Benjamin the 5 year old

Onto the youngest member of the family...
Benjamin has healed quickly from his surgery in March. We had a follow up visit in late April with his surgeon. The doctor was very pleased with the results and says Benjamin could be a swimsuit model now. Not sure I would go quite that far, but he does look great, much slimmer through the abdomen and hopefully stronger, too.

Benjamin started swim lessons last week. He is doing much better with them this year than last spring. He willingly puts his head under water and even tried a little "backstroke" (with much flailing of arms).

He is almost done with preschool and has had a great year. He loves all his little friends and talks about them often. He has learned all his letters, enjoys rhyming, wants to know how to spell things, likes writing words as you spell them, and counts all the time. He also like making patt-er-ens (patterns).

While my parents were here, they were amazed at all of Benjamin's creations. He is quite imaginative and always seems to be working on something...Here are a few of his creations...

This post about Benjamin wouldn't be complete without these last 2 photos...
Recently, I heard Benjamin yelling from the bathroom that he needed me to come in there right now. When I arrived, here is what I found...
He was very worried about an extremely small spider crawling on the floor.

Benjamin's latest incarnation is as "BenjaNinja". He insisted that he had to wear all dark clothes (his shirt is turned around backwards so you can't see the picture) plus a "mask" (yes, it is a clean pair). Note he also made his own weapon out of K'nex.