Benjamin

The final chapter of our weekend excitement starts with B and ends in enjamin. This sweet boy was adopted from Russia by our dear friends Ed and Linda way back in December, and it wasn't until this weekend, when they came to town to visit, that we finally got to meet him.
Ben likes to hide. You can barely tell, but what appears to be the right-most flower up there is really Ben's blonde head. V hides, too, but mostly by turning her face to a wall and yelling "Find me!" Ben actually hunkered down and blended right in.

He just turned two, and he's in the best stage: you know, that adorable, learn-something-new-every-five-minutes, so-much-personality-it-hurts, tiny-little-human stage. He's got big old boy paw hands (you know, with the little dimples) and jumps like a superhero. He also was very attached to our lawn ornament.

It was a little odd talking about Ben to his parents, in that it's not quite like talking to a friend who's had a newborn... I mean, it kind of is, in that this new, dependent, demanding life has only lived with Ed and Linda for seven months. So they still have those same nervous "I sure hope he's still breathing" middle of the night moments that I had the whole first year. Though he and V aren't that far apart in age, his parents are still in a sort of newborn phase, and we're more in the toddler exhaustion stage. I don't know quite how to explain it better.

I wanted to tell Ed and Linda that they were doing such a good job, that Ben is marvelous and hilarious and beautiful and clearly loved and loving. Parenthood is so incredibly hard, and I don't think parents hear often enough about what we're doing right. I didn't make this point to them on Sunday, so I guess I'm making it now: You guys are awesome. Ben is awesome. We're so glad we got to see you, and so glad our babies get to grow up knowing each other.

Now I'm gonna go hold our lawn ornament and hide in the bushes.