Dear Bently,

Kid you are hilarious!!! Today we were driving home from Salt Lake and your Dad told me you were sleeping. Sure enough I look in the back seat and your head is down. I let out a pretty loud "NO!" I knew you wouldn't nap at home if you fell asleep! Your head immediatly jerks up and you have the this hilariou goofy grin on your face! Your Dad and I busted up laughing! It was hilarious! We have been mimicking you all day long! :)

Another time you were dancing in your booster seat. I said "Bently what are you doing!" and you said "I dancing!" It was hilarious! I have never heard you say the word dancing before! I loved it! :)

You keep us laughing Bently! I love seeing what new and exciting things you'll do! Every day is different and I love it!

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

You had a rough day today! First you fell and bit your lip. Which is now swollen and has a little vampire mark on your lip! I felt so bad! If I only I knew it was only going to get worse!

I decided to get pretty for your Dad today and curl my hair! Yup, you came into the bathroom and grabbed the hot part of the curling iron! I was in a panic! I grabbed your screaming self into my arms and ran to the kitchen. Then when I got there I couldn't tell which of your hands you had burned so I quickly held both of them under the cold water. Eventually I was able to look at it enough to tell it was your right hand! I then grabbed a freezer pack out of the freezer and I sat you down on the couch and tried to hold your hand on it. You did NOT like that. You screamed and screamed and screamed some more! It was awful! :( I had to do it! I couldn't let your hand just burn! Eventually you stopped crying when I didn't have your hand on the freezer pack. You screamed for a good hour and I think you just exhausted yourself because then you fell asleep on me! That's when Melissa came in with the burn ointment! Thank goodness for Melissa Hyer! What would I do without her?

Later on I think you smacked your eye on my guitar. All I saw was you laying on it crying and tonight your eye was swollen! :( So not only do you have the worlds worst cold, but you have a swollen lip, burnt fingers, and swollen eye! Greg told me I have to stop beating you up when he leaves! I promise I don't! :( I love you so much Bently! The whole time you were crying I just kept thinking over and over how I wish it was me! I would take any and all of your pain in a heartbeat! :) I love you little man!

Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

I love you kid! No seriously I do! You are the cutest thing in the entire world! The following examples will prove that you are just that, completely adorable.

Example #1: No matter how badly my day is going you always find some way to make it better! The other day I was having a horrible day. I finally just dropped to my knees and started to pray. For some reason me sitting there, on my knees, with my eyes shut was hilarious to you! You let out a screech and a giggle then come running over and jump on top of me while trying to poke my eyes out with your little fingers. I couldn't help but smile and scoop  you up into the biggest bear hug I could muster! :)

Example #2: You have started doing this thing where you talk all the time. Most of it is things I can't understand but you don't let that stop you. The funny thing is you will randomly say something and then laugh about it! I can't wait to be in on the joke! It sure sounds funny! :)

Example #3: You found some old sunglasses in my room. I'm on the computer and you bring them to me all the while saying, "glasses glasses" in your little baby voice. I immediately put them on you and you just grin from ear to ear! You then run around the house giggling. It sure made me laugh watching you run around in your sunglasses!

Example #4: You have just barley learned to talk on the phone. Before you would not talk back or you would push it away. Now you actually enjoy talking on the phone and will usually jabber away for long periods of time! You are especially good at talking to your Dad! You get all excited when it's him on the phone and will actually take the phone from me and walk away. The other day I hear your Dad on the phone say "I love you!". Then you in a high excited voice say "love you!". It was adorable and pretty much melted my heart. I still have a hard time believing you are old enough to talk! Crazy!! :)

Example #5: Okay this is the last one. Today your Dad brought you to come visit me at work. As soon as you see me you point to me with a huge smile on your face and yell out "mama" while reaching for me! I loved it! I love that you love me! That you want to be with me! That you are almost as excited to see me as I am to see you! :)

Bently I love you so much! Thank you for making me so incredibly happy! I don't know what I would do without my little man! You have made some horrible days all that much more bearable! :) I love you my little man!

