Benny-boy

Remember Josh? Well Pearl is sooooo over him! And has been for quite some time but I keep forgetting to introduce Ben or Benny-boy as Pearl calls him. I'm sure the switch in boyfriends (yes Pearl tells us Benny-boy is her boyfriend) came about because Josh moved to the big kid class months before Pearl did hence the need for a new squeeze. Frankly, I'm happy for the new crush... Josh was sort of whiney and always had snot running down his nose. Ben is much cuter, sweeter, taller, and apparently an Aggie fan! What we weren't so happy about for the first few months of this new love was the kissing. KISSING! You read right! Every day Pearl would happily tell me she kissed Benny-boy - it didn't help that my sister encouraged it because she thought it was either cute or funny to tease Jeff. We had long discussions about how we only kiss family, which Pearl laughed at. So we resorted to threats and long, uncomfortable discussions about whether she was doing drugs, smoking, or having sex! Ok so it was really Jeff who plopped her down on the counter and started into the dreaded discussions every parent must have at some point with their child out of fear that she wouldn't stop kissing Ben. Thank heavens the talks finally sunk in and the kissing has stopped... for now.
So when I dropped Pearl off at school yesterday and noticed Ben had a USU shirt on too, I just knew it was meant to be - despite all efforts by Jeff to quell the relationship. Pearl was so excited that Benny-boy was wearing his Big Blue shirt. She kept telling him to look at her Aggie letter shirt. Those two love birds even happily posed for a quick picture! I don't think Pearl has ever been so happy to see her Benny-boy as she was yesterday and how can Jeff disapprove now? I mean the kid is an Aggie!

Speaking of Aggies, I thought I'd post a couple other pics of the last game we took Pearl to at the Spectrum this season. She was pumped but not in any picture taking mood. Apparently pictures distract from finding Big Blue, singing the Scotsman, eating popcorn, and convincing mom to buy you a Big Blue hat. Now we just need the Aggies to win today's NCAA game so we can all enjoy a nice weekend with a happy Dad and hubby. We all filled out brackets - Pearl and Ricco too. It was so funny to listen to Jeff help Pearl with her bracket. I wish I could have audio recorded their conversation! It went something like this:

Jeff: "Pearl, Utah State or Texas A&M?"
Pearl: "Utah State"
Jeff: "Pearl, Temple or Cornell?"
Pearl: "Temple"

And on and on. There seemed to be a pattern to her picks... anything that remotely sounded like Utah State was selected, as was anything that reminded her of the temple. Her pick for Georgetown to make it to the final round was a bit of a mystery though, she just really liked picking them. Too bad they lost and screwed up all of our brackets though!

Oh and a couple other funny things Pearl has done lately, just so I don't forget them, is telling her dad "raking sucks." Our neighbors gave Pearl a little rake to use outside and the first warm day we had Jeff and Pearl headed out to do some yard work. Pearl was super excited to use her new rake but after a few minutes of trying to clean up the leaves decided enough was enough. She marched over to Jeff and told him "raking sucks" then left her rake on the grass and found something else to do. I thought it was hilarious! And we're beginning to wonder if Pearl really believes Ricco is one of the Madagascar penguins or a baby. I guess she told one of the other moms at school that I had a penguin inside of me. Hmmm... I suppose it's better than her making up some wild story about how he got in there. Boy is she going to be surprised in a few weeks!