Goodbye, 2013

Here we sit at the eve of a new year and these times naturally bring us to reflect on the past year and see where the passages of time have brought us.  It has been a difficult year, yet we have been blessed as well through it all.  A year ago at this time we were thankful for Dad VD reaching Day 100, and entering into the unknowns of Phase 3.  We were praying for healing and health, and the grace to live through daily trials.  At the end of April, our prayers for healing were not answered in the way we were hoping for, but we are comforted in the knowledge that the Lord is faithful to His promises.  Dad knew this well, writing, "How good that our God never leaves us, even on our hospital bed!  But give me the courts of the Lord!"  It is a great comfort to know he is now fully healed and knowing the glorious presence of our Saviour.
The Lord provided for us all day by day and continues to be near to us.  We have also experienced His blessing of joy with the birth of our fourth son Stephen in June.  He bears Dad's name and although they never got to meet face-to-face, we pray that someday we will all be together again.  What a joyful reunion that will be - I imagine that Dad has already gotten to meet one of his grandchildren that we as parents didn't even get to know. 
Time marches on, and we are drawn along by it through no power of our own.  To look back over pictures and see how much our children (and ourselves!) have changed in the past year, two, ten.  In the busy-ness of this time of life, I have been trying to make deliberate choices to seize the day, to make the most of these young years, to spend purposeful time building up and teaching our kids to be God-fearing, respectful, confident citizens.  It strikes me often how quickly they grow and how little time we really have as parents to teach and train our Littles.
Peter is six years old already.  Six!  Have I been a Mom that long already?  He has grown up a lot recently, and is learning so much in school.  What a great challenge for him.  His reading has taken off and he is well beyond the early reader books I have brought home for him from the library.  He's into chapter books, devouring Vanderhulst stories almost faster than I would be able to.  I pulled out a few books from a box downstairs this morning, including The Trumpet of the Swan, Henry and Ribsy, and Incredible Jumbo.  They are more difficult that ones he has read, but I think he's up to the challenge if he can get past the fact there are no pictures.  He loves playing with Lego and is quite good at putting his sets together.  He loves to play games but he hates to lose (really, who likes losing?) although he'll have to learn to do so a bit more graciously in order for games to be fun to play with him.  He is inquisitive, observant, and doesn't miss much, especially now that he can read so well.  Where is my little boy going? 
Aaron is very eager to learn how to read, occasionally bursting into tears because he can't yet.  He is easily frustrated when I am teaching him, so here is yet another chance for me to learn a little more patience.  You can always use more!  He is eager to help with jobs around the house and can be counted on to do the best job out of the three oldest boys.  We've started a chore chart with a rotation of drying dishes, cleaning up toys and trash, and vacuuming the kitchen.  Aaron will often help me clean up of his own volition, and it is a joy to see his servant heart in action.  He is very fond of his baby brother, and the feeling is mutual.  Stephen readily gives him radiant smiles!  The other day when we were talking about King Solomon and his choice of wisdom when God offered him whatever he wanted, we asked the boys what they would ask for.  Peter and Nate had some materialistic requests, but Aaron wanted another baby.  LOL!  Aaron is extremely enthusiastic about anything to do with "treasure" and "gold".  He's always got his eye to the ground to find some shiny trinket, to the point that if I slow down in the grocery store, he'll be laying on his belly checking under the shelves for treasure.  He has a treasure jar on the kitchen windowsill, a treasure box from cousin Derek for Christmas, and a treasure Crown Royal bag from Uncle Dave at the cottage.  He's got these containers filled with pop can tabs, marbles, beads, coins, screws, nuts, feathers, sequins, keys, and who knows what other assorted goodies.  He's also got a collection of church bulletins and another of scraps of paper with pictures of food on it from the grocery flyers.  He's tried a few other collections as well but when he's not looking I throw them away... sticks, rocks, random drawings, ... We're going to have to do something to curtail this incessant desire to hoard things before it becomes too much of an obsession. 
Nathaniel is a lot of fun right now.  He's picked up some peculiar words for a three year old, and it makes for some good laughs for us.  Of course I can't think of an example at the moment other than indignantly telling his brothers that "that is not a pleasant word!" He loves to sing, whether or not he knows the words, and often makes up his own songs about whatever is going on in his wild imagination.  He excitedly and loudly belts out the 3-Fold-Amen at the end of the church service.  Peter received two Perplexus balls for Christmas, and if Nate can get some time with them, he's really enjoyed trying to get the ball through the maze, which I think is impressive hand-eye coordination and concentration for a kid his age.  He can be very sweet and often comes up to me out of the blue, telling me, "You're my best, Mom" and asking for random hugs or kisses.  He can also be entirely and illogically miserable if things don't go his way, so we've got some learning to do about sharing, taking turns, and self-control. 
Stephen is 6.5 months now, and full of smiles for all of us.  He's quiet with big dimples and a sweet disposition.  He's been eating solid food (still pureed) for a month and half or so, and enjoys it although he doesn't eat as much as the other boys did at this age.  He's still a hefty fellow, and although I haven't gotten the official weight from his six month appointment yet, he's somewhere between 20-20.5 lbs (for the sake of comparison, at six months Peter was 18 lbs 12 oz, Aaron was 21 lbs 8 oz, and Nate was 18 lbs 4 oz)  I've been keeping an eye out for teeth popping through, and I found the first one yesterday, coming in on the bottom right.  It hasn't bothered him too much, and he's still sleeping well through the night from 7:30 or 8 until 7 or 7:30 the next morning.  Pretty sweet!  He's able to roll both ways but hasn't used his abilities for moving around yet, and that's totally ok with me.  Once he's mobile, stairs and Lego and small toys from the other kids will become much more of a hassle. 
Mike has been busy working downstairs on the basement office/bedroom/storage room area, framing things up and getting ready to do electrical, insulation, and drywall work.  Since everything has to be out of those rooms, it has made our basement a bit of a disaster and this disaster has been creeping up the stairs into my kitchen and living room as well.  Dust, boxes of Christmas stuff that don't have a place downstairs, kids who don't have space to play in the basement... I'm looking forward to putting some order back into this mess of a house.  In the meantime, we've been doing more games and creating upstairs together, which is way more fun than dusting or vacuuming.
Some random things I've written down from the kids in the last little while:

