Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Dear Bently,

I am beginning to despair you will never be potty trained. Okay so I know never is a little dramatic. But I always had this idea in my head that a child should be potty trained by 3. Three just seemed old. Kids who weren't potty trained by then had lazy parents. Parents who didn't care. Let me tell you having my own children always reminds me all my preconceived notions of being a mom, were wrong. You are exactly 51 days away from being 3 and there is no potty training in sight. You still are terrified of going to the bathroom outside your diaper. It's very depressing that you'll be three and still going in your diaper. But I guess you never know. Maybe tomorrow you'll wake up and realize you want to pee on the potty. Hey a mom can dream right?

I love you even if you wear diapers after 3! ;)

Love,
Mom

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Dear Bently,





You my son are getting too old! Every day your talking improves and every day I love talking to you! You tell me all the time what you see. The other day you were looking out the living room window. There were a bunch of birds on the ground. I was reading my book and didn't realize what you were doing right away. You started suddenly yelling "Stop! Stop birds! Stop walking on the snow! Fly!" It was hilarious! You were so incredibly angry at those birds! I couldn't help but laugh at your cuteness!

Bently you are such a sweet little boy. Sure you throw your tantrums and sometimes hurt your sister, but over all, you are just a sweet heart! You are so good at sharing. Today we were getting ready to leave the house. You happened to find the candy bowl on the counter. This is a huge bowel! There has been some M&M's in the very bottom past all the packaged stuff. You managed to find 2 of the last remaining M&M's. As we walked out the door you said "here mama". I was distracted and didn't understand what you were doing till you slipped the M&M into my hand. I hadn't asked you to give me one, you just did. It brought tears to my eyes. You were willing to share with me. It was a little moment but I can't explain how happy it made me. You share with me all the time. You never hesitate to give me some of your drink or a bite of your candy. You melt my heart every time little man. :)

The other day we were blowing bubbles together! As I watched you run back and forth blowing bubbles I couldn't help but wish to freeze time! You had the biggest grin on your face and I couldn't help but smile right along with you! Kid you are cute. Like adorable! With your blond hair and blue eyes, you are a looker! I wished just for a second I could keep you this age. That I could stop your growing up. That perhaps we could stay in this moment just a little longer.

I'm really going to have to get better about writing you. You do some many adorable things and I just love you so much! You are seriously the cutest little boy ever!

Love,
Mommy




Today I was midst doing my hair when you said "Take picture of Mom and Bently!" Taking pictures is one of your new favorite things to do! :) I told you if you got my phone I would take a picture. To be honest, I was hoping you wouldn't find it! My hair was a mess! But low and behold not a minute later you were back with my phone! So, good on my word, we took pictures! And I am so grateful we did! I love seeing you smile! I love taking goofy pictures together! I love seeing the world through your eyes. A world were looks don't matter. Where no matter what Mom's hair looks like, she's still just your Mom! Thank you for reminding me of that!



With Olivia getting better at napping in her bed we get an opportunity to have one on one time more often! I love it! This day we finger painted and played! We sure had fun! I wish you could remember these days!
The Hyer's bought you this adorable church suit! I couldn't resist taking about a million pictures of you! You are stud!


You have been sleeping horribly! Thus you have been acting like a little terror most days! This day was one of them! You were so tired. You told me you wanted to go to Walmart with me. We walked outside when you decided you didn't. So I walked you back inside. Then as I was leaving you decided you did want to come. Once I opened the car door, you didn't. I was done. I said forget it. I lifted you up and put you in your seat. You began to throw a huge fit. So bad I couldn't even buckle your car seat all the way. After 5 minutes of trying I gave up and drove very carefully to Walmart while you screamed the entire way. In Walmart you wanted me to hold you. I told you I couldn't hold you and push a cart. I gave you the option to ride in the cart or walk. Neither appeased you so I began to drag you through the store. You screamed for 15 minutes straight. Up and down every aisle. Finally I sat you on the handle of the shopping cart and let you lean against me. It was in this very strange position that you fell asleep for about 5 minutes. I guess that really reenergized you because you woke up in a semi better mood. We then spent some time looking at the giant valentines day animals together! I love you son and adventures with you are always just that, an adventure. :)


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Dear Bently,

You are becoming an excellent big brother! I love watching you and Liv start to interact a little more. You love being with her and are always talking about Livvy. We'll be driving in the car and you always update us on her condition. "Mommy Livvy sad!" Or "Mommy Livvy's sleeping!" (Even though most of the time when you say that she is wide awake! Today as I was getting Olivia dressed you took the opportunity to blow raspberries on her belly! She just smiled and you couldn't help but smile back! Moments like that make my heart melt as a parent! I can't wait till you guys can actually play together!


