Bennett lately

Last year...

This year....

What? No! He barely changed at all! I have no idea what you're talking about. (*sigh*)

Its painful trying to get a natural smile out of this boy lately. Every time Jon would make him laugh he'd bend over. 

 Sheesh. He looks 12 here.

We had his "meet the teacher" time the day before. When we walked into his new classroom, he had his arms around me and was hiding behind me a little bit. That was the only time I got a little choked up. It was so nice to feel like he really needed his mama still. But as soon as he saw all the familiar names on his class list, he warmed up right away.

I wrote about sending him off to Kindergarten here. I am SO thankful we have that behind us. This year was about 1000 times easier. I was definitely sad to see him go back since he wasn't too excited about it. But I know he'll be just fine. I now know that he can take care of himself at lunch. And no, he doesn't always get his mouth wiped off but that's ok. And he's such a friendly kid, nobody's picking on him....yet. I know he'll tell me if something happened at school that upset him or made him uncomfortable....if I lay down with him at night and ask him. And some day I hope to hear about him sticking up for some other kid being picked on.

They do pretty well out there without us, mamas.

Some other updates about my oldest:

• When he turned 6, he grew an attitude. He's really good at huffing and puffing and being disgruntled about things. Its not a pretty picture we're painting for the teenage years.
• Jon's working with him on tying his shoes. He likes things that come easy for him and doesn't like things that don't. So we're taking it slow. He still can't ride a two-wheeler but that's mostly our fault since we don't get it out much. (Our driveway and street are pretty sloped so we have to go with him down the block to ride it.)
• We've gone on a video game fast with him (iPad, smartphones, etc.). The boy is addicted and often copped some serious attitude (or completely blew a fuse) when we told him it was time to turn it off. So for the time being, his only "screen time" is TV. Not sure when we'll reinstate the iPad but life's more peaceful without it. Maybe we'll save it just for car trips.
• He loves reading chapter books with me at night (I read to him and every now and then will make him read a page). We've read through quite a few together. We started Wayside School is Falling Down last night and he loves it. I think these are going to be a favorite. 
• The boy is still fearless. He loves to see how high he can climb anything. But if there's not some serious adventure involved, he'd rather be inside. 
• He does, however, play outside with the neighbor kids constantly. There are usually 5 or 6 of them that end up on our trampoline every single night. They have so many made up games and stories. I hope we always have the house that all of his friends want to congregate at :) 
• He's always sort of been in his own little world. He's an internal thinker and processor and absolutely an introvert. He's extremely forgetful and quite sloppy. He wears his meal on his shirt every time. He only cleans when he's highly motivated to so I've gotten better at making sure they clean up before dinner or TV time so it doesn't get completely neglected. 
• However, when there's a job to be done for someone else, he can be such a hard worker. Jon's taken him along a couple different times when he had to go help someone move or clean something up and Bennett won't stop working the whole time. 
• He still has the tendency to destroy things constantly. He can't sit on the couch without knocking all the pillows off. He takes pillowcases off his pillows before he falls asleep at night. He knocks things off tables just for the heck of it. When he was younger, every time he'd walk past the hand towel in the kitchen, he'd throw it on the floor. He breaks things in half or tears things up without thinking twice. Thankfully he at least knows not to tear or break valuables now. Most of the time. This has to be the most frustrating and mind-boggling aspect of raising a boy.
• He has such an intense bond with Channing. He absolutely adores him. He was so sad to go to school last Friday because Channing hadn't woken up yet. Every single morning that I bring him downstairs, Bennett yells his name and runs over to hug and kiss him. (And Dawson follows suit so we get mauled.) He plays with him and reads to him constantly. 
• He's such a bright kid, and at the risk of sounding like "that mom", I often worry that a public school can't challenge him enough or meet him where he's at. He'll start some extended learning for a couple hours each week at school this year but its hard to know if that's enough. I know a blogger who's son is in a French Immersion school in Kansas City. I wish we had options like that here. I'm open to homeschooling down the road but not yet. It would be a total disservice to my children to homeschool right now. There's only so much I can handle as a mom and that is certainly beyond it. If you're a parent of a gifted child and have any advice, throw it my way! 
• For the last year or so, every time all five of us are in the same room, he'll comment that "our whole family is here!". I love that he loves to be together.