Mom

Dear Bently,

When you were in my tummy I decided to sing to you. Almost every night before we fell asleep your Dad and I would sing a verse from the song, "My Wish" by Rascle Flatts. When you were born you seemed to remember the song. Whenever we sung it you would come straight down and be content. Now that your 18 months old we still incorporate singing to you on a regular basis. Every night before we lay you down we have a tradition that goes like this. I hold you and you lay your head on my shoulder. Daddy then comes up behind me and puts his arms around both of us. I then sing to you a song of my choosing. Either, "My Wish", "I am a Child of God" or "Think of me". It's one of my favorite traditions. I love holding you close when you are tired and snugly. I love feeling your Dad's arms around me and I love the little moment we get to have as a family! It's seriously my favorite moment ever. I look forward to it every night as it approaches bed time. It makes me sad that you won't remember this when it's so important to me. I hope you always know how loved you are! I hope we can continue our little night time tradition for a long time! I love you with my whole heart!
Mom

Dear Bently

Happy 18 months birthday little guy! I try and stop myself from calling you my baby because you sure aren't a baby anymore. Though to me, you'll always be my baby! Love you more then you'll ever know!

Mom

Dear Bently

I don't know if our house is boring or if you're just like me and like to be out doing things, but you love it when we go bye bye. The past two evenings I haven't wanted to be in the house so you and I went to the park. The park is within walking distance so I decided to walk both nights. The first night I let you walk with me. You had a blast. You had to stop and bang on everything. You loved touching the leafs and running your hand along the chain link fence. You loved strutting around like a big boy. And you did look like a big boy because you are. You are no longer my baby anymore. You are a big boy who can walk himself to the park. I can't even believe it! But it sure saves my arms!

You love to park. You love to climb and bang on things and shake things, and go down the slides, and run, and swing. That last one surprised me a little. You go through phases of liking to swing and being terrified of it. Lately you can't get enough. We swing then we go play on something else. Then we come back and swing. It's exhausting but so fun watching you have a blast. You love love love it! And I love watching you have fun! :) Today as I pushed you on the swing you laied your tiny baby head back and just grinned as you felt the air rushing past you. Looking up at the sky with your cute grin I couldn't help but be envious of you. Your carefree. You don't have any stress or worries. Then I was sad. Because I know these days will eventually end. Eventually you will be older and have worries and stress. I want you to know I am always here for you! And I am always here to remind you that sometimes you have to throw your head back and just enjoy life. Because believe me, it rushes by too fast. Thank you for reminding me of that. For reminding me how beautiful and wonderful life truly is. So much of the beauty in my life comes from you little man. You seriously make me so incredibly happy. You have pulled me through some rough times. But you are always there, with your big hugs, cute smiles, and contagious giggles! :) Both nights when it was time to leave you cried. I feel so bad stopping your fun. But it gets cold and dark too quickly these days!

We have had some great moments together! I love getting to spend more time at home with you. You are always moving! I don't understand how you do! It's exhausting! With all this movement comes lots of trouble. You play in the toilet, you play with syrup, you take things out of the trash, you get lotion all over again, you bang on the keyboard and the mouse, you pull the canned food off the shelf, you climb up on the table, on the stroller, on basically anything and everything that can hurt you if you fall off. Today I caught you standing on the stroller and trying to pull the magnents off the fridge. Another one of your favorite activities. I just looked at you and said "Bently do you want to get hurt?" Hahaha! You sure do keep me on my toes! I get exhausted by the end of it! But you are worth it!

I love you Bently and literally treasure every moment with you. Today I just held you and gave you about a million kisses. You have learned to mostly block me out when I do this and act like nothing is happening. But I treasure each kiss I get to give you! I love you my little man! I love you more than you'll ever know! :)

Mommy