Nov 25 2013
Aaron asked Nate, "Nate, how old would an alien be?"  Nate informs him that, "It would be 100 inches away"

Dec. 5 2013
I took Aaron, Nate, and Stephen for a walk and then to the park on a beautifully warm day in December.  Aaron has been collecting "balls" for Oma for a month or so, ever since the Sycamore trees in our neighbourhood started dropping their seed pods.  He told me he was using his "eagle eyes" to find them, and to find other treasures on the ground.  Nate then declared to me that he was using his "penguin eyes" to see things that are very far away. 

Dec 12 2013
Nate:  Mommy, my nose was full, but I took it all out. 
Mom:  Did you use a Kleenex?  Where are the boogers now? (a bit concerned for the furniture)
Nate:  Umm, they are in my tummy

Dec 11 2013
Since the devastating hurricane in the Phillipines, we have been praying for the people who don't have any food, clean water, and who lost their homes.  I went to visit some people at Shalom Manor with Aaron, Nate, and Stephen, and we brought some baked goods along for them.  Seeing that we were bringing them food, Aaron believed we were going to visit the "Philistines".  Lol! 

Dec 16 2013
Nate:  "When I grow up, I will be turned into a king.  I will stay in church, and there will be a throne for me." 
This was followed by discussion between Aaron and Nate about who will be king first.  Aaron explained that first Peter will be the king, and when he dies Aaron will take over, then Nate, then Stephen.  It was explained to them that they will never be the king because Dad and Mom are not Kings and Queens.  A few days later, the kids had a discussion in the back of the van about their future jobs.  The succession had changed from King to Teacher - when Daddy dies, Peter is going to be the Grade 7 teacher, and when Peter dies, Aaron will be the teacher, then Nate, and then Stephen.  I didn't know that was how jobs at the school work, but I guess this would be extreme nepotism in action.

