Blessings for Benton: Benton Amazes Me Every Day

A little Luck of the Irish on St. Patricks Day

This is going to be a short post and I'm sure I have much else to catch everyone up on in the life of the Bertram Family of Four...but today Benton amazed me yet again and I felt the need to capture my feelings live in this forum.

Today I came home ready to celebrate the fact that it was Friday and that meant the start of the weekend and fun with the kiddos. As usual I started getting dinner ready for the kids and feeding them which is always a task in and of itself. Having a three year old requiring assistance to physically eat his meal while trying to also get a one year old to cooperate and eat their food is difficult if you can't imagine. While feeding Benton a lovely dinner of dumplings, meatballs, hummus and yogurt he began his usual antics of turning his head away, refusing to take another bite and generally just playing with his food and not eating anything that wasn't forced upon him. Joe comes home and Benton immediately starts chanting "Want a video"...if you can't tell Joe can be a softy when it comes to giving Benton videos at meal time to help keep his caloric intake up :) As I'm explaining that no we aren't going to be watching a video, it's time to eat dinner, Benton looks at me and says plain as day "Mommy I want to go upstairs and watch a video." I just about started crying. That was by far the longest and clearest sentence he has ever said!

Obviously my willpower to keep videos away from my son after hearing those amazing words crumbled... However I stayed strong and explained to him that he had been naughty earlier so he wouldn't be getting a video on the iPad unless he could prove himself. I told him he needed to finish the entire rest of the yogurt by himself and then help me clean up the table and then and only then could he watch a video. He readily agreed and then my big boy did something else amazing - he fed himself over 20 spoonfuls of yogurt finishing it off and then got up and cleared the table bringing all the dishes to the sink. I was pretty much in shock. Not only had he spoken such clear words but then he fed himself the most I have ever seen him do using a spoon and readily took up a chore with no fussing at all. The cherry on top was that when Joe came down later, I asked Benton what he had done to earn a video and he said "Eat the yogurt" and "Clean the table". Wow just wow.

Today I am feeling incredibly grateful and blessed with the leaps and bounds Benton continues to do each and every day. Even though some days are hard and challenging the joy of watching him succeed and progress by even the tiniest of babysteps is all so worth it!!!