We are struggling my son. Ever since potty training you refuse to fall asleep unless we are in there with you! Then after you finally fall asleep you wake up every 2 or so hours screaming your toddler head off. At first I had so much sympathy! You genuinely seemed terrified of something! It broke my heart to see you so scared! We worked on making sure you felt safe and talking to you about what's scaring you. You are having a hard time telling us what is scary. So far all I've managed to understand is you are afraid of your window and Potter. I don't know what the heck Potter did to you but he must of scared you. As the days have worn on I'm getting more and more frustrated. I think it has something to do with the fact your Dad and I aren't getting any sleep. We are both loosing it! We are exhausted. Between you and Livvy we're averaging about 5 hours each. If we're lucky. Last night you were up from 4:30 till 6 in the morning. I broke down and just cried. I was so tired and I was frustrated that as your Mom I couldn't help you! I felt awful. I could see it in your face that you were worried about me. Your at an age now when you know I'm sad when I cry. I try so hard not to cry in front of you! I'm sorry little man! It's not mad at you! I'm just frustrated that I can't help you! We finally solved it by leaving the light in the hall on and your door open. And you slept on the ground. I figured whatever works. But then you were up at your normal 8:30. I have no idea what to do but we'll just keep trying to make it better! I don't want you to be afraid! It breaks my heart when you yell out "I'm scared!" Or "Mommy help me!" I promise we'll figure something out!


You say some pretty cute things right now! Before you were terrified to go to bed you used to yell out "Help me! Somebody! Anybody!" when you woke up! It's hilarious! It makes me laugh every time! I had no idea where you got it from till your Dad informed me that is a direct quote from The Lion King! Also, you sing the circle of life almost word for word! But when it says, "Till we find our place, in the path unwinding," You always sing "Till we find our place of the path of Lion King!" I love it! Seriously it's so adorable! I'm going to make a quick list of all the songs you can sing by yourself. Seriously you are pretty amazing learning the words to songs!


1.) I am a Child of God
2.) I Love to See the Temple
3.) I'm so Glad when Daddy Comes Home
4.) Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus (Not so proud of that one but you really like it!)
5.) Bright Spring Morning by Suburban Legends
6.) This is the Tale of Cpt Jack Sparrow (Personal favorite of yours! ;)
7.) Monster Mash
8.) Splish Splash I was taking a Bath


There are more but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head! See every night before you go to bed we sing songs with you. We used to just choose random songs but now you choose them! It varies which songs! You used to always have us sing the splish splash song and monster mash. But lately it's other ones! Like Cpt Jack Sparrow song or I'm a Child of God. A couple nights in a row (This was a couple months ago) you kept insisting we sing the Captain song. Every night you would throw a fit and we both had no idea what song you wanted! Finally one night your Dad just made one up. "Bently is my captain Bently is my captain, nanananananana!" You loved it so now we sing that song all the time! It's pretty hilarious! :)


I love you handsome man! I will try and be better about writing all the cute stuff you do! You seriously do hilarious things every single day! I love you Bently!


Love,
Mommy

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Dear Bently,

Ah man am I behind on your letters. I had 2 weeks off of work and I did pretty much nothing productive. Okay that's not entirely true! I spent tons of time with you and organized a couple cupboards. So that was good! ;) Anyways I'll try and catch up and remember everything...


