El Nino

I now understand why the weather powers that be named a winter weather pattern "El Ñino." They had young children at home. Shocking, yes, but so true. I personally have experienced my own tiny El Ñino right here in my living room. His name is Ben.

Benjamin just turned ten months old. He has four teeth and he started to crawl about two weeks ago. I was very excited to tell people that my little guy was becoming such a big boy. It seemed, however, that when I announced to friends and family that Ben has passed a major milestone and was now crawling, they were immediately on the other side of the room putting antique vases and delicate knick knacks on the highest shelf possible.

At first, I laughed at these people for being so paranoid. He hadn't made any messes yet, he was just learning how to move on his own. What I didn't realize is that my sunny weather was about to turn into the storm of the century.

As Ben's slow scoot turned into VERY fast crawl our little home turned into a battle ground. Side-tables have been overturned. Books have been pulled off of the shelf and DVDs that used to be in alphabetical order are now lost forever because Ben has managed to push them behind the TV stand. I can't be more thankful for online bills either, because all of our hard copies have been chewed or shredded by our very sweet boy. Thanks Ben! Now we can donate our paper shredder to someone who really needs it.

With all of the new mayhem that Ben has caused, there is also a lot of joy. I am amazed at how smart he is and every day when I wake up to sound of the monitor amplifying Ben's loud talking in his crib, I can't keep the smile from spreading across my face. What a delight to have this child in my home.

Ben may be full of mischief and messes but I know that he isn't trying to be bad, he's just learning. It is my responsibility to tell him no when he is causing trouble, but even more important, it is my responsibility to comfort him when he has bumped his head. It is my responsibility to love him even when he has thrown up on my last clean shirt. Most important, it is my responsibility to share with him the incredible love and forgiveness of our Savior. I won't say that being a parent is easy, but I will say that it is the most wonderful and scary thing that I have ever done or ever will do. To sum up the forecast for the rest of Ben's baby-hood, it is going to be partly cloudy with radiant sun breaks.