Benjamin's 3rd birthday party

We celebrated Benjamin's 3rd birthday with family and Godparents this past Saturday. As a member on the board at the preschool we are able to borrow the preschool for parties, etc if we wish.  So this year we held his Minion themed party at the preschool. It turned out really well and all the kids had a good time exploring and finding things to play with.  It was nice to have so much room and options of things to play with.  After cake and present opening we went outside and played on the big playground and had a few competitions with bubbles.

Benjamin is not a huge fan of cake, but I had seen him eat a banana layer cake recently so I decided to try that.  While we were making it he was super excited about it.  But when it came time to have the cake at the party he said "My not like cake, my not like bananas!"  Hmm...he ate a few carmels and left to go play. That was however after he blew out the candles and got a little too close and singed his eyelashes and bangs!!

For dinner her had said he wanted hotdogs so of course we had that.  Our friend Jette brought homemade buns and they were really good and filling.  We also had mandarin salad, pickles and chips.  Benjamin especially liked the "pasta chips"...chips shaped like pasta spirals.

He got a lot of good presents, but so far he really likes the playdoh kit he got where you can put plastic eyes, noses, mouths, etc, to make faces out of the playdoh.  Other presents included: 2 board games, paw patrol tatoos, a garbage truck, 2 books, a playhouse, duplo, puzzle, and a glass cow!

That brings us to the story of his actual birthday on Thursday.  When asked what he wanted for his birthday, Benjamin would always respond...a glass cow and a hammer. He wanted a glass cow he could smash!  Funny enough Silas and I went out looking for a glass cow at a thrift store 5 minutes before it closed, but unfortunately could not find a glass cow, so instead went to the counter to buy a piggy bank. While checking out I told her the story about how he wanted a glass cow and she said "A glass cow?, come with me"... Then she took me to the back and showed me a glass cow that had come in earlier that day!  Yay, Silas and I were so excited!!  And when he opened it on his birthday he was also very happy!

For his birthday we went up to preschool with some cookies and celebrated in his group.  Then Benjamin and I came home and played until we picked up Silas.  Benjamin got a new playhouse for his birthday and the boys went outside multiple times to play.  Our friend Kirsten came over in the afternoon and hung out with us and we had some goodies for a snack.  Søren came home at dinner time and we had one of Benjamin's favorites, PITA pockets with sausages, cucumber and corn.  Then we had brownies and ice cream for dessert before bed time.  It was a nice day!

ACTUAL BIRTHDAY

The famous COW

Celebration at preschool

BIRTHDAY PARTY

Not so happy after getting too close to the candle

Benjamin telling us about his hair getting burnt

The big boys found something fun to do too!

Liam 4 months

Liam is 4 months now and changes are happening every day it seems. Some of the biggest changes this month have been with his hand-eye coordination.  Liam likes to reach out and try to grab things and can actually put them in his mouth.  It keeps him entertained as he seems to get bored more quickly now with just sitting or hanging around. However, Liam is still an incredibly happy baby and gives a lot of smiles and squeals!

A typical day for Liam at 4 months
- Wakes up between 8:15-9:30.
- Naps about 2 hours later
- A typical nap lasts around 4 hours.  However it has also been 5 hours a few day!
- Awake for 2 hours playing and eating
- He sleeps 2 more naps during the day of about 30 minutes each with 2 hour intervals before falling asleep on his own in his lift around 10pm.
- Wakes up around 3 or 4 to eat and falls asleep again until 6, eats again and sleeps until he wakes up at 8:15/9:30ish.

Other notable traits:
1) Still likes laying on his back on the changing table when you sing to him and move his arms and legs.  He especially likes it if there is something plugged into the outlet which is near his head.

2) He smiles instantly if I sing to him, especially if I sing high notes.

3) Has begun to roll.  He has only actually rolled over on his own a few times (both from stomach to back and vice-versa) but he twists so much onto his side so he almost makes it over.

4) Loves to lie on the open floor in just a diaper, especially at night.

5) The thick lock of hair is almost all gone now.  Instead new really blonde hairs are growing in.

6) Does not like getting shirts on.  He can be in the best mood and then you slip that shirt over his head and he immediatly starts crying to the verge of screaming!

