Dear Bently,

I have been writiting you these letters for a long time. I haven't always been great about keeping up on them, but I've always tried. It's so strange, starting this letter like any other. Because today is your very first day of kindergarten! I can't even believe it's here. It's funny, when you entered preschool at 3, I remember thinking kindergarten was forever away! Even last year I still felt like you were never going to go to kindergarten! But suddenly the day is here! Time is so funny! I seriously feel like you were my baby just yesterday! How can you be in Kindergarten?

You did pretty good. I could tell you were nervous this morning. You kept asking questions about school. You also have this face you do when you are trying not to cry. That face kept cropping up and I hated it! I was banking on you being so excited I wouldn't feel sad!

You had that face on when I left you at your desk. I hope you are okay. I can't believe you will be gone for the next three hours! I miss you!

I love you so much Bently! I love watching you reach these milestones and hate it all at the same time! I may have cried pretty much the whole way home and again while writing you this letter! :( I hope you have a fantastic first day of school and I can't wait to pick you up and hear all about it!

Love,
Mom

P.s. Last night Dad cried with me as we cuddled you while you slept. He told me he was just going to take you to work with him today and keep you instead of letting you go to kindergarten. Part of me was hopeful he would! ;)

Dear Bently,

I  keep meaning to write you about some very important parts of your life!

#1 You started soccer. I was really worried that you wouldn't like it, or even care where the ball was. But to my amazement you LOVE it! You always ask when soccer days are! Your first game you were pretty clueless. You still tried and ran after that ball with all you might, but you didn't really know what to do with it. We practiced with you and the next game you scored 4 goals! I was so dang impressed! I was like, man we have a soccer start! I guess I should mention one of those goals went in for the other team. But you didn't know and were still so dang proud of yourself! You told everyone you met the next day how you scored 4 goals in soccer! Unfortunately you next game you tanked, bad. You were in your own little world. I can't wait for your game tomorrow to see what you end up doing!

#2 On Saturday May 7th you had your very first play! You were amazing! You were wolfie #1 and you loved your part. You told everyone every where we went that you were wolfie #1. It was pretty stinking adorable! I was worried you would be nervous the day of, but you weren't at all! You said your part nice and loud and it was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen!

#3 A couple days before the 7th you told Dad your tooth was loose. We both tried to wiggle it and it wasn't loose. I decided to google when kids start loosing teeth. I was surprised the average age is between 5-6. I thought you had to be older. Again, it wasn't loose, so I didn't think to much more about it! The day of your play dad took you early to go to practice and I came later. When I arrived your Dad informed me your tooth was loose! I could hardly believe it! I went straight to you and wiggled it myself! Boy was it loose! I was shocked! You wanted it to come out so badly so the tooth fairy would come! You kept complaining about it and wiggling it non stop. Finally you told us it hurt to eat dinner. Dad asked if you wanted him to pull it out, you said yes. Dad tried with his hands and only managed to make it bleed. I'm not sure if it was the bleeding, or because it really hurt, but you started to cry. A while later I found you in the bathroom wiggling it in front of the mirror trying to get it out. I asked you again if you wanted me to try and pull it and you said yes. So I got out the floss. That's how I always had my teeth yanked out. Oh and you decided to sit on the toilet and go potty at this time. It was actually perfect because it made you hold still! I put the floss around your tooth and tried to get you to pull it. That didn't work at all. I put it on again and tugged a little. I was so scared I was going to hurt you. It didn't come out, and you weren't hurt. So I decided to pull a lot harder. It happened so fast I didn't even realize your tooth came out till I didn't see it in your mouth! I pulled your tooth out! I felt so awesome! ;) You were pretty happy to! We decided to wait to put it under your pillow till Sunday night so Dad could be there the morning after the tooth fairy came. The tooth fairy left you a dollar and an electric Mario tooth brush! You loved it! :)

It's so crazy I have a child old enough to be loosing teeth! I love getting to experience all these first with you! It's fun to watch you growing up!

I love you my toothless guy!
Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

I need to write these more often. I hate when I have too many things I want to say in one letter. Sometimes I just want to focus on one thing! Well let's start with Halloween.

You are such a sweet kid. We were originally going to go as people from Monster's Inc because that's what you wanted to do. Well, one day at the store Olivia saw an Anna costume. You immediately said if Olivia was going to be Anna you were going to Olaf. No convincing what so ever. You just wanted to match her! And let me tell you, you look mighty adorable in that Olaf costume! I loved every minute you were in it!

We did lots of fun things for Halloween this year! We went to the library for there little activity. We also went to our church Halloween party. It was quite the adventure. It was our first big function as a family of five and you could tell we were newbies! You and Olivia basically ran crazy as your Dad and I tried to figure out how to juggle holding Lincoln and dishing up 4 different plates of food. We failed pretty bad at it. We finally got food when Olivia fell down and split her lip open! So I ran off to the bathroom to help her take care of the blood. Then when I got back Lincoln was ready to eat. So Olivia and I went to the mother's room to feed him. (Olivia didn't want me to leave her.) I remember thinking, at least Greg and Bently will get to eat. At this point I had eaten a roll. While in the mother's room Olivia had diarrhea. As soon as I finished changing her diaper you and Dad walked in. Where he informed me you had not been eating like I thought. You both had been in the bathroom because you had diarrhea too! Oh boy! By the time Lincoln was done eating, so was our food gone. Oh well.

The rest of the party went much smoother. We played some games and did the trunk or treat and got our picture done in the picture booth! After the party we hit up McDonalds. Because we were all starving. Haha! So much for not having to worry about dinner that night! ;)

We also went to the Christian Academy's Halloween party. We went in with pretty low expectations. It was super crowded and it was free and we were late. We figured we missed all the good stuff. Luckily that was not the case. The first thing we hit up were the bounce houses. I tried on the way to explain what a bounce house was, but you didn't really get it. Well I don't think you'll be forgetting about bounce houses any time soon. You and Olivia LOVED it. We let you bounce for most of the time because you loved it so much! Then we went trunk or treating. For reals this time. The church one was actually inside, this one was the real deal. We went at the very end so everyone was trying to get rid of their candy. We got A LOT of candy! You asked me to hold your candy bucket as we walked back to the car because it was too heavy!

Finally the actual day arrived. You were so excited leading up to it and kept asking if it was Halloween yet! The day of we didn't do anything too exciting. It's hard to do activities during the day time! We did have a couple trick or treaters come to our door! You and Olivia loved handing out hte candy. Since I knew we wouldn't have too many and we were leaving I let you hand out multiple pieces to everyone who came to our house. It was so cute watching you be so big and putting the candy in the bags! We had our annual Halloween dinner and were running super late. But we finally got in the car to go trick or treating. You were so anxious to go. You had been asking all day if we were going yet! On the way we stopped by Dad's friends house to trick or treat. This did not please you! You just wanted to get on the road. After that we finally went trick or treating. Boy did you LOVE it. I smiled the whole time watching how happy you were! You never got shy or scared. You just walked up to all those doors and boldly exclaimed, trick or treat! Than ran off to the next house. You had a hard time waiting for you slow sister! ;) One funny moment from the night: We were trick or treating at a house and it was a little boy handing out the candy. He was probably about nine. Well he put the treat in your bag and Olivia's and you were able to see what was in the candy bowl. You exclaimed, "I like liquorice." The little boy just stared at you and you stared right back. Unmoving. The little boy slowly put the Liquorice piece in your bag. You Dad and I laughed long and hard about that one.

So that was our Halloween! We had a blast to say the least! I know you loved it and I can't wait till next year! :)

Tonight I was frantically cleaning trying to get something done in the precious moments while Lincoln was actually sleeping! In my haste I found a folded up coloring page. I remembered you had told me the day before it was for me and I couldn't look at it because you wanted to put it in the mail box for me. I had been feeding Lincoln at the time and couldn't get you an envelope. Well we had both forgotten about it. I picked up and considered throwing it away without looking at it. You have been very into coloring and I have too many to keep. But I decided to open it and boy am I glad I did. There was a colored Minion and written on the side in your cute 4 year old handwriting were 3 letters. Mom. You had written Mom before but this was the very first time you had written it without asking for help. I can't even describe how much those three little letters meant to me. I bawled like a baby just staring down at it! I couldn't get over how much I loved you! I hope you know how happy you make me as a mom! I hope you know that the little things are most often the big things in life! :)

I love you so much my Bently man!

Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

The other day you were trying to climb into your crib. I knew it was time to put you in a big boy bed before you started to crawl out and hurt yourself. I dreaded it. Not only because it means you can get out of bed and touch things, but because it means you really aren't my baby anymore. It's really hard for me to accept that you're growing up and getting bigger. I love watching you grow and change but it's really hard to deal with at the same time!

You did so good going to sleep in your bed. You didn't act like anything was different. You didn't get out of bed once which shocked me! I'm thinking it's probably not going to last forever! Eventually you'll learn you can just get out and do what you want! After you fell asleep your Dad and I went in and of course took pictures of you and just marveled at our little boy looking so grown up in his big boy bed. I tucked the blankets around you and we kissed your face. I almost cried. It's just so unbelievable how fast time has gone. I am just trying to cherish each tiny precious moment I get with you! I love you so much Bently! Words can never describe how I feel about you! You are my world son! :)

Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

I was reading online and I realized one day you might find it interesting to know the words you can say now. You are currently 15 months and I am surprised each and every time you say something new! I swear it's a new word every day!! :) You're first words was Dada! These are all the words you can say right now! July 21, 2012

