Ben won!

A shift happened yesterday, it was subtle, probably no one but a mother would have noticed, but it happened.

Ben won.

Every morning there is a race that takes place from the starting line (the parking lot) to the finishing line (the front door of the boys school). The boys run to the starting line, hunker down, and wait for mommy to announce: "On your mark; get set; GO!!" and the 2 of them tear off, full speed for the finish line. At first Ben was too young to realize it was a race, he just thought it was fun to wait for the signal and run real fast. Then there were a couple of times when Max or Ben would dart off early before I said "GO" and I would "wai-wai-wai-wait!" them back to the starting line for a fair start. I think it was one of these false starts that Ben realized that this was a competition. Shortly after this, he would pout or give up when it would become evident that his brother was winning the race.

But not yesterday..... my baby boy bit his lower lip, gave it his all, and beat the pants off his big brother. Max stopped short of the finish line and crossed his arms and pouted, almost in shock that his baby brother had whipped his heiney for the first time.

Ben was so proud of himself he could have lit up a midnight sky.