Updates on #HundtBoysX4

One of my reasons for writing anything down is to preserve my story in this big, big world. Putting my fingers on these typing keys help make my family's memories have a place to sit so I can revisit them whenever I want and remember, soak it all back in. 

Time is a thief! I can't remember the last time I captured what's going on with #hundtboysx4: what they are into, what they love, what's been challenging for them. It always feels overwhelming to do that kind of necessary memory preserving justice, but I always try and that's what matters. 

Here's whats up with the Hundt Boys...

NOLAN

N loves to do these jumping pictures and I am always ready to say yes.

This guy is more than 7.5 years old. This last year during the pandemic has arguably been the hardest on him of my four sons... outwardly anyway. He has lost sports, which he loves more than any other activity. He has only been able to build a relationship with his teacher over a screen, which is the most important part of school for him. He doesn't like change. Us having to do school differently, see relatives differently, spend time with friends differently, and having to have a very different day-to-day was ooooweeee overwhelming for him for a while. There were countless nights where he would lay in bed with a headache (and, I think, a heartache) and admit to me how much he didn't like having to do things the way we were doing them. Now that we've been in this for, what seems like a lifetime for him, he's adjusted. He will, no doubt, have a hard time going back to whatever normal looks like when it's time. 

N has a LOT of energy. If he has a project he's working on, he can expound that energy into deep concentration for long periods of time. Currently, he's building a magna-tile city and has been at that for at least 40 minutes completely engaged. If he doesn't have a thing he wants to be doing, he is mostly running around and running into his brothers- wanting to wrestle and be all up in people's space. We are working very hard on this right now, him using his creative brain for appropriate play. This kid continues to be an avid reader. He will especially devour informational text: world records books, volumes of trivia and weird but true facts, and his biggest reading love... atlases. He is consistently reading me a chapter book and he very much likes them, but not the way he LOVES the truth in non-fiction literature. N could spend forever outside. He got a Fit-Bit for Christmas and keeping track of his tens of thousands of steps per day is one of his most important activities. That, and asking constantly what's for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. He, like the rest of his brothers, is super into wearing suits and ties to dress up for remote learning. 

JUDAH

J is always the first to fall asleep. He's also almost always the first one awake

J is also more than 7.5 years old. He is a sensational guy with more tricks and tips up his sleeve to solve any roadblock in his school work than anyone else I know. If J is motivated and fully focused, he can whip through tasks with accuracy and understanding at lightning speed. There are other days where something like 9+4 can take him minutes to figure out- it's quite fascinating to observe. J has grown SO much in reading over the last year and he and I find incredible amounts of joy reading together. He loves fictional stories and will be open to any kind of genre and seems to love them all. J appears free spirited and super flexible and go with the flow. This part of him has been SUCH a needed gift in our family over the last year, but I also know that things are not always what they seem. J sometimes lashes out over seemingly small things and I know it's about something deeper- some way of finding control when he doesn't have any.

This kid is happiest when outside, period. Doesn't matter the weather or what he is doing- he never ever wants to come in, he never complains. He will sled and build and shovel and roll around in the winter for hours. I admire this big. Inside, he loves to play with Barbies, trucks, cars, and Rescue Bots, often all at the same time. His pretend play is nothing short of top-notch and I try to creep to hear him play and smile oh so big. Our neighbors gifted us their daughter's old dollhouse around Christmastime and he (and the rest of my boys) have spent HOURS with that house. 

CARTER

Playing grocery store

My kindergartner has had quite a first year at school. Doing school online in kindergarten sucks in a way I cannot describe. I laugh, because I cannot shed any more tears about it, when he's been asked to watch VIDEOS on how to be a good friend, but doesn't actually get to go BE one in real life to anyone. He is hard to corral around the computer and I am constantly having to ask him to not be upside down, to look at his teacher, to find his pencil (which is always on the floor). I know many of you too have had profound moments listening to yourself tell your kid to look at the screen and how messed up and backwards that is. Despite these strange conditions on which my kindergartner is learning, he is, absolutely, learning. I have gotten the gift of watching my son learn to read, learn to add and subtract. Because I spend so much time with him during his school day right now, I get to see this all with my own two eyes. 

C is loud and funny and memorable. C is a trend-setter in our house. When he started wearing suits to preschool almost every day last year, he's now gotten all his brothers into it. He is not afraid of anything, which makes me afraid of a lot. Just recently, he tried to hit a sledding bump, on purpose, and went flying in the air so high that him and his sled separated and he landed face first in the snow. While ALL adults at the sledding hill gasped wondering if he had just broken his entire body, Carter popped his head up, shook the snow off of it, and went running down the rest of the way with a large grin. That is him in a nutshell: fearless, free, wild, with joy overflowing. He loves to snuggle, play with Polly Pockets, doctors kits, cars and things in our pretend kitchen. He enjoys the idea of hiking and being outside all day, but we will frequently find him laying on the ground pooped. He hates to be too cold or too hot. C can make questionable decisions, but NEVER out of malice. He is also one of the most honest people I've ever met. He will come clean, almost instantly, after a decision is made that he knows is wrong. His remorse is deep and authentic, but his lesson learning has a ways to go ;) 

PRESTON

Being outside is where this little guy loves to be

Our littlest guy is quickly approaching 3 years old. UGH! Babies don't keep, especially last babies. I miss and ache for the alone time I would have had with him if not for this pandemic. And, because I spend so much time with his big three brothers helping and supporting with school, he is getting less of me than ever. He has a mom who is exhausted and short on patience and it's not fair. I try to hold on to the positives as much as possible knowing that P has gotten his entire family all day every day for almost a year now. I can tell he feels very lucky about this and LOVES the extra playtime with his dad and brothers.

Speaking was one of our main concerns with P and I am overjoyed to say he has been dropped from needing speech services at the end of October. His vocabulary has been EXPLODING and, directly related to that, so has his personality. He has big opinions and big feelings and is figuring out his own way in our family. We've learned that he hates to sit and eat food in the morning, needs to turn his own light off before going to bed, does not like have messy hands, and will lose his mind if he misses the mailman, garbage trucks, or if he misses a single person pull out of the driveway when they leave our house! He is beginning to show his 'terrible twos' or 'threenager' tendencies lately and I think some epic tantrums are on the horizon. When he gets upset, he tells us that we "never" let him do whatever it is he wants to do and walks aways stomping with a very serious pout face on. P loves singing and dancing and reading and will walk miles in the woods and never ever want to come inside. 

This year at home has been really hard for me and them with plenty of silver linings sprinkled in to keep us sane. I keep reminding myself that they are each learning and are each progressing. They love each other and despite the dysfunction being on steroids, they are the best brothers in the world to each other. I'll hang my hat on that. <3