how could I possibly have forgotten?

It's so like my responsible child to scold me by saying, "Mom, you didn't interview me for my birthday! How could you have forgotten?" Four kids, a busy summer schedule and old age can do that to you, I suppose.

Ben stats:
Age: 9
Height: 53 inches
Weight: 60 lbs

Favorites food: grilled cheese, pizza, strawberries
Favorite drink: Sprite
Favorite thing to do at home: art projects, play games
Favorite toy: Legos and TF
Favorite movie: Transformers 1 and 2
Favorite tv show: The Flintstones
Favorite book: Fabelhaven
Favorite animal: Rhino
Favorite superhero: Batman
What he wants to be when he grows up: archeologist
Favorite color: White
Favorite candy: hot tamales
Afraid of: my family dying :(
Favorite past-time: jumping on the trampoline

Ben is such a GOOD boy. He is always checking the time on his watch, giving me a countdown of how many minutes we have to be somewhere. He examines his brothers faces before we leave the house to make sure they are clean. He knows who is or who is not wearing their seat belt in the car (and often lets me know that I need to click mine.) He is kind, thoughtful and organized. He still tells 20+ jokes a day... many of them are not worth writing down, but this afternoon he came up with a cute one.

Q: What is the shortest food?
A: Inchiladas.

There are so many stories I could tell that would demonstrate his personality, but this is what is happening recently. Ben is my right arm on Sundays. He gets ready quickly and then follows me around Sunday morning asking, "Mom, what can I do to help?" It sets me at ease and he makes it possible for us to make it to 8 am Sacrament meeting without Daddy (who is already at the church.) Ben will hold open doors for me and keep Zack quiet during the meetings so I can take care of the baby. The last few weeks, whenever he notices I am not singing the songs (because I am busy trying to keep the baby happy) he will grab a hymn book, open up to the right page and hand it to me. Without saying a word, I know he's trying to tell me to pay attention to the meeting and sing along! I usually smile, graciously take the book from him and then say to myself, "Who's parenting who?"

Words cannot express how grateful I am to have such a child in my life. In 9 more years, he will be 18 and out of the house. We're halfway there and I want the clock to stop! He is looking less and less like a little boy and more like a young man. I consider myself one lucky mama to have a son like Benjamin. And I know that it wasn't just by chance that he was my first baby. He is such a blessing to everyone in our family.