Well, if you are my Ben, you attract a lot of best friends. One of his strongest abilities is his ease in making friends. He loves everyone and it seems everyone loves him as well.
I remember his kindergarten teacher last year telling me that she finally had to set up a rotation system during "circle time" so that enough kids got the chance to sit by him. Too many arguments were erupting at story time.
This year, yet again, we have a brand new location, brand new school, brand new teacher, brand new friends, same old problem: too many kids want to be his best friend.
This was humorously pointed out at his birthday party last weekend.
I know it is not always done to open presents during the birthday party, but Ben insisted this be part of the "schedule" of his party, so the shirtless and soggy boys (shirtless and soggy from the fairly intense water fight they had) all crowded as close to Ben as possible, each shoving their presents in his face, encouraging him to "Open mine first, Ben! You're going to LOVE it!"
The gifts were all perfect; just what a 7-year old boy dreams of: transformers, legos, light sabers, and spy gear. He was quite pleased with the loot.
What really got to Matt and me though was one of the cards. It read
"Dear Ben,
Happy Birthday
Your third friend
Jake"
When we saw that card, Matt and I just laughed. I asked Jake what "third friend" meant and he clearly explained that although Mitchell is his "first best friend" and Luke is his "second best friend," he proudly boasted possessing the title of "third best friend!"
At this point, the other boys chimed in with their placings:
"Yeah! I'm his 5th best friend!"
"I'm his 4th!"
"No you're not, I am!"
Clearly, they have all sorted this out before and most of them have no problem with their standings. Each are pretty happy just to be in there somewhere.
This is hilarious! There is no denying that Ben is a pretty cool guy.
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