Virtute.org

Today is Isaac’s 5th birthday and I’ve been thinking how grateful I am that he is my oldest. 

He is a very kind and considerate big brother.  On a recent morning, I found Isaac reading (from memory) a book to Charlotte.  Later that day, he didn’t want to leave the house until he had showed Charlotte how to spell her name.  He showed her where each letter was on the keyboard and patiently waited for her to push the right key.  He regularly encourages her to do things.  I’ve even caught him bribing her with some candy (that he earned doing chores) to do things like finish her breakfast.

He tries to help Nicole too.  One of his favorite things to do is set up what he calls a “baby zone.”  His ‘baby zone’ is a collection of toys usually in a circle or an enclosed area In which Nicole can play. He likes to sit next to her in the car and does his best to keep her happy while I’m driving by giving her toys or bits of cereal.  When she starts to cry, he tries to calm her by singing her songs.

Often, when I drop the kids off at the nursery next to my gym, Isaac insisted on being with Nicole to help her instead of playing with the other kids.   Sometimes when I come back an hour later he is still with her.  One day on the way home he told me the about how he was a babysitter for the babies and how glad they were to have a big boy to help them.

I cannot list all of the ways in which he shows kindness and love for his sisters, but I regularly catch him doing or saying kind things and it always makes me smile.

Another thing that I love about Isaac is how excited he gets about things.  He’s the perfect kid to take on an adventure because he gets excited and shows interest in everything.  One of his favorite things to do is take a quick trip into the canyon to see the waterfall and drive through a tunnel in the mountain.  No matter how many times we take the drive, he still loves it. 

Isaac loves to learn and is really fun to teach because he listens well and asks good  questions.  Sometimes he’ll get really excited about something that he’s learned and we’ll talk about it for days or weeks.  We regularly check out books on topics that interest him.  One of his most recent topics was corn on the cob.  I introduced him to it one night for dinner over a month ago and he became so intrigued by corn that we checked out books and talked about it for weeks.  His Grandpa Bird sent him corn seeds which he carried everywhere for days.  After we decided that he’d plant some in Grandpa Cochran’s garden he asked me every morning if we were planting his seeds that day.  After planting them, he’d get excited about going over to his grandparent’s house to see his corn and how much it’s grown. 

I am very grateful that five years ago today we were blessed with such a wonderful son.  I love him more than I can say.