Benjamin and "His Girl"

He may only be 4 but he already knows who he is going to marry and, surprisingly enough, they have already had a long relationship. It all started in his Parents' Day Out class last year... Each week when he got home from school and I asked him about his day he would say, "Maeric and I played_____". Well, at the end of the school year (last year) we went to Noah's open house. Daddy and Benjamin went up to sit in front to get some good pictures. When they returned, daddy was laughing. I asked what was so funny and he said, "Benjamin was sitting by this little girl and by the end of the song, they were holding hands!" I stood and looked and said, "That's Maeric." "Oooooooooh," daddy replied. Suddenly it all made sense.Well, as luck would have it, Benjamin and Maeric were in the same class again this year. (In fact, their teacher, Mrs. Peterson, is Maeric's "Nana".) We have heard A LOT about Maeric. I think the greatest day of our little man's life to this point was when he was Joseph to Maeric's Mary in the nativity play.

One day he informed me that they were going to get married. I asked if he had talked to her daddy about that yet because he would have to clear it there first before making any plans. He looked at me kind of strangely and said, "But she asked me!" I admitted that I wasn't sure what protocol was on that. On another occasion I was explaining to him that I didn't ever want him to grow any bigger because he was just the perfect size to fit in my lap. He got very concerned and said, "But, Mom, I have to get bigger so I can get my driver's license and take Maeric to my karate lessons." And we can't forget about the time I bought him his own sponge to help me do some cleaning. He had such a good time he made me promise to buy

Maeric a pink one so that when she came over they could do cleaning together. (I didn't have the heart to tell him that she might not come back over for too many play dates after all that fun...) We have heard a lot about playing dress up

and his protecting Maeric from the other boys in the class. Apparently, one of their favorite games to play was war and the other boys would try to bomb Maeric and our little Benjamin would protect her. We thought this was all really cute but had no idea just how much there was to the situation until Benjamin's open house this year. We sat behind Maeric and she and Benjamin kept making eyes at each other and smiling and waving. Her dad finally turned around and said, "Maeric is all about Benjamin. We hear about

him all the time." He also shared a story that one night while getting ready for bed Maeric told them that if any bad men ever broke in to their house that they didn't need to worry because Benjamin would protect her. Auuhhhh... am I right? Then Mrs. Peterson told me that Maeric signed her Mother's Day card, "Love, Maeric and Benjamin." And one day while dropping Abby off at class her teacher (who had Maeric on another day) said Maeric one day whispered, "Miss Barb, I have a boyfriend. His name is Benjamin." So it became pretty obvious that the attraction was mutual. (Truth be told, we were thankful about this because we were concerned Benjamin was going to be some sort of stalker...)

Due to the difference in their birthdays, it is unlikely that they will be in the same class next year. I have not broken this new to Benjamin yet - I am not sure how he will take the news. So we decided to do something special to mark their friendship. I got a cute picture of the two of them at the open house. Benjamin picked out a frame and her favorite color paint - purple.

We found some letter stickers and he spelled their names.

Then we took it to school to deliver it to her.

(He liked it so much when it was finished that we had to go buy one for him, too.) Benjamin's first crush - documented for the ages.

So, so cute.