365 days. What a drop in the bucket, and yet I find myself marvelling at the fact that you have been with us for more than even a week. You came rumbling into our lives two weeks early, and while I thought we weren't prepared for you at all (no infant clothes washed, Reeves still in the crib), your easy going demeanor and precious smiles made you fall right into place, and we all grew around you. It was like you came into the family and filled in that missing piece. You completed our puzzle.
There were some frustrating, exhausting times early on, namely the couple of weeks when you completely forgot how to latch on and refused to eat, but you have generally been the easiest baby ever. You have slept when you are supposed to and for as long as your supposed to, you eat when you're supposed to, and you put smiles on all of our faces because yours is so often lit up in happiness. It is the rare occasion that you are upset and not easily placated. You are on a wonderful schedule - a morning nap, an afternoon nap, and bedtime around 7:30. And heaven forbid you are forced to stay up much past that betime. 
There is nothing that can make your life better other than your crib and your blue blanket. Unlike Reeves, you are not one to be rocked to sleep. You fuss and fight until you are in bed. It's like you must have read Babywise in the womb because you have definitely made us be better parents in that respect.
I must mention here your blue blanket. Never in my life have I seen a child so enamoured with a "blankie". Oh, Reeves loves his froggies, Lolly loved(loves) her Abby, and I apparently loved my Moppie so much that all that is left is a postage stamp sized piece of it, but you adore your blue blanket. Maddelle gave it to you, and you take the corner where your name in embroidered and scrunch it up under your nose with your right hand, put your left thumb in your mouth, and roll over. It's really the cutest thing. Even if you're not in bed, if someone gives you that blanket, your hands already have muscle memory and do the same thing. (This is why I have bought four more and had Maddelle embroider them exactly the same way as the original.)
What is interesting is that you only suck your thumb when it's time for bed, never at any other times of the day. I hope it stays this way. Once we realized you were a thumb sucker, I started dreading the day we had to get you to stop, but honestly, if you only do it at bedtime, I'm OK with that.You and your brother absolutely adore each other.
Your face lights up (even more than it already is) when you see him. You let out a squeal of delight when he says hello to you. He greets you each morning with a "Hi, Benny Boy!" and a kiss on the forehead, and he sends you off to bed each night with the same kiss and a "Night, night, Benny Boy. Love you." 
The two of you are really starting to play together a lot. You are always interested in whatever he is playing with, and he is generally good natured about it unless it is something he has had to build. I have now permanently moved all my mixing bowls to the den as you and he thoroughly enjoy putting on a drum show almost everyday. Reeves also likes to hop from bowl to bowl, and I know, as soon as you can, you will be doing the same thing too. For the most part you seem to endure and even enjoy some of the physical pain he (lovingly) puts you in. Just this morning, I heard you cackling with laughter and poked my head around the corner only to see him pulling you around the room. 
Even though you loved it, I had to put a stop to it. It's not all about your enjoyment; it's also about training Reeves, and I'm certain most children wouldn't have enjoyed the same treatment, especially since, for most children, Reeves didn't hang the sun, the moon, and all the stars. Just a hunch.You haven't started walking yet, but I have occasionally caught you standing up all on your own. I know perambulation isn't far behind. Probably my fault since I only recently brought out the walker toys to help you in your development. Oops! Funny how that happens with second children. You are making all kinds of sounds, but best of all, and much to your father's delight, you scream "DaDa!!" whenever you see him. This just makes his day, especially at the end of a work day. Of course, he doesn't always make it home before your bedtime, so you have also learned to associate the phone with Dada. It's pretty cute.
I have heard you say "Mama", but never in connection with me, so I'll have to add that to the Honey-Do list. You wave at anyone who will wave at you and you never meet a stranger. You are possibly the happiest child I've ever met. I envy you your disposition and the fact that any problem you have can be fixed by food, drink, sleep, or a diaper change. How nice it would be if we adults could have life be so simple.
Benny Boy, you're a year old now. I can't believe we're not measuring you in months anymore. I don't want to blink. I look back at pictures of you from only a few months ago and wonder where the time went. When did you start looking like you? Certainly not when you were first born, but I can't pinpoint a time that that newborn look changed. When did you start being you? When did you blossom into this little boy, this baby on the verge of being a toddler?
But I know, from the moment you were born, you've been an amazing, precious child that God made just for us. You and Reeves are the most wonderful gifts we have ever been given. You make us all better people and parents, and with God's help, we will spend the rest of our lives molding you and Reeves into the wonderful men we know you will be.
We had lots of friends and family stay with us or just visit for the day while were there.
We even had some out of town guests. Bryce and Caulder stopped by one afternoon. Reeves is smitten with Bryce and asks about her all the time. When I remind him that he likes Caulder too, he stops me and tells me, "No. I love Bryce!" According to Reeves, you can only like (or love) one thing at a time, and no one else can like it either while you are liking it.
Towards the end of our stay, Mom and I went exploring on the golf cart and found a beach access just past Fort Moultrie. You could drive the cart up and step right onto the beach. I wish I had found this the day we got there. From then on, every night, B and I would load the boys up and drive down there. 
The sun set just beautifully over the city. 
Reeves could run and play. He loved climbing on the rocks and running from the waves.
Bennett spent most of his time on his Daddy's shoulders, and I was able to get some great pictures. 
It was the perfect pre-bedtime jaunt.
We went all the way around the island and behind Goat Island. Even though it was my suggestion to circumnavigate Sullivan's, I must admit, I did get a little nervous out there in the "big water". (Am I becoming my mother?)
This was Bennett's first trip in our boat and his first time with a lifejacket on. He wasn't crazy about it at first but animal crackers (and, I suppose, the scenery) quickly helped him overcome his discomfort. While I was tooling around waiting for B to park the truck, I found it quite difficult to manuever and hold Bennett. 
