B-E-N

Ben did something that made my teacher heart sooo happy tonight: he wrote his name.

Well, not technically. He typed it. But it was so beautiful, you would have thought he scribbled it with his own hands, from his mommy's reaction.

Ben loves letters. He points them out at a store, while we're driving, on the cereal box, and in books. He even finds them in the scribbles circles and lines he colors. And I absolutely love it. We can rarely read a book until he's identified each of the letters in the title. He's not 100% profficient and he can only really identify capital letters, but for a mom of an almost three-year-old, I'm thrilled. (Jack is quite good as well, but Ben gets an added thrill out of it!)

After the normal after-dinner wrestling, Daddy usually suggests some quiet time in front of his iPad. My boys LOVE this time. All three of them :) It's a nice way to unwind from the day, letting the boys play with puzzles, paint and animals. We use a timer to help them take turns, but tonight I thought I'd offer my laptop as the 'other option' so the boys would be occupied while they were waiting for their other turn. It was funny teaching them how to use a touch pad on the laptop versus a smart board... definitely took some getting used to for my boys in the age of the Smart Phone. We experimented with a few games on FisherPrice.com, but then I asked Ben if he wanted to write some letters. I opened Microsoft Word and pressed "caps lock."

I let him have fun with the keypad and then after a few minutes, I asked if he wanted to write his name. He knows how to spell it and does frequently. It's not uncommon for him to spell his name when you ask him to tell you what his name is :) He was definitely anxious for this project. I excitedly pointed out each letter and he thoughtfully pressed it and waited for me to help him find the next one. When we finished, he looked at his masterpiece and then up at me. He opened his eyes wide and fixed his mouth into a big "O." Oooh, he was proud.

He typed his name. Gosh, I wish I had my camera handy to take a picture of that face.

We typed it a few more times and then I helped him spell his last name, at his request. He just loved it.

Next, he asked to spell Daddy's name. But this time, he didn't want me to point out the letters for him. His first attempt looked more like "D-A-A-A-A-A-D" because he pressed the "A" too many times. But let me tell you, it was beautiful.

My boys can spell. Well, perhaps not literally... but you know what I mean.