Little Ben,
You are so loved. I wanted a little boy exactly like you my whole life. And in March of 2023, you were born.
You are wonderful. There is not a single thing I would change about you. You are better than if I had sat down with God and designed you myself.
You look almost exactly like me.
You are always happy (as long as you have good sleep, good food, and a good poop!) 😄
You are so good at learning. You are smart! And you learn new things so fast! I will always remember the day you figured out how to make your own backgrounds for your iPad and you chose to make your background a big yellow burst of smiley faces. You did that all on your own! And you have figured out so many things about computers. You can already use MacOS, open programs and adjust settings! It is so amazing to watch how fast you learn.
You have a funny baby sense of humor. And your timing is so good! Sometimes it’s like you are the host of a baby talk show and we are your guests to entertain.
You are polite, even before you knew what please and thank you were. You always ask Dad nicely to do things for you and you always show your appreciation in ways that surprise and delight me.
You are clean. You put your toys away all by yourself and tidy up your space before bed. Whenever you find something on the floor that doesn’t belong, even if its just a speck of dirt, you bring it to Dad so I can put it in the trash. You always ask Dad to clean your hands after dinner at home, and you always know to go to the bathroom with Dad to wash our hands after every meal at a restaurant. We always clean up our spot together and don’t leave any crumbs.
Always remember Ben – Dad says:
“If it feels clean, it is clean.”
You can trust how things feel and make a good decision.
You love machines. You love cars. You are fascinated by how things are put together. You love riding with Dad in his Nissan 370Z to go do errands around town.
You love walking with Dad, even at night. You are never afraid of the dark. You love the night time! We walk together sometimes very late at night, and you always want to keep going. You’ve only been able to walk for a short time and already walking all the way to Grandpa’s house or McDonalds is no problem for you. They are both over a mile away! You love to walk to these places and pick up very smooth rocks along the way. Only the most perfect rocks will do. You always find the best rocks.
You pick out the best shows to watch. You love shows that make us think. You love Blue’s Clues and shows like Boo Snoo that shows what happens when a red ball is run through interesting environments. It’s a physics simulation Ben! You also love shows that show how parts are put together to make big machines like tractors, trucks, cars, and trains. You like shows that teach you about the things around you – you like to look at your real wooden letters and numbers while you are watching a show about letters and numbers. You like to hug your toy owl while you are watching owls on the screen. And you like to pick your 100 First Trucks book off your bookshelf and set it neatly next to your iPad so you can look through its pages to find the trucks you’re seeing on the screen.
You learned the letters of the alphabet so fast! When we go out in Dad’s car every day, you like to point out all of the different letters and numbers you recognize. And you know so many! Your favorite letter is A. And your favorite number is 2! Dad guesses that is because you are 2 years old right now when I am writing this.
When we go to our storage buildings, you notice all of the buildings have a different letter on them. And you always point out A, A, A! And there’s B! And C! Look Dad, C!! Yep, that’s C, Ben. You’re so good at letters. I always look forward to see what you will learn next.
There are so many things to love and appreciate about you, Ben.
One day my Little Ben will just be Ben. And if you keep growing as tall as Dad, one day you’ll be Big Ben! As your Dad, it is my goal to help you become a happy, smart, productive man.
On the day you were born, Mom asked me what I wanted for you in life. I said,
“I want Ben to be a virtuous, happy man.”
Virtuous in the dictionary means “having or showing high moral standards.” But when I said virtuous back then, my intention for you was beyond just being a good person. What I really meant was that I wanted you to grow into a man who loved and appreciated the good things in life – truth, beauty, and The Good – and reflect these things back into the world through who you are as a person, and through your work.
You’re off to a really good start, Ben. In fact, your name “Ben” means “good.” Think about it: BENeficial. BENevolent. BENefactor. BENeficiary. Those are all big words that start with “Ben” and every one of them means something good.
That’s because you are good.
I created this website for you to read when you are older. Right now you don’t know many of the things I’m talking about, but I hope you will grow to understand all of these things and so much more. These writings are one of my gifts to you. There are so many times when I wished I could tell you about something I’ve learned in life and share it with you, but I can’t because right now you’re too young to understand. So instead I write them here, hoping one day you’ll find them valuable.
I love you Ben. And I’m proud of you.
Signed,
Dad
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