My Eight Sweethearts

I have eight sweethearts. Their names are Aaron, Tristin, Brandon, William, Benjamin, Dallin, Aidan and Katherine. Yes, I just listed seven males and one female. The first one, Aaron, is my husband. The rest are my children. Six boys and one girl.

Aaron is my best friend and eternal companion. I love him with every part of my being. I would rather spend time with him than do anything else. He works hard to provide for our large family. He magnifies his calling in our ward. If he sets out to accomplish something, watch out, because it will happen, no matter what obstacles are in his way.

Last month we became parents of a teenager, as the thirteenth birthday of our oldest son commenced. Tristin is very responsible. He is an "A" student, a great babysitter, and is the only child we have so far that we can count on to get all of his chores done most of the time. He has a soft spot for his baby sister that is very cute to watch. He takes piano lessons from his dad, and percussion lessons from a professional percussionist in town, and is becoming really good at them. He is a Star rank in Boy scouts, and really enjoys camping. Especially anything having to do with fire or knives. He is also very creative. He can make motorized cars, if given spare computer parts and a bucket of Legos, and left to himself in the garage, he may come out with an air gun.

Brandon is our second-oldest. At ten years of age, Brandon has just started 5th grade at the middle school. I am quickly seeing him gain responsibility. He is very bright, although a little distractable, but he seems to be growing out of that. He also takes piano lessons from his dad (he's getting pretty good), and started learning the saxophone in school this year. He is very good with children, and makes up all kinds of games that younger kids enjoy playing with him.

William comes next in line. He turned nine last month. Willibug is our little socialite. He can gab for hours on end, nonstop. He is very smart, and likes everyone to know it. He doesn't care much for chores or homework, and avoids them at all costs. Currently, he is on a program where if the kitchen is not clean, he is grounded. This is in response to months of chore avoidance. It may seem harsh, but I do keep up the kitchen during the day. This doesn't always make for the cleanest kitchen, but we are hoping that it will make for a more dedicated William. William is also taking piano lessons from Dad, although so far getting him to practise is a chore in and of itself.

Benjamin is next. Benny-Bunny is seven. I'm sure eventually he'll tell me to quit calling him that. Ben is very sweet, and very bright. He is also a worrier. He was the only one of our boys who watched the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference with Aaron and me last weekend, and this by choice. He sat and took notes the whole time. I'm not sure he wanted to watch it just to learn. It could have been for the extra points he would get toward Dad's reward (something we do each conference to encourage the kids to pay attention). But that tells a little about his character, that he was dedicated to an outcome and was willing to follow it through. He is also surpassing William on the piano already, due to actually practising, and also due to some natural talent, in my opinion.

Dallin is our youngest in school. He started Kindergarten this year, and is our first to be reading before entering school. The others all had it by month two, but Dallin had a little extra help from Tad (the little boy frog from the LeapFrog videos) early on, and I saw his potential and helped him along. His teacher calls us every couple of weeks and tells us he is working on following directions. I guess he's testing the limits in his class. I'm sure he'll catch on soon.

Aidan is my buddy. He stays home with Katie and me while the brothers go to school. He's three and a half now, and still potty training. I had him out of pull-ups a couple of weeks ago, but he just doesn't see the need to to #2 in the toilet, so after frustrating Dad and Tristin when I wasn't home a couple of times, and a little begging from Aidan, we went back to the pull-ups. He stays dry, even overnight, but won't use the toilet for #2. A couple of days ago he started singing a song that went kind of like, "Mommy wants me to poop in the potty." I guess he gets it - he's just not ready. Aidan knows his letters and their sounds, and loves to draw pictures. He enjoys reading stories, and helping me mix ingredients when baking.

Katherine is my daughter. We don't call her Katherine much. Normally it is Katie or Kay-Kay. I had never thought of calling her Kay, but she started calling herself Kay-Kay at about 9 months, so it might just stick. She is a very happy baby, and sleeps well. I love dressing her up. She wears dresses a lot, and I think she likes to dress prettily just as much as I like dressing her that way. Katie was rolling at three weeks, rolling across rooms to get to toys on the other side at three months, and crawling before six months. She pulled to standing by seven months, and is still content to just walk along furniture. At ten months, she figured out heights. First, she got down off our bed by turning sideways and holding onto the comforter, then she swung her legs over and landed on both feet. I've never seen anything like it from a baby that young. The next time she went by stairs after that, I just watched her closely to see if she could do it. She had figured out that she needed to turn around and back down them, and she has only fallen down them once (she wasn't hurt), and she was being distracted by Dallin at the time. He felt bad, and now everyone makes sure to be careful when she's on the stairs. She's currently cutting her 7th & 8th teeth. She is still nursing, but bites a lot, and I have mixed feelings about weaning her, as I am planning on it this month, as she closes in on 12 months of age. I love my nursing time with her, and at the same time it signals a bit of freedom for me. As she is my last baby (barring any acts of God) it is bound to be an emotionally difficult experience for me.