9 Months old and still going strong

April 5th marked Elinor's milestone of living outside the womb as long as she had lived in it. That's right, this girl is nine months old.

When I have spare moments I try to write in my journal. When I have extra spare moments, I try to record a memory from the day of each child. Here are some about Elinor:

"Her excited and speedy 'swim' across the floor to knock over block towers. She is so adorable and so busy!"

"So eagerly eating homemade bread at dinner. Also always when she stands in Downward Facing Dog yoga pose."

"How irrepressibly adorable she looked dressed up in the Easter lamb costume. She is SO adorable! Also her shaking with fury at my attempts to put her down for a nap before she thought she ought to be put down for a nap. How did I get six strong-willed children?!"

"Pulling all sorts of flowers out of her mouth at the park. She was sure at least one of the many varieties was edible!"

While we're at it, and since there are so few, here are the memories of the other kids:

Julia: "Intrepidly pushing Gwyn cross-wise in the stroller across cobblestone streets while wearing the diaper bag. Also her patient help in getting all the kids their food and snacks. I could not do this trip without her!"

"Eagerly helping me give Elinor a bath, including wrapping her all up in her pink towel and hugging her tightly afterward."

"Finding her reading a fun book on the Kindle when last I had heard she still had 200 pages in Dante's biography to finish. She looked sheepish but explained that she now only had 70 pages left. Also, her doing laundry."

"Looking so sporty exercising with me this morning."

And a few more, since 14 year olds don't change as quickly as 9 month olds:

"Watching her at dinner finishing her salad while I fed Elinor on the couch. She is so beautiful and so magnificently unconscious of it. At the time I was watching her she also looked so tired, eating her last bites of lettuce as if in slow motion. It recalled that she had awakened at 6 am to attend to what her schedule listed as her 'personal devotions,' and her day was filled with good things every moment after that, including playing Barbies with Gwyndelin in which she made Rapunzel a Studio C, "The Smiths" assassin. She is a jewel."

"Hearing the beautiful strains of her violin over the din of workaday life. She plays so exquisitely beautifully."

Elisabeth: "Asking in her 20 minute school break if she could do family history. Julia and Elisabeth have the privilege of attending a special devotional with the Brethren the night before the temple dedication. The Brethren asked that each youth send in a video or picture of themselves finding a name to take to the temple. Elisabeth set about to do this and had found one within minutes. She exulted in a picture-perfect manner, which we then had to recreate for the camera."

"Beaming in a picture of her, Gwyndelin, and Elinor in matching white tops and pink pants. Also the adorable cards she made for Abdiel, whom she has dubbed her Valentine. Also her exuberance in singing a 'Happy, happy birthday, from all of us to you. Because it is your birthday, we're giving you this shoe!' ditty with Abdiel and Gwyn and presenting one of the recipient's dirty sneakers to them."

"Thoroughly enjoying her Ribollita Toscana and peeling the garlic for me to help make it. Also listening to her wonderfully crafted first paragraph of her Michelangelo essay. These kids are incredible."

"Discussing Personal Progress with her in the early morning. She is doing a fantastic job. Also looking at her beautiful smile at our Italian lesson."

"Announcing, after I had a stern talk with a sibling about attitude, that I was the best homeschool teacher in the world and she was so grateful for me. I told her that she sounded like another child when that child's sibling was in trouble. Also cleaning the toilets."

"Loving Elinor so much."

Katharine: "Playing so nicely with Abdiel--Legos, Jurassic World, and even at the park."

"Picking up the house for her twenty minutes of cleaning, ever graceful. Also falling out of the spinning office chair when it tipped over while holding Elinor, but managing with athletic agility to keep Elinor safe.

"Snuggling with her while watching the sunset and then at the dinner table."

"Utter excitement and joy over getting to watch an hour of Harry Potter while Justin and Julia were at seminary. Also her expressions of admiration for Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. What a cool kid."

"Doing KidzBop dances like a pro. Also getting a little impatient that the Italian Harry Potter computer game we checked out from the library wouldn't work at the same time that she was trying to say that it was lame. Also coming to snuggle with me during the devotional."

"Katharine set a lofty goal to read the Book of Mormon three times through this year. Our trip to Rome put her behind, so I found her many times today reading the Book of Mormon on a couch or in a corner somewhere. She also played Legos with Abdiel and did the dishes, an especially sweet sight since she seems barely tall enough to reach past the sink."

Abdiel: "Abdiel memorized an especially descriptive dinosaur fight and had recited it so often he got himself on some sisters' blacklist. Other than his loving and adoring interactions with Elinor and the dinosaur zoo cages he spent much of the day crafting, the memory from today that I appreciated was his coming to me at dinner, pulling on my arm that he had a secret, and then reciting in a whisper this very detailed dinosaur fight. He had to tell someone, but it couldn't be out loud."

"Holding Elinor on the couch and generally being so loving and adoring to her. Also asking questions about the Knights and Castles Magic Treehouse Fact tracker that we're reading together that show he's thinking about it, like commenting that he'd be on his way to live at another castle if they left at seven years old."

"Chasing herds (not just flocks!) of pigeons at the piazza."

"Excitement showing me the 50 euro cent piece he got for losing his second front tooth and playing the parabola demonstration at the Galileo museum. Also watching him play by the pond, throwing sticks and stones so forcefully in, at Villa Salviati."

"Getting after one of his sisters for trying to interrupt his one-on-one reading time with me."

"So cute reading A Day with Cobras. Also seeing the cool Dinosaur Activity book that he wrote himself. Also the sight of him holding a huge stack of pillows to represent his debt in our reenactment of the parable of the unjust servant at Come, Follow Me this morning. He tried to forgive his fellow-servant, actually, and refused to act out anymore when I told him that wasn't what he was supposed to do."

"Wrestling with those Italian boys in the bouncy house at the park and emerging so rosy-red from playing hard."

Gwyndelin: "We made the discovery of six months at the grocery store: a ream of office paper. Wait--did I pray for that? It was such a blessing, and I bought it, sure it would please out little artist. I was right. When I told Gwyn that I had bought a whole package of white paper for her, her blue eyes opened as wide as a camera lens and she hopped several times in delight. She turned the first piece over and over when I handed it to her looking for words, but, no, this was a brand new, clean white piece. She immediately set to work drawing Pancha's family from The Emperor's New Groove."

"How enthusiastically she expressed her appreciation for her plain noodle dinner and how profusely she proclaimed her love for me at making it. We've had some doozy dinner battles lately, so that was nice."

"Watching Gwyn give her new Asian friend a hug and then turn around do a Superman on the swing, and knock the new friend down (on accident)."

"The awesome story she dictated to Abdiel and illustrated: Mekeda's New Nightmare. Also how beautiful she looked in her rainbow prairie skirt. Also how snug she looked in her bed."

"Illustrating my La Lepre e La Tartaruga story for my Italian lesson."

"Being so chipper that Justin remembered her coloring pages. Also doing a great job at her reading lesson."

"Having her feelings so hurt at the news her fellow-servant was supposed to send her to prison in the parable. Also her big, eager eyes telling me a story about some girls who fell into a deep hole."

It is not just the sights that make this a wonderful experience. It's the people with whom I'm seeing them.