How The Baby Saved Ben

Ben is a pretty laid back guy. This is a really good thing since his wife is so high-strung. There are a few things though that get him worked up: Bad drivers, white dudes ordering in Spanish at Cafe Rio and air pockets in his milkshakes. My favorite pet peeve of Ben's is teenage girls.

Bethany is about the only teenage girl that doesn't put Ben over the edge. Now some of her friends on the other hand . . . good-ness! Time after time we have been out in public and I have seen Ben cringe at the sound of squealing teenagers. It is like fingers on a chalkboard for him. Everything about them makes him crazy, the way the talk, dress, act, sound and think. I am of the belief that this comes from him being a youngest child with very little exposure to them since he was a teenager which doesn't count because then he was an obnoxious teenage boy trying to make out with them. I have to constantly remind him that it is just how they are and eventually they will grow out of it and have a chance at becoming a normal human being.

Last night we were at a local Mexican restaurant and the booth across from us held two teenage couples on a double date. It became obvious that the girls were friends and the boys hardly knew each other. Their conversation was driving Ben CRAZY in typical teenage girl fashion. The best part of the night came when one of the girls who was drinking water said to the boy across from her, "I was looking at your Coke when I took a drink and expected to taste your Coke." Ben almost poked his own eyes out. He suddenly pointed at my stomach and said "It's a good thing you are a boy!!!"

I'm starting to think it might be a really good thing that Ben is being eased into this dad thing with a boy first.