Me and My Boys

We had the opportunity to join in on some service activities this year that hopefully made Christmas a little more memorable.

Bryson does such a good job watching out for his younger brother to and from school each day and just in general. He sees Austin as a peer and friend and likes to include him in everything. Bryson is a hard worker at school and sports. He is very creative and likes making forts and coming up with other imaginary play for him and Austin. As much as I love their playing together, I have to constantly nag them to clean up after themselves. Something I work with Bryson on is his moodiness. He angers easily and thinks the world is conspiring against him when anything goes wrong. It's something we may have to get professional help with at some point. The most contention we have in the family is between Bryson and Carter, whose relationship is toxic. It makes me sad, and I hope one day they will be friends. For now, we constantly tell them not to talk to each other and stay out of each other's business. Bryson loves roller coasters and is up for any adventure. I love my school lunch dates with Bryson and playing games with him while talking about his day. 

Austin is a great caboose for our family. He is easy-going, fun, smart, creative, and a peacemaker. Bryson and Austin have a very special bond, and they are best friends. Austin helps to tame some of Bryson's moodiness. Because of this friendship and because he's the youngest, Austin is very mature for his age. Unfortunately he's also short for his age! Although he loves his brother, Austin's favorite person is Matt. He idolizes him and wants to be with him at all times. I sometimes joke to Matt that he can't walk to another part of the house without telling Austin first because I inevitably get the question, "Where's Dad?" He loves art because Matt loves art. He loves watching sports because Matt loves watching sports. He wants to play baseball because he knows Matt loves coaching baseball. Austin reads at a very high reading level and can read very challenging words but doesn't love to read. He performs well in school but doesn't like school. Austin cares about his handwriting being very neat, which I think is great! For how smart he is, Austin still struggles with reading notes in piano and so he hasn't loved learning the instrument. Once he learns a song (mostly by ear), then he loves to play and show it off to people. He is a picky eater and fights eating his dinner. His favorite foods are chicken and broccoli casserole, steak, and pasta. Austin has such a sweet temperament, and we love having him in our family!

We very much appreciate the example Caleb sets for his younger siblings. He does what is right because he wants to. He looks around for ways to help, and then he just pitches in and does it. One example is if he sees the dishwasher is clean, he will automatically start emptying it--no matter whose turn it is or if he has already done it the past 3 days. I don't have to get on him to do homework, practice the piano, chores, or getting off his phone. He recognizes the importance of doing a little bit every day to improve at something--whether that's homework, piano, reading his scriptures, or exercising. Caleb has always excelled at school and seems to be good at whatever he puts his mind to. He's a fierce competitor in most every sport (natural athleticism) and board game (very smart at picking up strategies). He's responsible, dependable, kind, patient, and a peacemaker in the home. I'm not sure how much we can claim as our parenting; he just came with a very special spirit, and it's an honor to try to shape him into a worthy young man.

With all that effusive praise, he doesn't come without faults! One that cracks us up, and also scares us, is he is clueless about figuring things out for himself. If I were to ask him to scramble an egg, he would have so many questions about where to start, what pan, how to start the stove, how to crack the egg, what cooking utensil to use, etc. We're hoping to knock some common sense into him in these last few years we have with him at home. He is still a germaphobe, but has softened a bit over the years. He definitely values cleanliness still!