My kids are growing right before my very eyes. So I thought I’d take a post to write what my very eyes are seeing and what I love about each one.
We’ll start with this joy boy above, Elias, my only kid with brown eyes! He is now 6 months and wearing mostly 18-month clothes. I call him my Hefty Fella. Elias is easy-peasy by day, full of smiles and contentedly watches all of the many things happening around him. He is not fussy and rarely even cries. My one challenge with him is that he still is up every three hours at night. So you win some and you lose some. He has a fantastic belly laugh, spends a lot of time jumping in his exersaucer and now rolls from room to room, often ending up stuck under a couch or ottoman because he has no aim. For the record, babies are good for the soul. I just love having this kid in my arms.
And here’s Alden, growing so big at age 2 1/2. Alden is sweet as pie. He loves a good snuggle and he loves a good laugh. In the morning I’ll say, “wait a minute! I haven’t had my morning Alden hug yet!!!” And he’ll come over dutifully and gladly. And then later on I’ll say, “Holy smokes! It’s 10:30, and I haven’t had my 10:30 Alden snuggle yet!” And he’ll come on over and let pick him up for a good hug. Lately he has asked to go outside in the morning while I am teaching the big kids. So I’ll bundle him up and watch him play on the snow pile, just him and the two cats for an hour at a time. He is also a determined two year old. Once I called Hattie a “tough cookie” after she didn’t cry about an injury to which Alden yelled, “I want a tough cookie! I need a tough cookie!” He cried and threw a fit for a good long while, so sad that he was not getting a tough cookie. I could not explain this one away and in the end, gave him a graham cracker calling it a tough cookie.
And here is Hattie Helper. She is always, always under my feet, anticipating my next move, trying to get there first. It’s actually a bit hazardous, but all in the spirit of helpfulness. She loves to feed Elias his rice cereal which is helpful, and quite messy. At dinner, the moment we are done praying she will yell out, “hey, hey, what do you say? what was your favorite part of the day today, Alden?” And then keeps the conversation rolling. If Rory and I start talking about something for too long she’ll yell, “Pass it on, Dad!” When she is thinking really hard or trying to remember something she squints her eyes and tries to look up at her forehead. It’s great. She loves playing, “I’m thinking of an animal…” and when it is her turn to think of the animal she is always thinking of “a blue beta fish!” And whenever it is her turn to guess another person’s animal she’ll ask sincerely, “is it a blue beta fish?!!”
And Elsie. Age 7 is splendid. Elsie is my right hand gal. A while back Rory told her that he would like her to ask me “Is there anything I can help you with, Mom?” two times a day. And guess what? She does. Faithfully. And then she does what I ask! I know that likely sounds like a mother bragging, but I cannot explain the joyful helping spirit this girl has been given. Daily I am convicted to choose joy based on Elsie’s sunny mood. When she was little she would run from place to place, and this is still the case. She sort of skips/dances and I love having her companionship and conversation. Elsie has lost six teeth so far and when watching her uncle Jedd lean against a large tree he had just chainsawed to fall over, she told me, “that reminds me of my tongue when it’s pushing another tooth out.”
And finally, this boy, my first baby. And look how he has grown! Ivar came home from church recently and told us excitedly, “both Pastor Danny and Pastor Brent told me they couldn’t believe how much I’ve grown!” We all thought it was probably because he had gelled his hair, but it is true. He is just growing up. Currently he is writing his first chapter book. I get a front row seat, as I type what he tells me to write. This story is full of adventure and suspense and greatly inspired by Andrew Peterson’s books in The Wingfeather Saga. He always has a new lego creation he is building and will explain each part of each creation in great detail, why he built it that way, what that part does, what I may have not noticed. He is a great kid, and a hard worker on our farm.
Every age and every stage, it is all so fun. Today I came downstairs and they each had a brown grocery bag on each foot and were racing from couch to couch, laughing through each heat. Elias bounced in his exersaucer, watching the races intently, never at a loss for entertainment. And then someone tripped and the laughter turned to tears so we went into the kitchen for tough cookies for everyone.
