Our Austin Boy

Another year with Austin David. He is our true middle child: doesn't demand much of us, isn't a complainer, and just wants everyone to get along. He's grown so much this past year. After watching all his siblings do their birthday interview, he was so excited to do his. 

Mom: What is your favorite color?

Austin: Blue 

Mom: What is your favorite food?
Austin: Crepes

Mom: What is your favorite animal?
Austin: A Bat

Mom: What is your favorite book?
Austin: Kid's Encyclopedia (A new Christmas book that everyone wants to look at...so obviously the favorite.)

Mom: What is your favorite movie?
Austin: Night at the Museum 

        

Mom: What is your favorite song?

Austin: Ride Captain Ride (Tanner randomly showed this song to the kids and Austin loved it. It was the song he requested for a long time.)

Mom: Who is your scripture hero?

Austin: Captain Moroni (Austin and I try to read scriptures together each morning and he really loves the stories in the scriptures.)

Mom: What is your favorite dessert?

Austin: Candy bar cookies (We used up leftover Halloween candy and put them in cookies for Family Night. Austin had fun helping me make them.)

Mom: What do you like to do for fun? 
Austin: Play outside. Ride my bike or ride my scooter, climbing trees and walking around the property. (Austin loves playing with cars and legos, doing crafts and playing basketball and soccer.)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?

Austin: Play games

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?

Austin: Work with him. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mariah?
Austin: Play make-believe with her

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Chet?

Austin: Work with him. (He looks up to his brother so much and wants to do everything Chet can.

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Eliza? 

Austin: Build with magnets and make forts. (They have started to play together more often while Chet and Mariah are doing school work. It's fun to see what they do for fun.)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Vivi? 

Austin: Hold her

Mom: Who is your best friend?

Austin: Dad 

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Austin: A scientist, one that studies Dinosaurs. 

Austin is enjoying school. He loves the one on one time he gets with me, and he was especially excited to celebrate 100 days of math and get to pick out 10 groups of 10 snacks. His siblings enjoyed it too. He has also started to learn to read and even though it isn't his favorite, he is doing really well. 

Austin loves to make things for his stuffed animals. This is his puppy with a backpack on that he made. He makes them homes, cars, and computers. There is always cut up card board and paper around thanks to him. 

Here's his "yellow submarine". Although he doesn't know how to spell words yet, he likes to write down a bunch of random letters and ask us what it says. His handwriting is very good though. 

Austin is up for anything and just happy to be with his siblings. 

He and Chet learned how to "climb" up the walls in our hallways and do it all the time. He loves the monkey bars at parks and is always trying to climb different trees. 

The boy is a delight to listen to. Sometimes I have a hard time paying attention to what he is actually saying because I get distracted by how adorable he is and how adorable he sounds...it's a problem. We've been working on his speech and it has improved a lot. He still struggles with his r's but keeps improving. 

Austin fixes his own hair and can get pretty creative in his different hairdos. 

It can be hard to get a normal picture from him. So I just take what I can get. 

For a while Austin would always say the same thing in his prayers: "Please bless the people who are hurt and sick that they won't be hurt and sick anymore and please bless those who aren't hurt and sick that they won't get hurt and sick." He made sure to cover all the bases. 

For a while he was always telling me that he was preparing to become a secret agent. He would try to sneak up on me or hide where I couldn't find him. He still likes to hide in my room while I'm in the bathroom and then scare me when I come out. 

One night we were talking about the Holy Ghost and we were talking about the "fiery darts of Satan" and he said that the Holy Ghost could give us band aids to protect us from the fiery darts. 

One morning we were talking about the second coming and angels playing trumpets and Austin said, "maybe they'll be playing kazoos".  Which made us all giggle imagining a legion of kazoo playing angels. 

I used to think that Austin was shy because he didn't talk very much in public. Now I'm realizing it was just because his older siblings did all the talking for him. Now that Mariah and Chet aren't in his primary class it has been surprising to see his personality come out. He loves to joke around and is somewhat of a class clown. His teachers, the Bakers, are so wonderful to him and make him feel so loved each Sunday. 

One Sunday during sacrament meeting, he asked me if he could go sit by the Bishop's wife, who often is sitting alone. That has become a tradition now and he loves his time with Alice. 

Austin is surrounded by very strong willed siblings. Sometimes he will dig his heels in on something and it doesn't matter whether it is logical, he shoves his lower jaw out and gets a certain look in his eye and we know there won't be any way to change him. But most of the time he is so pleasant to be around. When he does have a hard time a little visit with mom or dad always seems to turn him around.  

From the day he was born I've always known that Austin had a tender heart. He loves to snuggle with people, especially his Aunts and Grandmas and knows how to make people feel needed and loved. We are so grateful for him and the love he brings to the family.