The Birthdays

Malachi, Malachi. How can anyone sum up Malachi? He is a force of nature—and a bastion of principle—whichever principle he has decided to throw his considerable powers of persuasion behind at the moment! When he asked if he could take a speech and debate class a few years ago, I thought "Hmm. The last thing the world needs is a more eloquently argumentative Malachi." But I prayed about it and learned I was wrong. The world did need such a thing!😄 And he's really not argumentative, not always. He's more of a two-edged sword, quick and powerful to the dividing asunder of weak thinking or irrational ideas. He's a clear thinker and a clear speaker. Confident to the point of recklessness, at times, but with a softening dose of self-deprecation. His confident, clever public persona is a little bit of an act, as I suppose it is for most of us. But the person underneath has all the same good qualities and a few more: friendliness, persistence, intelligence, thoughtfulness. The ability to soften conflict and de-escalate a tense situation. A talent for relating to others and noticing their needs.

Malachi always has big plans and big goals, toward which he drives himself hard (too hard, sometimes), and I think he thinks accomplishing those goals will set him apart from "ordinary" someday and justify his self-confidence. But what he doesn't realize is that he's already extraordinary. Seeking those goals is extraordinary. Working at those goals is extraordinary. And those desires for improvement that seem to just be part of his character are going to make him a force for great good in the world—whether he does it on the world stage or in his own quiet sphere. We love him so much!

He turned sixteen in December (having been saying to inquiries about his age since January 1st, "I'll be sixteen this year." It worked, and I thought of him as sixteen all year long, making his birthday a bit anticlimactic!) and, in true Malachi fashion, decided to embark upon "The Twelve Dates of Christmas" as his introduction to dating. I think he managed eight dates in all, which was pretty impressive considering how busy December always is! He planned and prepared and paid for the dates just as one ought to, and I think it was more exhausting than he expected but also a lot of fun. It made a bunch of girls happy too, I think!

Here he is on one of his dates, which made him have to miss his sisters' Nutcracker performance, unfortunately—but perhaps it's for the best, as all he does at the Nutcracker every year is complain about its poor character development and plot structure. :)

Note Ky's tie tied in the Eldridge Knot—his signature knot, you might say. He usually sports it.

The single raised eyebrow is very Malachi-ish

The next birthday was our dearest, sweetest Gussie. He can't be four, can he? Note his shockingly scratched-up face, an unfortunate result of Clementine's latest way of expressing her frustrations! It's so terrible! She just flies at poor Gus when she's mad, fingers out like claws, and I don't know why he doesn't run away—he is bigger and stronger than her—but somehow he's always the one that ends up scratched! We have tried everything we can think of to stop her (and Clementine always says sorry very sweetly in the end!) but sadly, every time his scratches seemed to be healing in December, there was another incident! 😱 He's so good-natured, though. He does cry and retaliate at times, but mostly just squishily bears it and is back within seconds to to his usual play of driving dump trucks and making garbage truck noises.

He wanted macaroni and cheese and jello in "Caw colors" (that's red, yellow, and blue) for his birthday dinner, and Volcano Cakes—for which he wore his volcano shirt.

He loves to pretend, and was very pleased with his little toy grill, just like Daddy's!

We usually try to do some sort of family activity for birthdays, but Gus's and Malachi's often have to be combined since December is so busy. When the ballet was finally over and we had a slower week before Christmas, I decided we could justify going to see the lights at Christmas Village (for Gus) if we also got hot chocolate afterwards (for Ky). We haven't been to Christmas Village for years (no one remembered it but me and Sam) and it was so fun!

Clementine loved the lights!

Gus looks so much like little Ky!

So many nutcrackers!

Our favorite hot chocolate place, Hatch's in Salt Lake, is closed on Mondays, blast them, so we went somewhere else. Clementine spilled hers, of course, but at least we took her coat off first!

Happy Birthday to a Ky and a Gus!