My son is...the most interesting man in the world...

Ben is three years old. He has red hair and a smile that has broken many-a woman already. He has a very happy, cheerful personality and a very active imagination. He can play for hours in his room all alone, and if he has no toys handy, no problem. There's always his hand humans. He also has an alter-ego. The Guy comes to visit us fairly regularly. He is an interesting person, and I always find our visits entertaining. He lives far away, in the kitchen. He has a dog, it's name used to be Princess, but The Guy recently changed it to Doug. His best friend is Africa Guy. We've met him, but he doesn't come to visit quite as often. Africa Guy lives in Africa with his pets, an elephant, a cheetah, and Africa Dog.

The Guy has a cell phone that he talks and plays games on a lot. But don't ask of you can play his games, because he'll just tell you that they're 'boring games.' He likes to get in his car and drive to wrecks, then get out and walk around them. When I pointed out that policemen dont really want you to walk around the crash scene, he replies that they like HIM to do it. The Guy worked at Wal-Mart briefly, but soon said he just works at 'his work' and wants to leave it at that. I suspect he may be a spy, but I have no proof.

What I do know is this: Someday, The Guy is going to stop coming to visit me. Some other activity will take his place. I'll miss him. He always provides an interesting glimpse on the way a three year old sees the world. Plus, Africa Guy promised to catch me a pet ocelot.

A Little Princess

For my very first post, I thought I would share the story of our much-anticipated little girl. A little over a year ago, my then-four-year old came to me and asked when his baby sister was coming. We had no intention of having another baby any time soon, so I informed him that we weren't having a baby, and moved on. He did not. Throughout the next week or so, he mentioned his baby or his sister intermittently. One day he said something about "when the baby in mama's tummy..." and I stopped him and explained very clearly that there was NO baby in mama's tummy. He looked at me with a very knowing expression and said "I know. But soon." at which point he walked away, while I sat there with my mouth hanging open. That was the last time he said anything about it.

So, cut to about five months ago. I was laying in bed, cuddling with my boys, with my hands resting on my stomach. I felt a little movement, I'm sure just a muscle twitch or something, but it made me think "oh, that's how it used to feel when there was a baby in there. Wait a minute...how long has it been since I've had my..." I happened to have a leftover pregnancy test in the bathroom, so I thought I'd take it, it would come up negative, and that would be that. Obviously it didn't.

Ethan, now five, never waivered about whether or not she was a girl. One day, while Clayton and I were discussing names, Ethan said he liked the name Jordyn. For the record, Jordyn was on my list of contenders, but I hadn't even said it aloud yet. Clayton immediately loved it. MY name choice 'Elizabeth' was added as a middle name and that was that. What I find particularly interesting, is the fact that as far as I can tell, Ethan had never heard the name Jordyn before. There is no one in his school with that name. He doesn't really watch tv. When asked where he heard it, he said "it just came into my brain." Maybe I'm crazy, maybe it's wishful thinking. But I can't help but believe that he knew his sister was coming. He even knew her name. She was wanted before we knew she was going to exist. She'll have a daddy wrapped around her finger, a mommy who's wanted her for years, and two big brothers who will do anything she asks. She'll be our little princess.