edmund at 8 years

Happy 8th Birthday Edmund!

It's hard to believe that Edmund is eight years old. Each and every year we marvel at how long it seems that we have had this beautiful boy in our lives and how quickly it all has flown by. He has grown from the round faced little boy into a tall, lanky and thoughtful boy, still with the big brown eyes. 

We would first like to apologize to him for our (mom's) EXTREME lateness in finishing his 8 year update. Life has just gotten so darn busy. We kept thinking about doing it, but it is honestly, just hard to sit down and get to things someones with 4 littles. But, we got it done! Better late than never, darling boy.

Despite the years bringing so much growth and changes, we are amazed at how much of Edmund's character and personality were cemented long before he was born. God created him just the way he was meant to be. While sometimes, we jump with joy over this, there are other times that we can cringe with frustration. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and trying to parent a child that has his own view of how everything should work can be challenging. But he is so very interesting. He is one of the most interesting people we have ever met and he is going to do great things. Luckily, we don't have to parent him on our own. We have a great big God that can help us with our many parenting mistakes and can guide us as we raise this darling boy. We pray that with God's guidance, we will raise him well. That he will grow into a man of integrity, develop a strong work ethic, and faithful character. We pray that he will love well, marry well, and be kind to others. Here is a look into the past year of our lives. 

Appearance

Edmund still has his smooth pale skin with more and more small freckles starting to dot his cheeks and nose. He has heart shaped lips, and big brown eyes framed by long dark lashes. He has grown even more long and lean with slender limbs and a muscular trunk. He has lost so many teeth, so his smile looks a bit like a jack-o-lantern. The big teeth just look so darn big in his boy head. We know he will grow into them. He squints his eyes when he is being funny, smiling, or being mischievous. His eyebrows furrow when he is annoyed. His face and eyes turns red when he is crying. He has a long slender neck (also from his mother) and his hair comes to a little peak at the back of it (like his father). He has his father's cleft in his chin. He likes to smile when he is sitting around thinking to himself, so he often looks happy. He can often be found humming to himself with a smile on his face while he is in thought. He is our dreamy child.

Personality

Edmund's personality has continued to grow and change, although many of the traits he had even as a baby are the same. While Edmund tends to be shy and reserved, in the right mood he can be extremely chatty. He loves being by himself but also enjoys having people around and loves being silly. While not being very funny, he sure tries hard. We bought him a few joke books so that he would have some material. Often, though, his desire to be funny looks like him doing silly things to try to get people to laugh. Often the silly things can be disruptive in a school setting, we are trying to find other ways to be funny. Although he is very happy to entertain himself and enjoys playing and reading books, he most often is found playing (or fighting) with Nathaniel. He really loves playing with Clara too, which is something that has developed recently. She is his little buddy. He loves running around outside, climbing trees, digging in the garden, or playing with Legos in the basement. He has really gotten into reading to himself and he is an excellent reader. He loves reading both the Stick Dog and Stick Cat series and has read them all multiple times. He is really into RVs and campers. Mom has taken him to a local camper dealer a few times and he loves to look around in them. Luckily, he got to go camping in Gramma and Papa's camper over the summer, which was heaven for this little boy. Edmund loves creating things and always has ideas of different art projects he has come up with himself or he has found in one of our craft books. 

Edmund continues to love going places. One of the most common questions that we get from him in the morning is "what are we going to do today?" While he can be content hanging out at home, if it has been multiple days in a row without leaving the house he starts to get a bit grumpy. He loves going anywhere - the grocery store, Target, the park, COSI, the zoo, the mall. He loves looking at catalogs in the mail and that looking at items of interest in the store. At Target, he likes to bring his allowance so he can buy something from the dollar section. Edmund's favorite thing is going on trips. He loves seeing new things and getting to sleep in hotels. He is also a good traveler, which makes him so easy to go places with. He spends most of his time snacking and dreamily looking out the window or reading books. We loved our trips to visit family, especially our trip to Minnesota over the summer with the Plantenberg side and Lake Michigan with the Grashorn side. The only bad part about traveling is often he does not sleep as well and can get a bit grumpy during the evening. Also, he cries when he gets home because he is disappointed that the vacation is over. We hope he will always love to travel and explore.

Edmund still struggles with flexibility, but he has grown so much in this area from where he was when he is little. He stands firm when he wants his way, which can be challenging. He is always full of ideas and often thinks his ideas are the best and should be followed. He can get upset when he doesn't get his way and it can be made worse if he is tired. This can cause him to make poor choices, which typically comes out in the form of hitting his brother. We have encouraged problem solving and giving alternatives to bad choices. We constantly encourage him to use his words and have him practice using them so that he will continue to learn what to say when he is thinking with his dinosaur brain. We also have to give him consequences, which he hates. While he still doesn't always select the right choice in the heat of the moment, he can typically tell us what he should have done instead. He also is great at coming up with solutions for problems. He is persistent which allows him to work on things much longer than we would expect for his age. It is all a work in progress, but we know that like many things in life, he will eventually get it right most of the time. 

Edmund is curious and creative. He is always asking questions about tons of different topics. He is really interested in campers right now and loves spending 5 minutes on mom's computer after he does his math looking at them. He has been very interested in different types of insects, cooking, and he even had his own little garden this year. We try to always encourage him to learn about new things. We show him videos on different topics he is interested and try to find him books at the library when we get a chance. We hope he will always desire to learn more about the world around him.

Edmund is a helper. It's so funny to us how this has not changed since he was little. He loves to help with most things we are doing, as long as it interests him. There are things he would rather not help with that we make him, like sweeping the floor. He will, however, happily chop vegetables for dinner and load the dishwasher. Some of the other things he is responsible for are cleaning up his toys, watering the plants, vacuuming, picking vegetables in the garden, getting the mail, shoveling snow, cleaning his room, watching Emmalyn, and clearing his plate after meals. He also has a servant's heart. When he has done something wrong, he often will try to make it better by doing something nice for the person he hurt. If it is mom, he can be found sweeping the floor or trying to clean something. If it is his brother or sister, he will often make them something or help them with a task.

Another large developmental milestone for Edmund this year was he completed his first full day year of elementary school, graduating for First Grade. It was a big transition from him to go to 2-3 days a week to 5 days. He missed the time at home with mom and his siblings, but he seems to be doing well at school. He loves riding the bus to and from school. He has been involved in a few things outside of school. He has been in Cub Scouts, which he loves since he loves camping and the outdoors. He also did baseball and AWANA. He did not love either, but states that he wants to do baseball again this coming year. 

Things he likes to say (all the time):
"So guys, here's the thing..."
"That sounds terrific!"
"What are we going to do today?"

Monthly Highlights

August - 
Going camping with Gramma and Papa at Alum Creek, Attending Farm Days at COSI, Going to the zoo and splash pad before the end of summer, Peach picking, Meeting my new teacher and the first day of 1st grade, 

September - 

Apple picking, Celebrating the birth of Emmalyn Jane, and hanging out at home with a new baby

October - 
Kindness Crusader at school, Apple Picking, Trunk or Treat at school, Carving Pumpkins, Gramma and Papa Visiting, Dressing up like a ghost and Trick or Treating on Halloween, Gammy and Grandpa visiting

November - 

Celebrating Clara's birthday party, Getting the family Christmas tree, Decorating Christmas cookies

December -

Wandered around zoo lights at the Columbus Zoo, Played in the snow, Looked at Christmas lights at Alum Creek, Built toys at Snowflake Castle, Baked a Cake for Cub Scout Cake Contest, Traveled to Indiana to celebrate Christmas with family, Celebrated the New Years with friends

January -

Sledding, Painting, Hanging out inside to beat the cold, Celebrating Emmalyn's Baptism

February - 

Celebrated Valentine's Day by making Valentine's for class, Went to Nathaniel's Valentine's Day party at school, Cub Scout Pinewood Derby, Read books

March - 

Went to the Columbus Conservatory, Adventures with spring break - Zoo, and COSI and got the stomach flu, Attended Nathaniel's Easter party at school, Made bird feeders, Didn't take any pictures because that's life

April -

Easter in Indiana, Dyed Easter Egg, Neighborhood egg hunt, First baseball game of the year, Riding Bikes, Edmund's picture in the Walnut Creek Art Show, Graduated from AWANA, Built a Snowman

May - 

Helped plant the garden, Attended Worthington Touch a Truck, Last Day of School, Celebrated Mother's Day

June -

Last Day of baseball, Learned about robots and smart houses at Invention Camp, Went to Genoa VBS, Big Machines at COSI, Camping Birthday Party with friends, Last Day of Baseball, Played at different metro parks, Uncle Ethan's graduation party in Indiana, Hiking in Hocking Hills

July - 

Neighborhood Party and Fireworks (saw Fireworks last at night for the first time), Blueberry Picking, 4th of July parade, Trip to Minnesota, Westerville Touch a Truck, Olentangy Caverns, Camping with Gramma and Papa, Making solar ovens, Visited splash pads and swam at the pool, Play dates with friends

We thought it would be fun to interview Edmund and ask him  a few questions each year. Here were his answers.

Questions:
1. What is your favorite color? Gold

2. What is your favorite toy? My music player and Legos

3. What is your favorite food? Mashed Potatoes

4. What is your favorite TV show? Tumble Leaf
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pringles

6. What is your favorite thing to wear? My nice sweaters

7. What is your favorite game? Air Hockey

8. What is your favorite book? Stick Cat and Stick Dog

9. What is your favorite animal? Fish

10. What is your favorite song? Songs by Moby

11. What is your favorite subject at school? Science

12. What is your favorite sport? Baseball

13. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing on the nest swing with Clara

14. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas because I like giving and getting gifts
15. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My blanket 

16. What is your favorite thing to have for dinner? Breakfast for Dinner

17. What do you want to be when you grow up? An environmentalist
18. What is the best thing about your family? Snuggling with my mom

19. Describe yourself, what kind of person are you? Creative, kind, smart

20. If you could go anywhere where would you want to go? Up to Lake Superior.
21. What is something that makes you happy? Campers

22. What is something that makes you sad? When something dies or if I see something killed
23. What are you scared of? Storms in the night

24. What is something you are really good at? Climbing trees
25. What is the funniest thing you have ever seen? I am still not sure

This has been another wonderful year with our sweet boy. We love seeing how our Creator formed him and continually pray for the wisdom to raise him in a way that brings Him glory. It is hard. Especially when we see him struggle in areas that require guidance and discipline. But, we are so very grateful for the gift of being his mom and dad. We prayed for this child before he was conceived and continue to do so. He was the answer to so many of our prayers and we love him so dearly.

Happy 8th birthday to our sweet Edmund, Teddy, and little bear.

How wonderful life is now you're in the world.

Love, Mom & Dad (Nathaniel, Clara and Emmalyn)

Here are the links to Edmund' other updates, in case you are interested in seeing them.
Edmund at 1 year.
Edmund at 2 years.
Edmund at 3 years.
Edmund at 4 years.
Edmund at 5 years.

Edmund at 6 years.

Edmund at 7 years.