two, four, six, EIGHT...


September brought two more birthdays.  Luke's 8th birthday came first.

EIGHT is GREAT!!!

The Stats

Height:  50 in. (43rd percentile)
Weight:  49 lbs. (15th percentile)

Luke is in 2nd Grade!  He continues to love school and was super excited to go back.

He has also discovered that summer break is pretty awesome too, though. :)

He was baptized in September!
(more on that later)

He is now a Cub Scout.
 

  He is a great little reader and LOVES to read.

A month or so before turning eight, this boy started reading the scriptures before bed at night.  All on his own.  Love this.

He started piano in April (after begging for lessons) and has done really well so far.

He is getting good at roller blading.

He is becoming more and more interested in hanging around adults and listening to our conversations.

He loves playing kickball at school during recess.  He plays it every day.

He wants to be a pilot when he grows up.

He is a good, good boy.  He has his faults, just like we all do, but at his center, he is just plain good.

 

Porter recently said to me, "I want to be like Luke."  When I asked him why, he said, "Because he is so nice."  I love that this oldest child of ours is such a good example to his younger brothers.

 

Here is one of my favorite Luke moments (from a few months back)...

While Luke was reading a book (out loud) to me, as I was making dinner, he paused on a word and then told me it was the "f-word."  For a second I was startled, then realized that word couldn't possibly be in his book, and that it was probably the other f-word we don't say in our house, which would be "fart."  It is hard for me to even write that word!  It turned out to be another f-word..."fat."  As he continued to read, he would insert "d-word" for dumb, "h-word" for hate, and "s-word" for stupid.  If you were a fly on the wall at our house, you would think I was allowing our child to read books not fit for a second grader.

 

Birthday Brownies!

 

Piano practice.

 

 

Using the headphones to practice...to not wake the sleeping little one.

 

 

I look at this child and I often see myself.  I was so like him, in a lot of ways, when I was his age.  I have often heard parents talk about how hard it is to get along with the child of theirs that is the most like them.  For me, it has been the opposite.  I understand Luke.  I get him.  Luke and I recently ran some errands together...just the two of us.  I am rarely alone with just one of my kids.  I typically have them all in the car and it can feel chaotic at times.  Being alone with Luke on that day, I realized how easy it is to be with him, how companionable he is, and how fortunate I am to have this boy in our home.