"Yar?"

So, our sweet little B is a delayed talker. But in the last two or three weeks, his language has started to EXPLODE. He's coming up with new words, two word strings, even a three syllable word ("hah-pah-tah", aka helicopter). Most of his words are preceeded by the words either "no" or "mine." So if he sees a dog, it would be "Mine dah-dat." I have enjoyed the process of all of my boys' language developing, but there is a sweetness to Ben's that cannot be compared.

Tonight was one of those sweet moments with Ben that I hope, hope, hope I will remember forever. Our bedtime routine is pretty consistent - three books, then lights out and I sing a few songs while I rock him in the rocker. He twirls my hair while I rock him which makes my heart a big puddle every single night.

One of the songs I frequently sing to him is a variation on Twinkle Twinkle. It goes like this:

Twinkle, twinkle little star
What a special Ben you are.
Bright blond hair and soft, sweet cheeks
Bright brown eyes from which to peek.
Twinkle, twinkle little star
What a special Ben you are.

For some reason tonight, that song didn't make it into my repertoire tonight and as I was closing up shop with one last round of the ABCs, Ben peeked his fuzzy little head up from my shoulder, looked me in the eyes and said, "Yar?"

It took me a while to figure it out but we were both persistent and I finally realized that he was asking me to sing him the Little Star song. As soon as I started to sing it he put his head back on my shoulder and said, in his quiet little voice, "Yescht."

Yescht, Ben, you are my little yar.