Clyde is EIGHT!

Clyde Monster turned eight this week, a milestone that we've all been eagerly awaiting. I don't know if it's because the oldest child, or if it's because he's the youngest in his grade at school, but to me it always seems anticlimactic when his birthday rolls around because he already seems that age - ya know? But now it's good and official: We have an eight year old, hooray!

Clyde is such a good kid; he's bright and active and protective and imaginative - sooo imaginative. Coming home from school the other day, he explained that during class he had come up with new things to imagine but since he couldn't get up right then and run around, he was saving them for when he got home, haha. He's forever bouncing around the living room, battling invisible foes, usually from whatever book he's reading right then.

His birthday fell on Labor Day this year so Grandma Pam was off work and since Chuck's Wood Badge beading had been held the night before, Grandma and Grandpa Izatt were still in town and able to celebrate with us. Chuck made us a delicious blueberry pancake lunch extravaganza and Clyde was thrilled with all of us presents, notably the rest of the Percy Jackson books that he didn't have yet, Greek mythology books, legos!, long-sleeved football shirts, and more legos. It was all perfect!

 

 8 brings lots of fun new adventures, such as Cub Scouts! (ohhhh, and baptism! Which will be at the end of this month, Saturday September 27th at 1pm at our stake center here in Nampa on Greenhurst. Love to see ya there....) Clyde has already been to Scouts twice (we may have sneaked him in a week early) and he loves it. There's three little boys who have turned 8 in the last month, so they're all starting together.

Another exciting aspect of turning eight was getting the go-ahead to finish reading the Harry Potter series! Clyde read 1-4 last fall, but Chuck and I stopped him there for a bit, partly because 5-7 are pretty intense, but mostly because they're SO SO good that I wanted him to be a little older and more appreciative of them.

Aaaand the little nut pretty much devoured book five. He started reading it Tuesday evening and finished it this afternoon. He may have stayed up a little too late last night reading, and today at school he had extra free time to read due to IRI testing... but even then. