Dear Benlty,

Today was a rough day. I was alone with you and your sister for 6 hours and in those six hours were rough. I was so overwhelmed. By the end of it I was just sitting in a chair not getting anything done rocking your crying sister. You came up and wanted to sit with me. At first I was like "NO!" But then I realized it's so rare that you want to cuddle with me. So with one arm and one leg I somehow managed get you in my lap. That's where you sat for a good half an hour. I just rocked my two beautiful babies and enjoyed every second of my snuggles.

I had walked all the way out to my car to head to work when I heard your little voice calling for me. I walked back towards the front door and their you were. Running towards me in bare feet and your pajamas. You wanted a hug from me before I went to work. You melted my little heart. You made my bad day 100% better just by loving me. I know I'm not the perfect mom. I am far from it. But you love me anyways. Thank you so much little man.

Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

Today was Halloween!!!!! I was so excited for this Halloween. Mostly because you are finally at the age where you really get what's going on around you! We talke about Halloween all the time! Every single time we went to the store we had to walk through the Halloween section. You LOVED it! You mostly loved just pushing all the buttons. I'm pretty sure we're the reason the batteries ran out! I worry what we're going to do now that it's over. :( 

Today was really fun! You loved being Mickey Mouse. And you looked dang adorable as well!! Your dad was ya school all day so we hung out. You napped for most of it! I woke you up so you could watch me out the dry ice in the root beer. You thought that was pretty sweet. 

Trick or treating was alright. You were SUPER cranky for some reason. You even had a nap! Between each house you would cry because you wanted to eat the treats you just got! It was funny and annoying. We then went and visited grandmas. You loved it! 

I think overall you enjoyed Halloween. At least I hope you did! You never did get good at saying trick or treat. It's not that you couldn't say it. You just chose not to! Ah well maybe next year! 

I love you my handsome man! 

Love,

Mom

Dear Bently,

I have this problem. I feel like each letter should only focus on one main topic. But by doing that I forget to write you about all the other millions of things I meant to tell you about! So my son, this letter is going to be random and full of things I want you to know and I want to never forget! ;)

First off, when you grow up and start looking at pictures of this time period I know what you are going to say. You are going to say we love Livvy more than you because we have a MILLION pictures of her and like 2 of you. I would like to stop you right here right now. You my son are in a stage where you do not want your picture taken. I tried all morning to get you to take a picture with me. You kept saying, "No! No picture!" It's a constant fight. Unless of course you ask for the picture. Then you are just fine with having your picture taken! So don't even doubt you are loved equally, just not as photographed!

You love to help out. You are constantly saying Benlty help or I do it. When Livvy cries you often say "I hold her" while you stick your arms out. Your favorite thing to do is help with the dishes. We spend a ton of time together at the sink. You love handing the dishes to me and playing in the water!

You have started randomly singing. I stinking love randomly hearing your little voice singing. The other day at different moments I caught you sing "The ABC's" "Set Fire to the Rain" By Adele, and "This is Halloween". It was stinking hilarious. I need to get a video of you doing it! I love it!

I think that's all for now. I love you little man!

Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

You are obsessed with getting your picture taken. It's sorta strange because you beg me to take your picture but then won't look at the camera or acknowledge it's there. I have a lot of pictures of you staring into space at random times of the day. One day when you see those pictures you will know why they exsist. It's all because you wanted them! 

We tried on your Halloween costume today and you loved it! In fact, you insists on wearing it to arctic circle to show dad! You are going to be one stinking adorable Mickey Mouse! :) 

I love you so much handsome boy!

