Dear Bently,

You have been fighting bed time like none other. I don't know why. It's not like you are sleeping at all. You just hate going to bed. You lay in bed wide awake till 9 or later. We put you in bed between 7:30-8 so it's no small amount of time you are just laying there. You  had the stomach flu a few weeks back and we let you lay on the couch and watch tv in the middle of the night. Well last night you kept telling me you were sick and you needed to watch a show on the couch. I knew you weren't sick. You are not one to hide you illness well. There's usually lots of tears and dramatics. So when you are simply telling me you "don't feel well" I knew you were fine. After many no's you finally started to melt down. Yelling at me down the hall. So I brought you a bucket and told you if you threw up then you could come sit on the couch. I was secretly praying you wouldn't throw up, because then I would feel really guilty about not believing you! ;) I walked away and a couple minutes later you screamed you threw up. Not hearing any gagging what so ever we (your dad and I) assumed it was a false alarm. So your dad went back and in the dark looked into the bucket. He came back and told me he thought you had dumped water from your night time drink into the bucket. Though he did mentioned it look orange for some reason. We listened to you scream for a minute longer and I decided to go look. I walked in and looked into the bucket. In the dark I noticed it looked orange too, not like water at all. I opened the blinds to let some light in and looked more closely, gingerly sniffing at it.
I said, "That's not throw up!" And you proudly exclaimed, "It's pee!" "Pee!" I exclaimed as you nodded your head. It wasn't funny. It was awful. You lied and peed in a bucket. But I couldn't stop laughing! I tried to hide it from you but I couldn't stop! Kid, you are one sneaky boy! I don't know how you came up with the idea but it was a pretty intuitive one.

I love you my smart disgusting boy! :)

Love,
Mom

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,

You started something that I think is hilarious. Ever since your birthday you are always telling me all these new things you can do now because you're five. For instance, today at church you took a drink out of the big drinking fountain. You proudly told me, "Mom I can drink out of this one now because I'm 5!" It always makes me giggle. Apparently being 5 has given you more confidence because you are trying things you wouldn't before. Because you can do it now, because you're five! 

I love you my big five year old! It's still weird to think you are five! Less than 5 months till I have a kindergartner! Heaven help me! ;) 

Love,

Mom

Dear Bently,

You were really mad at me the other night. I can't even remember now why. But when I went in to kiss you good night like I always do, you were not happy. You spitefully told me, "I don't love you anymore, only Dad!" This has been something you and Olivia have started that I really, REALLY dislike. I know you're 5 and I should let it get to me, but some days it hurts. And this night for me, well it hurt. I told you I still loved you and walked out. I complained to your Dad about how sad it made me feel and we started to watch a show in the family room. It was at least 10 minutes later that your beautiful innocent little voice rang out, "I still love you mom!" I would be lying if I didn't admit to getting a little choked up. It's those little moments that make all the hard ones worth it. I hope and pray that no matter how mad I make you, no matter how unfair you think I am being, you will always "still love" me!

Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

Yesterday 4/7/16 we had your very first soccer game ever. To be honest I expected you to be the one that just sat and played with the grass. But to my surprise you loved it! You hated every single time you had to sit out! You chased that ball all around the field. The most surprising thing may be that you loved to play goalie! You said that was your favorite part of the day! And you were pretty good at it! You stopped a couple goals! There were two pretty funny stories from yesterday.

#1 You had never seen a soccer game before or played one before. So you had quite a steep learning curve. They had the first kick off and the other team scored. The put the ball back in middle field for the kick off. You walked up to one of the coaches and loudly informed him, "I didn't get a turn!" It was pretty dang adorable! You just wanted a turn with the ball. You didn't understand you had to get it for yourself. But don't worry, you did pretty good after that!

#2 The other story is you weren't really paying attention and the other team was moving the ball down field. Dad and I frantically yelled at you to go get the ball. But you had no idea it was behind you so you started running in the opposite direction pointing at balls on the side line asking if we were talking about that ball. It was pretty stinking cute! :)

I love you my soccer star!

Love,
Mom

Dear Bently,

I hate to admit this but we are not good at having family night. I mean we really stink. As in we had it the other night, and you and Olivia had no clue what the heck we were doing! To show you just how confused you were, let me demonstrate with a story. We asked you to say the opening prayer. I thought it was a very clear and simple request. To my surprise, you folded your arms, bowed your head, then said, "Oh God, the Eternal Father" and then waited for me to help you with the rest. Your Dad and I tried really hard not to laugh. You honestly thought you were doing what you were suppose to. Then came a lengthy discussion of when we say that prayer! Only in church and when we are old enough. I have made a goal to be better at having family night, if only for the sake that you understand what it is! ;)

I love you adorable boy!

Love,
Mom

P.s. You turn 5 in 5 days and I may be freaking out about it. :( How did you get so dang old! I can't even believe it was 5 years ago that we had you! So crazy!

Dear Bently,

Yesterday was Valentines day! You've have been more into Valentines day this year because you had a preschool party. Before that, Valentines day wasn't really a big deal for you! But since you had a party I decided we should do some major Valentines day celebrating. Well it wasn't that big but we had fun! :) We made Valentines for everyone we could think of and took Valentines day pictures and had a "fancy" Valentines day dinner! I also made a special Valentines Day dessert that you loved! It was so fun to see you so excited! You kept asking if it was Valentines Day yet! I love you so much handsome! Spending holiday with you is magical and they just keep getting better as you get older!

Speaking of getting older, can you believe you'll be 5 in less than 2 months! Holy Bananas Batman! What the heck!? How did that happen. I know I say this every single year but 5 is old! 5 is kindergarten. 5 is 3 years away from being baptized for heavens sake! I know time is just going to keep getting faster and faster so I'm trying to enjoy every single minute with my adorable 5 year old! Who always tells me he loves me! You tell me all day long and I love it! And you still call me Mommy! I secretly pray you'll never stop!

I love you handsome!

Love,
Mom