A spectacular November sunrise

 Peter's 6th birthday party - I don't remember what Nate's problem was, but probably had something to do with How-Come-It's-Not-MY-Birthday Syndrome

Sweet little guy!

Aaron's treasure trove

Decorating the Christmas tree.  Gotta love how the decorations only go up to a certain height and how all the balls are within the same square foot, lol. 

 A moment of brotherly affection

 Baby's first Christmas

 Trying to be artsy with my picture-taking

Mom took us all out to Toronto for an afternoon to see Les Miserables.  It was fantastic, and so much fun to be out together

Getting ready for Sinterklaas to visit

 Look who's coming up the driveway!!

Stephen doesn't know what to think, Aaron and Nate were convinced, and Peter was very aware of who has a Sinterklaas costume stored in the crawlspace.  He didn't say anything about it in front of his brothers, though

Sinterklaas brought magnifying glasses, perfect for our three Spy-dermen!

 A lap full of busy blessings

 Sinterklaas getting ready to leave

 Stephen's six month picture

 Me and my littlest babe

Nate loves the letter "A" for some reason

Nice to have a helper big enough to give bottles and excited to do it

 Putting together a puzzle

 Concentrated on his new Perplexus ball, received as a gift at Christmas time

 Opening a gift with Aunt Dell

 Hanging out with his cousin Matthew

The boys in their Christmas PJs from Mom VD (missing sleeping Timothy)