Love,

Mom

Dear Bently,

You absolutely hate bed time. I mean hate it. Okay maybe I'm over exaggerating. But it feels like every night you fight it. You will cry at your door until we come in. I've tried everything in the book to help you go to bed easier and nothing helps. Tonight I came home on break at 10:20 and you were still awake! Frustrated I went into your room angry and ready for a fight. You were just standing there in your little monkey footy pajamas crying. All the sudden you were just a baby again! I know you are big but honestly 2 is not very old. I swooped you up in my arms, wiped your nose and laid down with you in your bed. I was sitting there rubbing your cheek when you reached up with your arm, grabbed my neck, and pulled me down and gave me a kiss. After that you closed your little eyes and fell asleep as I rubbed your hair. I then was a creepier and just sat there and stared at you. When did you get so big. How can you seem so big yet so tiny all at the same time. I may have cried a little bit. I was just so overcome with love for my little boy. I love you so so much handsome man! Thank you for loving me, even with all my flaws.
Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

I'm not going to lie to you child, you are in a pretty difficult stage. You don't want to take naps and will yell and scream for hours on end when I try. But then because you don't take naps you end up really cranky all day long. And when you're tired you turn violent. You hit me, your Dad, Livvy, random kids at Arctic Circle, I mean everyone. You throw tantrums when you don't get your way. You scream and cry when we leave something you wanted at the grocery store. You run away from me at Walmart and you are constantly telling us "no" or "go away" or "stop that mom". Some days I just want to pull my hair out. Some times I loose my temper and I am sorry little man. I hate it when I do that. But some days are magical. We play and smile and laugh together. You want to know what makes those days better than others? Sure you still throw tantrums and get mad at me, but I start off with the right attitude. I approach the day like everything is going to be awesome! And most of the time it is! It's a lesson I'm learning about having a good attitude! :)

I love being with you. I love it when we laugh together. As you get older and understand more we are laughing more together. The other day you were drinking out of your cup and you started to talk in this crazy voice into it. The cup made your voice echo and sound even more strange. We both had a good long giggle fit over it! It was pretty hilarious. :)

This letter is going to be super random but I want to tell you a story. Yesterday it finally happened. I lost you in Walmart. I try and let you walk around the store because you love it so much! It's quite a sacrifice to let you do this. You are constantly pulling things off the shelf, throwing things in the cart, or running away. But I like to give you the chance to be good. I always tell you "Bently if you run away, you have to sit in the cart." You hate sitting in the cart. Yesterday you were doing good. You were staying with me and not touching everything in site. Well one second I'm looking at an outfit for Livvy and the next second your gone. Now usually when this happens I yell your name and you come running. Or I turn the corner and you are there. So I don't panic at first and call for you. I don't hear anything in return. I start walking around and can't find you anywhere. I'm trying not to panic, but I can't help it. My heart is beating fast and I'm running around like a crazy person calling for you. Finally after what seems like a lifetime (it was maximum like 4 minutes) I went to the dressing room and told the Walmart employee I lost my child, I hoping they wouldn't judge me too harshly. I tell them your a blonde haired two year with a monsters inc shirt on. Within 2 minutes they find you. You were looking at the toys in the baby section. I should've known. I stand anxiously at the fitting room waiting for them to bring you to me. Longest minute of my life. Finally they turn the corner and the nice lady is holding you. She told me you wouldn't come to her at first but then she asked if you wanted to go find your Mommy and you went right to her. I was so grateful to see you. I knew that you were probably fine but that didn't stop your Mommy from having an anxiety attack. I love you so much Bently! You are my whole world and I never want to loose you! I think we'll be sticking to the cart from now on!

Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

You my son LOVE music. I don't know if I've written about it before but you do. You can sing to almost every song in on the radio. I love hearing your little voice trying to sing along to the music! :) As adorable as it is, it does come with some drawbacks. For instance, now you have an opinion on what we need to listen to. If I switch the song and you like that song, you end up screaming your little head off. "NO! Not this one!" The screaming continues until I give in and let you listen to the song. It's pretty hilarious. I honestly don't mind. Because I love hearing you sing to the radio. What I do mind is you don't let me sing! I don't know if I have a really bad voice or what, but you'll yell "No mama sing!" Now that one is quite annoying! ;)

Love,
Mom
p.s. I don't think my singing is that bad. I think you are picky.