He's Getting Big!

I always marvel at my little man and how big he has gotten. Over the weekend I saw a newborn being carried around by his Mom at church and it seems like yesterday that Ben was that little. Now he is certainly a full fledged, energetic toddler!

Yesterday Ben put another two words together! He shocked his Mom by saying "bye dog" to his poodles Lucas and Joey as we were headed out the door to day care. He just said it like it was no big deal. I guess he was saving up his words for his beloved doggies. I am so glad he is making strides in talking. He is certainly stubborn when it comes to that, which has worried me some, but I am sure in a years time this lack of talking thing will be something of the past.

Also yesterday, Ben's Dada decided to do some trimming on Ben's hair. Ben did NOT like it one bit. He screamed and yelled as if the poor kid was in pain. It was an okay job, but I think my husband and I both agreed that we will go to the barber shop next time. All I have to say is, I pity the barber and any customers that may be in the shop for his next hair cut. Ben has lungs like you wouldn't believe.

This morning my alarm (aka Ben) woke me up after being picked up out of the crib by his Dada by putting his favorite stuffed animals on top of my head. I had a sheep, a dinosaur and Grover all stacked up on top of my head. I guess he wanted me to hold them for later. It certainly was very cute though.

Also a new thing for this week is, I got Ben's first field trip permission form! I was shocked that an almost two year old was going on a field trip. He really isn't going anywhere outside of his school, but a traveling petting zoo called Squeals on Wheels is going to visit his school next month. I am sure he will be excited seeing all the animals! What a treat! They even have a sheep, which I am sure Ben will be head over heels for. He loves his animals!

Next month also starts the summer camp months at Ben's day care. Nothing really will change for him except for that every Wednesday will be water day! He will LOVE that. Good luck to the teachers having to deal with a classroom full of wet toddlers to change afterward. I am sure they are looking forward to that .

Sesame Place

On one Friday afternoon the week before Memorial Day, my husband calls me telling me to get home as soon as I could and that we were going to Sesame Place! I was ecstatic. ONE, I love surprises and two, it was probably one of the most thoughtful selfless things my husband has ever done. I had been wanting to go to Sesame Place for quite some time, but with schedules and lack of not wanting to plan anything, I never nailed down a date.

I took off work very early that day and made it home while Ben was still napping at his day care. I quickly packed a bag for myself and Ben, loaded the car and together my husband and I headed to the day care to pick up our sleepy boy who had no idea what was in store for him that weekend. Once we picked up Ben, we started hitting traffic. Getting out of D.C. just about at any time on a Friday is horrendous, but we made it through rain, traffic, etc., and finally got to our hotel destination a little later then planned. It did not matter though, we were ready for the upcoming fun we were going to have. Ben was still unaware of what was going on, but was quite the trooper!

The next day was Saturday, which we had planned to take the two day passes and spend them at the park on both Saturday and Sunday. It was a little too early to go to the park as it opened at ten o'clock, so we decided to head to downtown Philadelphia for a while. We went and saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (well we stayed outside of it) and then afterwards Ben and his Mommy ate their first Philly Cheese Steak at Pat's. Once it started getting closer to ten o'clock, we left the downtown area and headed to the Sesame Place theme park.

Ben right outside of "his" restaurant

Mommy and Ben in front of Independence Hall

Dada with his Benny


As we arrived at the park, Ben with his little wondering eyes was very curious on where he was and WHAT was going on? We were not more then five minutes in the park when Ben saw Bert and Ernie walking down Main Street. His eyes literally bugged out of his head and he was SOOOO excited to see "his Bert". Ben loves Bert for some reason. Why he loves a semi cranky character I have no idea, but if he is happy with him then that is okay by me. Ben met Bert and Ernie by first pulling on Bert's nose. I guess he was wondering if he was real? Bert and Ernie were gracious and patient with Ben and Ben just ate it all up.

Ben Meeting Bert and Ernie



Afterwards, we headed off to see more of the park. We went on a couple of rides and played in a toddler play area that made out of soft gym mat and was in the shape of a circle. Ben LOVED that area. After a while, it was time for Ben's nap. We went back to the hotel and we all slept for around three hours. After we got up, we all headed back to Sesame Place and enjoyed the Sesame Rock n'Roll Parade (which Ben loved) and a couple more rides. Ben received a Bert doll that day.

Ben LOVING the play area!


The next day was our last day in Philadelphia. We packed up our bags, put on our bathing suites and headed to Sesame Place for our last day. At first we tried to get Ben into the water by taking him to a shallow kiddy pool. Ben did not want anything to do with that, as the water was still a bit too cold for him. So instead, Ben had a fantastic time playing on the different slides while his Dad had a blast on the different water slides. We also had to revisit the playground where Ben had so much fun the day before and just let him run all his energy off until it was time to go home. As we were heading out, it was a rather hot day out and so we headed in to a gift store. Ben seeing a furry blue guy grabbed him and wanted him for himself. The furry blue guy was Grover! Ben made his mind up and thankfully the toy did not cost too much, so our little guy was spoiled just a tad bit more.

We as a family had so much fun at Sesame Place. It certainly is a place we would all like to revisit again someday. Thanks to my husband for his fantastic surprise, he made yet another memorable occasion for his family.