 Vander Deen Family Picture Christmas 2013

2000 Word Update

Perhaps four posts in September relieves me of the duty to post for another month and a half?  We're in the back half of November now, the weather has turned cold and I'm stocking up on mittens, as there are already no less than three pairs of wayward mittens at school.  Things don't get any less busy here, not surprisingly, and there isn't a lot of extra time for journalling our stories.
Peter is doing very well at school - he is happy, having fun, and when asked what his favourite subject is, he'll tell you he likes everything.  I think my favourite subject was always recess.  Report cards come home tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing his, and judging by the tests and material that have come home he is doing excellent academically.  He loves to read and if he's in a generous mood will sit on the couch with his brothers and read books to them.  He usually takes turns reading verses from the Bible with his Dad when we are doing family devotions after dinner, and his reading skills are quite impressive for a little guy who just turned six!  It can make it a bit complicated when Mike and I are trying to discuss something we don't want the kids to know about - spelling things out is not really an option anymore.  He regularly asks to go for a B.I.K.E R.I.D.E. and other such former "code" words.  I also can't get away so easily with paraphrasing while I'm reading them books if there are words I don't want to use (stupid, crazy etc) or if the book is just too long and I'm only reading parts of it... he can call me out on that now.  I just measured him on the growth chart after his birthday, and he's 3'9.25" and about 45 lbs, which puts him at about the 45th percentile for both height and weight.  Aaron is almost the same size as him, at 48 lbs and 3'8.25" (about the 90th percentile).  Nate comes in at 34 lbs and 3"3.25"  (70th percentile) and the last time Stephen was weighed he was 17 lbs 9 oz, 26.8" (90th percentile)
Aaron is growing up so fast!  Well, they all are, but Aaron just seems so much older than he is, and it's been like that for a long time.  He just wants to keep up with his older brother.  He looks forward to Story Hour every week, where he is the self-proclaimed "little kid boss" which sounds worse than it is.  He loves to help the Story Hour teacher with handing things out, craft activities, and cleaning up.  If we're doing chores around the house - dishes, vacuuming, cleaning up toys or books, cleaning up around the yard, sweeping up crab apples - he is the one who most consistently will do a good job.  He can be a very hard worker and loves to be helpful around the house - as long as he's in a good mood of course.  But isn't that the way it is with most of us?  Things always go better when we've got a good attitude about it.  Aaron continues to come up with interesting observations about the world, about God, and about the people around us.  He proclaimed to me a while back that he is "as smartinal as a cardinal, because cardinals are very smart."  The other day at lunch he spilled a bit of yogurt on his arm and didn't see it until a few minutes later when he was eating an apple.  He looked at the yogurt and thought it had spurted out from his apple.  "Mom!  Yogurt came out of my apple!  I just did my first miracle!"  One of the lovely things about kids is they give you regular moments of hilarity.  He is at a particularly amusing age.  He has also self-proclaimed his miraculous powers when the toilet paper is clean after he wipes.  He has told me, "Sometimes when I open my mouth really wide and Peter looks in, he can see my buttocks because he has super powers."  "Mom, do rain meters meet the rain?" "I'll go get a loaf of Kleenex for you, Mom".  Oh, the reasoning of a four year old! These verbal observations can also be the source of significant embarassment.  Yesterday at the grocery store, he spotted a hugely obese man in a scooter doing his shopping.  Aaron loudly proclaimed to me, definitely within this man's earshot, "Mom, I just saw an enormous man!"  We bee-lined it to another section of the store where I tried to make it very clear to him that we don't talk about other people like that... if he's got an observation about anyone in the store, please whisper it to me instead!  Sometimes they say things that are just plain shocking, such as one morning last week walking to the bus stop.  They often watch a show called Super Why, and the characters have different super powers, like the Power to Read, the Power to Spell, etc.  So we're on our way to the bus stop, and the boys like to pretend they have super powers too.  Their power of choice that morning was White Power... running along the boulevard, yelling WHITE POWER!!  How do you explain to young kids that White Power is not an appropriate super power?
Aaron and Nate spend a lot of time together, and while they can get along very well, they also have stretches where they don't get along AT ALL.  I guess this is typical of most siblings, but they can be so mean to each other!  When all three older ones are home, it often ends up being Peter and Aaron against Nate, and the older two find great pleasure in building traps for Nate.  I've often got to warn him not to go downstairs, because I know something is up.  "Nato, come downstairs with us.  There are no evil plots..." or "Nato, come climb on the bridge that we built.  It is very strong and safe."  Peter tries to protect image of innocence by sending Aaron up to deliver the malevolent invitations.
So Nate has had to learn to stick up for himself.  He is quick to be loud about his displeasure, and he is pretty good at being pesty himself.  He can also be incredibly sweet, and gives some of the best hugs out there.  He is becoming more and more independent, dressing himself, putting on his shoes, doing small jobs for me.  He is finally FINALLY out of diapers, which was a battle-and-a-half!  It took a lot of attempts over the past year, and a final run at it in the last month and a half, but the task is pretty much accomplished.  Staying dry wasn't a big problem for him, even overnight, but the pooping was really frustrating.  I spent days putting him on the toilet every 15 minutes or watching him all.day.long, ready to rush him to the bathroom at the first sign of business, only to have him stealthily poop in his underwear while I was distracted with Stephen.  What a literal stinker!  Potty training is not a whole lot of fun when kids are not motivated by stickers, candies, ridiculous amounts of praise, or even rinsing out their own nasty underwear in the toilet.  Thankfully we haven't had many accidents recently and although I wouldn't say we're completely out of the woods (he still needs to be reminded to go), I have happily packed away the size 5 diapers in the basement until Stephen needs them.
Nate also comes up with funny little observations.  If we have grapes for a snack, he likes to pick out the "smart grapes" which are the tiny ones (like a smart car).  On the way to the grocery store a few weeks ago, he asked me "Can the Superstore fly, Mom?"  Another morning at the bus stop I was showing the kids a maple leaf and explaining to them about how this type of leaf was special because it is on our country's flag, and I sang Oh Canada to them.  When I was done singing, he looked at the leaf he was holding and threw it on the ground.  With a grin, he announced, "That's a Canada leaf, I am going to BURN it!" and proceeded to pull out his imaginary fire-shooting hose and burn the leaf to a crisp.  So much for teaching patriotism to pre-schoolers.
Stephen continues to be a joy for us.  He is an incredibly sweet baby, quite content, and quick to give us huge smiles.  He almost always sleeps straight through the night (9:00ish to 7:30ish), which I realize can change quickly but for now it is really appreciated.  He is lovingly doted on by his older brothers who have to be gently reminded not to smother him too much with their affection.  He is a big time drooler, and is often chewing on his fist or fingers, although I've been trying to encourage him to keep a soother in instead.  No teeth have popped through, but I wouldn't be surprised to find them sometime soon.  He's had some introduction to solid foods starting a few weeks ago, including applesauce, carrots, beans, yogurt, oatmeal cereal, and banana.  He watches intently as we eat, but he hasn't been overly excited about his own food yet so it's only a few spoonfuls at a time for him yet and for the rest he's just taking formula.  Usually he has five bottles, downing 5-6 oz per bottle, generally around 8:30, 12:00, 3:30, 6:30, 9:00 but definitely not tightly tied to a specific time.  He's starting to talk and coo more in the last week or so, which is a delight to hear.  He has been rolling from his tummy to his back for quite some time now, but not back-to-tummy yet although he is soclose.  He doesn't really like being on his tummy so it isn't a huge motivation for him.  He's been pretty healthy aside from a bout with croup at the end of September.  We had three of our four boys in the ER over the course of a week dealing with respiratory difficulties.  Peter was even taken via ambulance one evening after I called Telehealth to ask them if I could give him an extra dose of Nate's ventalin puffer.  The nurse I was talking to listened to his breathing and had an ambulance dispatched to check him out.  Six or seven doses of ventalin and an ambulance ride later, he was doing much better.  Thankfully the boys recovered after about a week or so, and we haven't had any significant illness since.  The latest injury is a third-time tooth-through-the-lip incident yesterday with Nate.  Poor kid!
Mike has just finished up writing his report cards, which is always a big task.  Parent-teacher interviews next week, and then a few more weeks until Christmas vacation!  We're hoping to get some work done in the basement over the holiday, replacing a window and starting work on a basement bedroom.
I'm sure I've forgotten about something in this update, but I can't sit here at the computer forever.  That's it for now!

