the luckiest

 

and then he was eight

dallin very much wanted to be baptized right on the day he turned eight, and so he was. to celebrate, he served everyone mama's homemade cinnamon rolls and enjoyed sharing the day with his classmate, clementine. more pics on his baptism to come.

BUT FIRST! DALLIN!

dallin, brah, is 110% whatever dallin is. you have got to watch this kid open a present or enjoy a surprise because you will feel like a ROCKSTAR. his facial expressions, his gasps and inflections, the world's most giantest, beaming grin, praise, adoration, trivial facts no one asked for, it's all there.

i mention trivial facts no one asked for because dallin is just chock full of trivial facts no one asked for and will waste ZERO opportunities to dispense of them. 

like, what year steamboat willy came out. or the name of the japanese company that makes the best rubik's (speed) cubes. maybe how many digits have been discovered of pi. or where the world's most deadly spider lives. dallin has actually dropped some knowledge on me a time or two. there have even been a few instances where i've argued with him about the factual plausibility of a piece of trivia only to discover, when he hauls over some giant random encyclopedia to show me, that he's right (greatest number of children delivered by a single woman comes to mind here). if he has read it, he knows it, and he'll be sure to tell YOU about it, too. 

it's not all good news though: we have had to ask dallin to stop reading nutrition labels. (filed away under "weird rules i never thought i'd have to make up for my children.") but take this as fair warning: you do NOT want to engage him in a discussion on nutrition.

dallin is all facts and black and white thinking. intense and heightened emotional responses (a favorite family story about dallin involves his arm falling asleep for the first time, which honestly, if you didn't know what was happening, may, indeed, be pretty alarming) or spacing out completely. he loves snuggling and soft things and chocolate and utter silence. a skilled reader, pianist, artist, and king mathematician. his handwriting could use a fair amount of work, though. as could his refusal to read works of fiction on principle. 

dallin is here to educate and entertain and definitely thinks he can beat caleb in a wrestling match (spoiler alert: he definitely cannot). he's doted on by his big sisters--especially summer--and he brawls constantly with his brother (they don't really need a reason, but a current favorite is because dallin is never READY in FORTNITE with his WEAPONS!)

you are our cherry on top, dally woo! keep on learning, keep on growing, keep that prodigious energy, maybe cultivate, like, a wee little bit of flexible thinking and start eating more vegetables (and by "more vegetables," i mean, like, any vegetables--any vegetables at all), and then i can't wait to see what you'll do.

happy birthday, buddy!