About a month ago, Michael and I took the boys to the high school track to pursue our running program. Normally this worked out well for Michael and me and the boys. The track, like many tracks, circles the high school football field, so the boys played football while Michael and I ran around the track. Unfortunately, since it is a stadium, the track also had a set of very dangerous bleachers with no backs that were especially intriguing to our curious, adventure-seeking climber Hyrum. Anyway, to make a long scary story short, Michael and I watched Hyrum fall a good 10 to 15 feet onto a bed of sharp gravel underneath. At first, I thought Hyrum was dead. I was completely out of control. I started screaming and crying and couldn't believe that I hadn't kept a better eye on him. Michael got to him first, just after he started screaming after he caught his breath. We quickly discovered that Hyrum couldn't put any weight on his legs, so we took him to the emergency room. I want to testify that our family experienced a series of miracles that testified to me that God is real and that he loves my family. From having our pediatrician working in the emergency room that night to having a friend give us a bag full of snacks earlier that day that were still in our car that the boys could eat while we waited to allowing Hyrum walk away from a horrible fall with only a bruised ankle, there is no doubt in my mind that God's protective hand was watching over us that day. I'm so grateful for this.
This experience has really made me much more grateful for Hyrum. This precious boy of mine is more mischievous and more disobedient (for lack of a better phrase) than any other of my kids. He is a stinker. He loves to get into things and do things the way he wants to do them. Just the other day, he poured a box of cereal all over Thobe's bed, seasoned our entire house with Italian seasoning, and told me "no" more than 50 times in that day. Every time I made him do anything he'd throw a major fit. But you know, I'll take it. It's funny how having a situation like we experienced with Hyrum reminds you that those little things really don't matter at all. They aren't important. I can clean up cereal and Italian seasoning. I can pick up Hyrum up and make him do what I want him to do, and you know, I can hear his sweet little independence voice ring in my ears. I'm so grateful that he's okay. Not only do I appreciate him, even in his disobedience, I'm enamored with my little two year old. He is so, so funny and charming. He really knows how to ring himself around anyone's heart.
He really does say some crazy things. Whenever you ask Hyrum, "Why?" He'll say, "Because the cougars." It really makes no sense to me, but that's what he says. If I say, "Because the cougars" when he asks me a why question, he laughs and laughs and laughs. He's such a goof. He really likes the cougars though. Every night when we say family prayer, we ask the boys to think of something that they're grateful for. Hyrum always says that he's grateful for the cougars. He's so silly. His new thing is to tell me that he's hiding in the bushes, especially when he's hiding under a blanket. He also is constantly telling me things that he's afraid of. He'll often say, "Mom, I'm scared of the dinosaurs." Yesterday he was scared of the the grumpy old troll from Dora. And on Sunday, when we went to pick up Alden, he was scared of a Halloween cat decoration. It's really hard to tell if he's actually scared of if he is just being silly.
Hyrum is a huge keeper of his toys. The other night, Michael was downstairs getting ready for seminary. Hyrum had taken a nap that day, so we thought he was still running on full. Michael said that Hyrum started very methodically carrying toys from where they go to the chair near where Michael was sitting. After he had collected all his favorite toys (some of Thobe's baseballistas, a bunch of legos and cars, and a Star Wars clone), Hyrum deliberately laid down on the ground, made himself comfortable and went to sleep. He had to put his toys in a place where he could stand guard over them, and then he went to sleep.
Hyrum still loves singing. It's really amazing to listen to all the songs he knows. I love to hear him sing. He also loves to make people laugh. He knows he's funny too. The other day when we had some friends over for dinner, Hyrum asked for some butter. After arguing for awhile, I finally put a small pat of butter on his plate. "Thanks, Mom," he said. "I like butter. Butter is good. You like butter, Mom? Mmmm, I like butter." He had all of us laughing really hard.