Stephen trying out the exersaucer for the first time

 Happy, drooly Gerber baby

Can you find two boys?  They hid here, reading for a while together and then had a great idea to play tricks on Mommy.  They would sneak up to the door, ring the doorbell and race back to their hiding place.  I sure enjoyed watching them from inside :) 

 Sweet babe

Showing off their Lego creations

 Four boys on a couch, September edition

The three older boys were busy for quite some time outside one day, building "traps" for the squirrels.  This trap was meant to lure the squirrel into a bucket, Hansel and Gretyl style.  I'm sad to report that they did not have any success in their squirrel-trapping venture.

 Sweet boy

 Lovely smile!

 Daddy and the boys playing hockey, a favourite past-time

 Who needs a sandbox when you've got a locust tree?

Guess who lost his first tooth!  Actually he lost his two front bottom teeth within a few days of each other.  Pretty exciting stuff!

Love this guy's smiles!

Family picture attempt #1

 Family picture attempt #2

We went to Queenston Heights with Mom VD, Karen, and Andrea.  There were a few bald eagles flying out over the cliff, wonderful to see and be reminded of the promises we have been given

 Check out that gap!

 Someone wasn't in the mood for picture taking.

 That's more like it Aaron!

 His smiles tend to look a little weird on camera, but they sure are sweet!

 Our living room had a make-over! 

 Stephen sittiing for his 5 month picture

 Four boys on a couch, November edition

 Daddy and Stephen

 And to end off in a somewhat gory manner, Nate's latest teeth-through-lip injury.