This year my class is collecting Box Tops for Education. If you would like to help, please save at least 10 box tops, and mail them to me at school. We will be mapping where our box tops come from, and you (or your child) will get a "thank you letter" from a grateful student in my class. This will be a fun way to use maps, encourage writing, practice counting, and it earns $ for our school.

Thank you for helping out!

Yes, I have neglected the blog. Yes, I have neglected my camera.

But...life has been good and full in every way. I began a new school year and have fallen in love with 20 amazing little people. They are delightful and inspiring. Ben loves school and our days are so full. We are in a good routine now, so the blog should pick back up. Maybe I have a reader left out there!

So, we are back!

tomorrow he will not be a 3 year old any more. i think because i teach 4 year olds and see them as children capable of so much and being so independent that this birthday is a doozy for me.

so, this post is just for me, for posterity's sake.

Ben at 3....

• calls firecrackers "firecookies".
• calls egg drop soup "Humpty Dumpty Soup" because humtpy dumpty fell into the soup and cracked, and he tastes "deeeeelishus".
• favorite songs are "lub you foreber", and "sunshine" (love you forever from the r. munsch book) and "you are my sunshine".
• favorite books are "There's a Monster Under the Shed", and "all dem dabid books" (all them David books).
• favorite things to eat are "kung fu panda soup" (chicken noodle soup) and "cake-pink cake is the best".
  
• wants to be a baseball coach when he grows up.
  
• thinks mommy and daddy should eat salads, and they should share their salad with Tank (our tortoise), so ben doesn't need any salads.
  
• sings to his trains as he plays with them.
• says "sacre bleu" and "cinders and ashes" for his expletives.
• does not like writing letters, or drawing pictures, he gets very frustrated.
• loves counting, sorting, putting things in order by size, and sensory exploration of every kind.
  
• he still cries for me when he is hurt, and does not like bandaids.
  
• he wants a friend and says he is lonely, needs a friend to "play wif meeeeee".
  
• always ends up in our bed before the night is over
• answers strangers questions in "train language", using expressions and references to Thomas and the Island of Sodor that no one understands.
  

he is my beautiful boy. my miracle. my world. and as long as i'm living, my baby he'll be, no matter how many candles are on the cake.

i get messages that go something like this...'how do you get your pictures to have such pretty light?" or "how can I make my pictures look like yours"? I learn something new about photography every single day, so I am not claiming to know everything, but one thing i have learned, is i can't get those great pictures sitting in my lounge chair on the beach. I have to move around a lot. I can't ask ben "hey kiddo...come over here and stand in this perfect light, and let mommy stand over there and don't move while I take some pictures, and please look at the camera, and please don't make that fake "cheese" smile". You get the idea.

So, I am always running circles around him, literally, trying to see from what angle the light is the best. In these pictures the light was behind him. I had to slightly overexpose the background, so that his face wasn't pitch black. You have to shoot in manual mode to do this. If you shoot in any other mode, your camera is going to give you a "correct" exposure, and in this case, a correct exposure would have meant a really dark face. I also did some fancy schmancy editing on these to give them a bleachy-beachy look. :)

another benefit from not shooting from your chair is, you get to capture your child's personality. If you are sneaky and quiet and just go about your business, let your child play, and you just click and observe, you will get real expressions. Those always beat fake smiles. If you are sitting your chair saying "Say cheese!" look what happens. Your child stops whatever play (also known as meaningful work) they were involved in, stands perfectly still and gives you a smile, and not the smile they make when they are laughing or truly happy. It's an on-demand smile. Who can give an authentic on-demand smile? It's hard! Go stand in front on the mirror and try!

If this photo-tip helped you, let me know. I will tell you everything I know if I know that someone is listening. :)