Spotlight on Benjamin

Since I use this blog as a family journal of sorts, I thought I'd take a minute and spotlight each one of our kids (since I've stopped writing in their individual journals-- Ty was the death of the whole journaling thing). They are each so fun that I want to be able to remember their cute little antics at these stages forever.

Benjamin just turned seven at the beginning of the month, but he's been wearing size seven clothes for a long time now-- in fact, he's starting to grow out of them! It works out nicely though because although he is the youngest kid in his class, he's still one of the tallest.

Benjamin never ceases to amaze me. Since he was tiny, he's always been fully committed to the things he was interested in-- to the point of total obsession. Fortunately, now that he is older, he is able to be interested in more things at a time. The following are some of the things that float Benjamin's boat at the moment:

1. Sports. It doesn't seem to matter what the sport is, he wants to do it. And he's pretty good at them, too. Just yesterday his soccer coach suggested that we put him in a more competitive soccer league because he is clearly his team's superstar. He is also amazing when it comes to hitting baseballs. He can stand up by our house and hit balls clear across our yard and over the top of our neighbors' playhouse which is built on about 6 foot stilts. He certainly didn't get it from me!

2. Word games. Bookworm is still his favorite, and the kid has UNBELIEVABLE word skills. He can find long words while I'm still staring at the grid trying to get my bearings. He also likes to play Boggle with us and is pretty good.

3. Reading. Benjamin is a great reader and powered through probably close to one hundred books this summer. We just finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban together, and he loved it. I'm sure he'd already be done with the whole Harry Potter series by now if we let him have his way, but we only let him read one HP book with us each year.

4. Pets. Benjamin was infatuated with all of his friends' dogs and BEGGED to get one for his birthday, but thanks to a tip from my visiting teacher, he got a hamster instead. He is totally smitten with Chip (his hamster) and is trying to train him to come when called.

Benjamin is a wonderful kid who seems to be able to succeed at whatever he puts his mind to. We love him a lot and feel lucky to have him in our family!