Wednesday, January 24, 2007
When I think of Hunter, this is how I think of him. At eight years of age he is full of confidence and happiness. He is extremely popular and has so many wonderful friends. There was one day this past Fall, as we were walking to school, that several kids stuck their heads out their car windows to shout "hello" to Hunter. Shaking his head and half-beaming he said, "Oh, I am so popular." He loves life and living and friendship.
Hunter continues to try us with his slow obedience and inability to follow directions very well. Oh how we want to strangle him sometimes. Just today he convinced me he was sick enough to stay home from school. I sent him to bed with orders to lay down and rest until I brought him breakfast. Less than an hour later, Denver was in my room screaming bloody murder with a giant, bloody scrape down his back. What happened? He and Hunter were wrestling and Hunter shoved him off the bed onto an open dresser drawer. Oh, the anger! But there is something so wonderful about Hunter that it is very difficult to stay mad at him for very long. After a very frustruating Saturday, I was feeling down-trodden and worthless. Someone said something to me and my response was, "I didn't do anything right today." Even before Mark could wrap his arms around me and try to cheer me up, Hunter said, "Yes you did! You made us yummy Swedish pancakes for breakfast and you took us to the park to play!" Somehow he knew just the right things to say. He regularly gets up early to bring us breakfast in bed or clean the kitchen or spoil us in some other way.
 He is so thoughtful and helpful. Of course, it has to be on his terms. Like any eight year old, he hates to be asked to do something. And boy, does he let you know it--he's quite talented in the whining and wailing department. But when you least expect it, he pulls through in the most wonderful ways. For example, a few weeks ago I was scrambling to get ready for church. The twins were crying and there was no way I was going to be able to put my makeup on or fix my hair. But Hunter saw a need and knew just what to do. He came right upstairs and scooped up the babies and within minutes had them both cooing and smiling at him. And I was able to finish getting ready. Hunter loves his brothers, especially the babies, and he loves to be cuddled. I don't know how many times I've told him to keep off of adults but he just can't do it. He loves to snuggle and hug and as soon as an adult enters his scene, Hunter is climbing onto their lap or snuggling into their side. There's not a night that goes by when he doesn't ask me to snuggle in bed with him and linger a little longer.
Hunter continues to love Transformers but has added Star Wars and Harry Potter to his list of favorite things. He still loves to build with Legos and has turned into quite a gamer. He loves real-time strategy games as well as card games and board games. I can't say that Hunter is an avid reader but he has started reading Magic Treehouse books and seems to enjoy reading those. Hunter has an astounding memory and recently shocked us all by remembering small details from a book we read together more than four years ago. He loves spaghettios with meatballs, strawberry milk and anything sugary. He hates doing homework, sharing his toys and the fact that his mother never coordinates playdates for him.
  
Anyway, Hunter chose to be baptized this past weekend. He's been excited about his baptism for months now and could hardly sleep the night before. Several friends and family showed up for the event and Hunter was thrilled. He took invitations to school with him and was a little disappointed when the entire second grade didn't show up, but still seemed pleased with the few friends that did show up. The evening went well with only a few hiccups (the cake I ordered ended up being twice as expensive as I was told it would be and when Mark washed all the white clothes afterward, a pink crayon managed to make it into the dryer) but the important thing is that Hunter chose to be baptized and follow the example of Christ. And for that we're so proud. When Hunter was baptized all of the little children came up to the font to watch and it was very fun to hear and see their reactions. Jorgito, when he saw Hunter go under, shouted "whoa," completely surprised by what had just happened. And one of our non-member friends asked, "So that's immersion?" like he'd been baffled by the whole definition of it all. But my favorite memories of all are when Hunter sung a solo (click here to see for yourself) and when he came up out of the water, and raised up his eyebrows with expectation and looked around at everyone in the room to make sure all eyes were fixed on him, the star of the show. It was his day and he knew it and wanted to make sure we all knew it too.
I am so proud of my boy and love everything about him, right down to the nitty-gritty, and hope to share another fabulous eight years together with him. I just hope they don't go so fast as the past eight have. My baby is getting big, a little too fast for my liking.
posted by Shana # 6:47 PM 
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