7) Still loves bath time and splashing.  But floating on his back in the big pool at baby swimming is still his favorite.

8) Height: 64  Weight 8.2 kg

Benjamin turns 3!

Benjamin is now a big three year old, with big hopes of indepence and decision making. He understands so much and when he wants to, he can easily follow any and all instructions.  He is a very sweet boy who likes to come up and lay his head on us.  He also enjoys saying good morning to Liam in the sweetest voice.  His smile is about the cutest thing ever and every one we meet asks us if he is just as "cheeky" (frækt) as he looks! Also people comment how much Benjamin looks like his Daddy, and we have to agree, WOW, there is a huge resemblence.

Silas and Benjamin have developed a really great relationship the past 6 months now that Benjamin can join in on games.  They make up games and things to play and have a lot of fun together. Last month the game was playing in Benjamin's crib together.   Of course there can also be moments of teasing which usually ends with Benjamin screaming in a very high pitched voice.  Although it is tapering off now, Benjamin loves to copy everything that Silas does. If Silas runs over to the blackberry bush yelling "blackberry time", then Benjamin will run in the exact same way yelling "blackberry time".  He has also now learned to say Silas' name-- mostly.  It started "Sitah".. then "Sitas" ... now "Sila" with a very slight S sound.  He likes to say "Sila skal vi lege?"-- (Silas should we play?).  In general Silas and Benjamin speak Danish together when they are playing or talking to each other.

Speaking of language, Benjamin is getting easier and easier to understand.  He often uses full sentences and we don't have to guess what he is saying really anymore.  Generally he speaks Danish, although he will put a few English words in a sentence when speaking to me, but the majority of the words are Danish. However, after a day being home with just me and his brothers, he will speak more English, so I'm not too concerned about it.  He definitely understands and knows all the English words. Some fun Benjamin ways of speaking are:
- He uses a D in stead of a S for words that start with S.  For example instead of saying "Jeg Spiser" (I'm eating) he says "Jeg Fiser" (which means, I'm farting!)  That's a pretty funny one.  He also says FIDER instead of Spider.

As mentioned, Benjamin has a mind of his own and can be quite stubborn at times. He wants to decide how things go and even if what you ask him to do is something he normally likes, he may say no just so that he can be the one to decide what we are going to do.  Benjamin has however begun to use the word "Okay" in his vocabulary this past month, which has made things quite a bit easier. We have to say though that the whiney voice is still used much too often and when he says he wants something "I want to play the IPad Mommy"...If you say no he will respond in a very loud, basically yelling voice where his whole head turns read saying "Play IPad MIG SIGER!!!!) (mig siger means - Me say)

Other mentionable things:
- Bejamin always picks the same song for the table prayer "KROKODILLE", however, he never sings along to it, or any other table prayer song himself
- He is good at cleaning up and will often come up with the idea himself
- He still sleeps in his crib, as he has never tried to get out.  For naps he sleeps inside now, but only Søren can actually get him to sleep by staying in there.  He will NOT nap if Mommy puts him down.
-  He still uses a sut and diaper.  He had gone without a diaper at Margit's before starting pre-school but that doesn't seem to interest him anymore so we are waiting until spring to really focus on it again.
- Asks "Hvorfor" (Why) all the time, and when you answer him he asks "Hvorfor" to that answer.
- He also in very insistent saying the same things over and over until we respond in the way that he wants....although he most often speaks Danish to me, he will switch over to English to get my attention. For ex: He wil say "Come Mommy---lige nu!"...Then after some time of me not coming he will say "Come Mommy---right now!!"
- If you ask Benjamin a question and he doesn't know the answer he replies "Mig ik' husk det" (Me not remember)
- Morning came at around 5:15 am for about a full year...since he turned 2 actually.  But then all of a sudden he started sleeping until 6:30 right before Liam was born in September! Yay!  Then it turned to 6 and then just a few days ago it turned to 5 or 5:15 again!! So yeah Søren gets a lot of time with him in the mornings!
-Benjamin sings a long to certain songs if you sing with him and will also start singing a random song while he is playing.
-Weighs 15kg and is 95cm tall.