Ben. One of his teachers sent this note home. Hooray for Ben and the potty!

Ben’s latest creation: the waffle sandwich! Ingredients (so that you can make it at home): waffle, bread.

He said that it didn’t need syrup, which I thought was a little strange. We’ll have to see what the Food Network thinks.

I’m sorry, Ben, but this is going to be the first in a long series. Don’t be a welcher!

Ben has always eaten a lot of food. Tonight he requested…a bowl full of noodles! The first bowl was too small, so I had to swap it out for the biggest pasta bowl we own.

Ben is way, way faster at unwrapping presents compared with last Christmas. He really enjoyed everything that you all sent him!

Now, I have to say that when I was a kid none of my friends nor I could imagine someone so lucky as to get a car that you could actually drive. Thanks to the Traills, Ben didn’t just get a car, he got a tractor! With a trailer! When we started around the block, steering was dicey. But, by the time we got home, he was a champ. He even parked it (expertly) in the garage with a heap of leaves (from Nate and Giselle’s yard) in the trailer.

Every time Ben has wanted to drive, we told him that he had to wait until he’s 16. Who would have thought that we’d be teaching a 3 1/2-year-old to keep his foot on the gas pedal while steering and to look straight ahead!

I hope that you like the new look for the blog. Look for a bunch of Christmas posts shortly…

Ben loves this old story. Everytime we see a train he looks for the caboose on the end! This video is a little long, but totally adorable.