The first thing is a couple weeks ago, before California, I got you naked for a bath. I then said go get into the bath tub. I was shocked when I watched you climb easily into the bathtub. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal but watching your little toddler butt go up and into the bathtub hit me hard in the face. You're a big kid now. You can actually do things by yourself. I love watching you learn and grow but it is a little bitter sweet! :(


We went to California! It was fun but stressful. The driving to and from were the worst!!! We drove there in one day and it was rough. You did better than Olivia but you started to loose it by the end. the worst was trying to put you to bed that night. You were so wound up from sitting all day. Plus we were in a new environment. But you like I said you weren't too awful on the drive. You were actually pretty cute most of the time! You would wear the sunglasses the Hyers got you so you could be like Mom and Dad. Then we would all sing songs together! You love to sing! Love it! And you actually sing more words more clearly than when you talk. You know more of the words to the songs on the radio than I do! I absolutely loved watching you sitting in your car seat with you bed head and your sunglasses on singing your little guts out! Adorable!


You got to meat your Great Grandma and Grandpa Stetson while we were there! Grandma and Grandpa Stetson hold a very special place in my heart. Number one because they are amazing people who are always giving and number 2 because I feel like they are a small connection I have with my Dad. It's always fun to look at them and try and imagine which traits my own father would have. You loved Grandma and Grandpa and we had a ton of fun with them!


We also got to go to the graveyard and see my Dad's grave. It was such a beautiful and peaceful day! The sun was out and I just sat on the grass and took it in. I had a goal to make it without crying but that didn't happen. As I'm sure you will learn it doesn't take much to make me cry. It was the first time I "talked" to my dad at his grave. It was a little strange but it felt good to say things to him out loud. You mostly ran around the cemetery. You didn't understand and that's okay. I tried to explain this was my dad Papa Tim. You melted my heart as we walked away and I said "Say goodbye papa Tim" And you did loud and proud little man. I know you would have loved him! I'm so grateful to know some day you and me will get to see him again! :)


We also took a little trip down to San Francisco. I actually had a lot of mommy guilt this trip. I realized while in San Fran that the whole trip wasn't exactly filled with Bently friendly activities. I felt bad that you had probably been bored the past couple days. I realized it hadn't been the funnest trip for you and I'm sorry little man! I promise next time I'll plan more kid friendly activities! You did enjoy looking at the bridge and walking around in the rain. We also got to look at some seals which was fun! They are extremely stinky though! ;) You were so adorable the whole time! I just love going and doing new things with you. I get more excited for you to do new things than for myself!


The last thing I need to catch up on is we tried potty training! I was so excited to start potty training. We're pretty poor right now and having that extra money would be awesome! I set up a whole party for you and I talked it up. I bribed you with the zoo and talked all morning about going on the potty. Then I brought out a present for you. Big boy underwear. Now I was thinking before hand it might not go well due to you never really talking positively about the potty. But I took off your diaper and put on the underpants. Immediately we were in melt down mode. I managed to distract you with my Nook for about 2 seconds before it got worse. You were screaming so hard your face was starting to turn purple. You were thrashing around going from me to your dad to me again. I was totally confused and didn't know what to do. Your Dad said, "maybe he has to go potty." So I pulled down your underwear and sat you on the potty and immediately you went. Just like that you peed in the potty! I was on cloud nine! Your Dad and I screamed and jumped for joy! We were so happy! We gave you a treat. I thought for sure now that you had done it I figured you would want to do it again. Oh boy was I wrong. Now sooner was the treat gone than the screaming continued. Finally after a good 10 minutes of trying to convince you we put you back in a diaper per your demands. "No underwear. Diapers!" I guess we'll try again later. I want you potty trained before three but we'll see if that happens!


I love you handsome! I hope you always know how much!


Love,
Mommy


P.s. Recently you started calling my Mommy instead of Mama and I LOVE IT!!! Seriously was so excited when I heard you call me Mommy! :) Made my whole day! I don't know why it makes a difference but it does! :)

Friday, December 27, 2013

Dear Bently,

Merry Christmas! Okay so Christmas is over but still! I can't believe it was our 3rd Christmas together! I think you had a good Christmas! At least I had an excellent one with you! :) Let's start on December 23, 2013.

