Ben's Blog

It was Ben’s third birthday on 1st October – no idea where the 3 years have gone!

For his birthday this year, we threw him a proper birthday party. We rented out a local Scout hut for a couple of hours in the afternoon and invited his little friends and some family. We had food and drinks and Kelly made a wonderful birthday cake in the shape of a castle, which Ben loved. Lots of people turned up with the hut ending up being quite full. All the children enjoyed it (we took some of Ben’s toys for them to play with such as his tent, ball pool and skittles) and were boiling by the end as it turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year! Yes, even in October! So you can imagine how hot it was clearing everything up afterwards.

Ben had lots of lovely presents, so thank you to everyone that gave him a card or present!

Some of the things he had included a little Scalextric, Peppa Pig Space Rocket, Jigsaws, Books, Noddy Car, other toy cars, a robot and clothes. Needless to say he has played with everything loads since he received them, and has enjoyed every minute of it!

Here are some photos of the day –

[Show as slideshow]

The day before his birthday, we took him to Jump! for a few hours. We took him fairly early in the morning so it was nice and quiet, and meant that we had the run of the main area for quite a long time. There were events going on throughout the time we were there which included making and decorating a crown and face painting – which Ben enjoyed! We stayed for dinner although Ben didn’t eat much as he was far too excited! Afterwards, we popped in the pub for a drink as we were gasping but didn’t stay long as Ben was completely tired out!

[Show as slideshow]

Whilst we were on holiday in Weymouth, we visited Abbotsbury Animal Park where Ben had a ride on a Pony for the first time.

We didn’t think he would want to do it but he surprised us all by asking for the ride and then enjoying so much he wanted to go around again! 😉

Here is the video of him riding the Pony with Bev and a member of staff from the animal park.

Ben is now potty trained and is doing very well.

We started this at the beginning of August and within two weeks he didn’t need a nappy any more, even at night!  We are very proud of him of course!

He is even standing up to go for a wee now which is great. He first did this whilst in Trispen Pub on Saturday 10th August, as we were caught a little short without his little potty seat, so had to give it a go and it was fine. So he can now take himself up to the toilet and go for a wee on his own which is very good!

It took us a while to get him to want to stop wearing nappies as he was scared for a week or so without a nappy on. But after encouraging him and rewarding him with some new toys after every successful attempt in the potty, he gradually changed his mind and used the potty automatically.  He did still want a new toy each time he went though, so we had to knock that on the head pretty early in. 😉

Hope it is as straight forward as this for Aaron when it is his turn! 😉

Ben became a big brother on the 4th May when his little brother Aaron was born.  When it was time for Aaron to come home from the hospital, Ben wanted to come as well as he was very excited.  He had been looking forward to the baby coming for a long time!  He was very excited still when he first met Aaron and gave him a kiss and a cuddle in the hospital.

Since then he has been very good towards him. He still gives him kisses and cuddles all the time and tries to look after him as well – maybe a little too much! 😉 He has had Aaron sit on his lap on several occasions but doesn’t like it when he fills his nappy whilst being on him. On one occasion Ben started gagging it was so bad – which we found hilarious! hahaha  So we had to pick him up off of his lap straight away!

Here is a photo of them both.

Aaron lying on Ben's lap

Ben has now got Conjunctivitis which has made him a little poorly.  His little eye is seeping horrible green gunk which isn’t very nice, and it is a bit swollen up as well.  He has got some eye drops to help kill the bacterial infection, so hopefully it won’t be long before he is better again.  He has been brave when we have been putting the drops in his eye, as it obviously isn’t a very nice thing to do to a 2 year old, especially as he probably doesn’t understand why we are doing it.  So fingers crossed for a swift recovery!