Solution - I put him right where I put Sadie the first time I took her on the boat, on top of the console. Of course, Bennett is considerably bigger than she was at 6 weeks, but it seemed to work fine. It was a beautiful evening that made you really appreciate living in the Lowcountry. We watched the kiteboarders from the ocean and watched the boats going out the channel. The tide was so high we couldn't even see the jetties. We had to go back and forth under the Breech Inlet bridge a few times, yelling each time. We saw dolphins in the creeks and watched the flyfishers poling towards their prey. The boys loved it. We loved it. It was a perfect cap to a great two weeks.
Summer just wouldn't be the same without The Ark. Thank you, Poppa and Grandmother!
Bennett and I were in the front of the house; Reeves was playing in his room. It was Bennett's naptime, so I went to put him in his crib. As I entered the hall, I saw that the full length mirror at the back of the hall had been pulled from the wall, hangers and all. Luckily, it was propped up against a fan back there, so it wasn't broken and no one (Reeves) was hurt. I put Bennett down, went into Reeves' room and asked him what happened. I got no response. I asked him who knocked the mirror down. He told me that Bennett had done it. Enter the "Here Is An Important Parenting Moment So Take Advantage Of It" thought. I didn't blow my top; I didn't yell; I sat him down and talked to him. I told him that while I was upset about the mirror, I knew it was an accident, and even though he should know better, that is not what I was the most angry about. "I know you just lied to me about who knoked the mirror down." We talked about how bad lying is and how he should never, never do it. "You are being punished now, not because of the mirror, but because you lied about it when I asked you."
He's growing up too fast. I'm not ready for the "shades of grey" that come with parenting as they get older. Sometimes it makes me long for those first three months of sleep deprivation. They were hard on the body but easy on the soul.
Here we are at your third birthday. I can’t believe it. Only 365 yesterdays ago, I was writing to you on your second birthday, marveling at what a big boy you were becoming, still being able to count the words you were able to say, just getting introduced to your fits, and most importantly, relishing our last days with you as an only child. We have now left all those things in the dust.
I say this because so far, he is the only member of the household to whom you have not said, “I don’t like you no more!” Even now that Bennett is mobile and is able to take the toys you are playing with, you will still go and get him a replacement toy as you retrieve your original toy. I know this happy nirvana of no sibling rivalry will not last forever, but it certainly is nice right now. He is your “Baby Brudder”, and he adores you just as much as you adore him.
Speaking of “Brudder”, this is as good a time as any to discuss your ever expanding vocabulary and your ever increasing ability to actually verbalize those words intelligibly. While your speech has most definitely been slow, you have now, for the most part, caught up to your peers. Your pronunciation still leaves much to the imagination for most, but we understand you pretty well, and, unless you are whining, everyone else seems to also. I am so happy to see that you have finally progressed in this category. I know school helped a lot with this.
It has been so much fun watching you grow and change over this past year. Your new brother, your new school, the fact that I am now staying home. I know all of these things have made lasting impressions on you. You have handled them all very well. There have, naturally, been a number of bumps in the road, but, like all things, these too shall pass. Your temper has certainly blossomed as you have gotten older. Daddy says you get this from me. Probably. You are also quite persistent with your demands. Your memory is like an elephants, and it is taking quite some time for you to realize that you aren’t going to get what you want just by screaming and whining about it. Someday you’ll come around. 
You’re already starting to make teeny, tiny steps in that direction – the one in which you realize that candy is for after a meal, not in place of it, and you may as well zip it and just go ahead and eat because the faster you do, the closer you are to your “yoyyipop.” It is definitely hard sometimes not to give in to your demands, and occasionally I have a weak moment, but luckily you have learned just to take your temper to your room and lat it work itself out there.
Reeves, you are so loved. At the end of each day, no matter how frustrating it’s been, Daddy and I always thank God for you and Bennett. We are so lucky to have both of you. You are amazing children. I can’t wait to see the new person you will become this year. Such a big boy, but you’ll always be my baby. I love you!
As Murphy would have it, since I didn't post at your ninth month, you spent the majority of the time before that hurtling over milestone after milestone. Your two bottom teeth finally popped in in April. So far, they are the only ones brave enough to make the journey. I think they have warned all the other dental buds that you thouroughly enjoy putting any and everything in your mouth and chomping down. You have mastered the art of opening any flip top with your two little teeth.
While you had been commando crawling for a month or so, you finally made the transition to full fledged crawling. It was as if all of a sudden, one day you figured out that it was much faster and perhaps less painful to go it on your hands and knees. 
While I find myself doing less laundry now, I am also having to clean the floors more since you are no longer doing your sweeping laps.
On May 20, you stayed out at the country for us to take Reeves to his endoscopy. This started what was to become a five day stay. I came down wth terrible swimmer's ear and could do nothing more than lie in bed 24/7 and wonder, "Whhhyyyy meeee?" When I went to finally see you and Reeves on Friday, I learned that you had apparently decided this was the week you would start pulling up to standing and go from crawling to sitting all by yourself. As much as I hated to miss these firsts, I am so glad you had your grandparents to take care of you for them. Of course, you have never looked back, and while there haven't been any major new developments, you have certainly perfected those you do have..jpg)
Bennett, you are just about the happiest child I have ever known. You smile all the time, and somehow, when that one dimple appears, you get even cuter. You are, most of the time, easy going, but have no qualms about letting us know how you're really feeling. 
You adore your daddy and big brother. I like to think you feel the same about me, but since you jump out of my arms to get to either one of them, I'll be content with being #3 in your hierarchy for now.