We were going to go see lights at Temple Square. I was excited to say the least. Mostly excited for you. I've learned as a parent making your kids happy is way more exciting than making yourself happy. You loved Christmas lights so I knew you would love Temple Square. We all piled in the car and headed to Arctic Circle to eat some dinner! We were running a little late and I was already worried about time. Well to make a long story short, we got a fender bender. No Christmas lights for us. You didn't cry or anything, but Dad asked you if you were okay and you said no. Hopefully you're not too scarred for life! ;)

Christmas Eve you had a blast. You got to open presents which you were extremely excited about. You learned fast the joy of unwrapping those things. :) The Hyers gave you a wagon and you sure enjoyed ridding in that thing. You looked adorable with your cheeks all red from the cold and your blue eyes lit up in excitement!

We spent the rest of the night at Aunt Pualynn's house. It was loud but fun. We had dinner and sang songs. You had a blast running around with the 14ish other kids that were running around. You can definitely tell that you don't have much interaction with other kids. I felt bad watching you try to fit in. I really got to find something for you to do with other children. But over all you held your own. :)

Christmas was more magical then I could ever describe. Number 1 you slept in till 10:30 am. That was mostly due to the fact that you didn't get to bed till after midnight. Once you were up you were ready to go! I wish I could put into words how much fun we had! I loved watching you open your presents. You were so excited for everything you got! Near the end you kept yelling "Where's mine?" You wanted more presents! :) I think you actually like most everything you got this year! :) I loved loved spending Christmas with you Bently! You seriously had a blast and I had so much fun with you!

Love,
Mom

Monday, December 16, 2013

Dear Bently,

Yesterday we went and saw Christmas lights. Don't get me wrong, we've seen Christmas lights on houses and things but this is the first time we went and saw a lot of Christmas lights. It was kind of funny because I said "Bently do you want to go see Christmas lights?" "Christmas lights??? On the window." You said this as you pointed to the kitchen window. Yes we do have Christmas lights on our window but that is not what I meant.

We all loaded up and we were off. I wasn't sure how you were going to react because last year you were still pretty small. As we pulled up to the park you started to freak out. You were so excited! "Oooo Christmas lights! Go in there! Go Christmas lights!" We hadn't even pulled into the park yet and you were freaking out. :) The first thing we passed was a lit up manager scene. You kept asking, "What's that? What's that" We tried to tell you then you started to tell us, "Mama, Dada, Bently Elmer and Olivia!" So apparently we were all in the manger scene! We then went through a tunnel of lights which you informed us was a "cave". The whole time you were adorable! I kept filming little bits but my camera was dying! I wish I could've filmed more!

We ended up walking around the park with the Moreheads. I felt like the worst mother because I didn't bring you gloves! I honestly didn't expect it to be as cold as it was! Your little hands were like ice! I kept waiting for you to complain but you never did! You were having WAY too much! You ran around pointing out the animals and continually asking "What's that?" of course!

Seriously Bently last night was magical! There is nothing better than watching you have fun! I loved every second of it! Moments like that I wish could last forever! (Okay maybe not the cold part! ;) I love you little man! Thank you for constantly reminding me of the beauty in the world. Reminding me to look for the magic in everything.

Love,
Mom

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Dear Bently,

Christmas is around the corner and I think we are pretty much done shopping for you. It's rough because I get nervous when it comes to buying you things. The things I think you are going to love you don't. ;( I don't know how I always get it wrong but hopefully this year I got it right! I can't even describe to you how excited I am for Christmas this year! You are at the most fun age! You are already excited and talk about it all the time! And sing Jingle Bells of course. It's the only holiday song you know so we hear it a lot! I've been trying to get you to sing up on the house top but it's not going so well! ;)

We asked you what you wanted for Christmas the other day.
Me: "Bently what do you want for Christmas"
Bently: "Chocolate!"

Every time we ask you, all you want is chocolate. I guess you are easier to shop for than I think and I should stop stressing! I promise, you are getting some chocolate! But you are also getting some pretty cool things with the chocolate as well!

I love you so much my handsome boy. Lately your talking ability has made leaps and bounds and it is so crazy to be able to have semi normal conversations with you. You are making sentences and making more sense! I am so proud of my handsome boy! You are adorable and I love you more than I could explain!

Love,
Mom