1-Mama
2-Dada
3-Cracker
4-All gone
5-Amen
6-Dog (mostly when we ask you to say dog you just bark! It's adorable!)
7-Duck
8-Papa (Started consistently saying this one today!)
9-Car (You say this one all day every day! It get's a little annoying sometimes!)
10-Plane (Mostly sounds like pa. It's adorable! whenever you hear one you point at the sky and say plane! :) You also said it today when you saw some balloons floating in the sky! We'll have to teach you balloon next!)
11-Home

Eleven words! That's pretty impressive! I am probably missing a couple so I'll add when I find more! I love you so much Bently! And I am constantly impressed with your speaking abilities! :)
Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

You did something amazing today. Let me start at the beginning. I have been wishing you to walk basically since you could crawl! I was so excited to see you taking those little baby steps. Everyone told me to be patient, that I shouldn't rush you, I would regret wishing you to walk. But you are my first baby. I was so excited to see you grow and learn. I was convinced you would be walking by your first birthday. That came and went. National average is 12 months 2 weeks...that came and went. So I had basically given up hope. Your Dad and I had a running joke that you couldn't drive until you could walk. Yes we thought it might take you that long. It's not that you didn't have the ability. You could stand unassisted and even walk pretty much by yourself. You just refused to do it. You were steady as a rock, but the second we let go of your hands, down to the ground you would drop. You were too chicken. Yesterday, June 10, 2012, I was holding your hands as I walked you into the family room. I stopped in the middle of the room and let go. To my surprise you just stood there. Unassisted. I said, "Walk Bently." Your Dad could see your face, he said you looked over at him and smirked. Then you, steady as rock, like you had done it for years, took 6-7 full steps across the room. Your Dad and I just watched in absolute silence and shock. I immediately began to cry. My baby looked so grown up walking himself across the room. I had been terrified that I would miss your first steps. Working 40+ hours a week and sleeping during the day makes me miss a lot of quality time. I was so ecstatic that I got to see your first steps. You reached the chair in the corner of the room, turned around and grinned. We probably freaked you out with our out of control reactions. I was crying and clapping and shouting. Your Dad was beaming with pride. It was something I will never forget. You went from zero interest in walking, to walking your little baby butt across the room. I don't think I have ever been so proud of anything in my whole life. I whisked you right up and gave you about a million kisses. One of the very best moments of my life!!! Thank you for letting me be a part of it! Now we just got to convince you to do it all the time! You have shown no interest since that moment. But I'm not so anxious anymore. I am just so very grateful I got to witness it. Thank you for that Bently. It meant more to me then I'll ever be able to describe to you! I love you my little man. I love you so so so much!
Love,
Mommy

Dear Bently,

Son you are the cutest thing I have ever seen. I feel like you just keep getting cuter and cuter. I am so worried that I am going to forget all the adorable things you do so here it goes.
-You love looking out the window! More often then not I find you standing at the family room window just looking. Everything outside just amazes you!
-On that note, you love being outside. You always are trying to get outside and enjoy the world. I feel bad that we don't take you outside more. You love playing on the grass and looking at all the cars driving by. You point at every single car. I say, "Oh ya a car" and you grin like you are the smartest baby in the world. Which of course you are! :)
-You can now play pass with your ball. We can sit a couple feet away from you and you roll the ball to us and we roll it straight back to you. You smile the whole time. You love it!
-You clap for yourself all the time! You love it when people pay attention to you, and clapping does that. You know if you clap that everyone will clap with you and watch what you are doing. It's hilarious. You'll do something, look around to make sure we're watching then clap. Then you do something else and the cycle repeats itself. I don't mind. I love watching you smile!
-You and your Dad are very best friends. You lite up when he enters a room. You giggle at him all the time! You guys just love each other and I love watching you together!
-You have recently learned to "growl". I can't even describe the noise you make but you make it all the time! It's kind of hilarious and kind of annoying! I will have to see if I can get it on film so you'll understand what I mean!
-You and I have a tradition. I put you to bed every night I can. Which is basically every night. We rock, we read your train book, we brush your teeth, but my favorite part is right before I lay you down. You know it's coming so we enter your room I turn off the lights and put on your night lite. Then you willingly lay your little head on my shoulder and I slowly sway back and forth as I sing to you a song. It's a little quiet moment in time where I can just enjoy being with you. Away from the hussel and bussel of the world. A moment where I can pretend you are my little baby again snuggling with me like you used to! You smile the whole time I sing then I kiss you remind you a hundred times that I love you and lay you down. It's the best moment! Honestly I look forward to it every night!

Bently I hope through these letters your realize how much I honestly and truly love you. How honored I feel to be your Mom. How much I truly appreciate you, that you're healthy, that you were sent to me. I take my responsibility very seriously! I can't wait for more years together! I love you like only a Mom can!
Love,
Mom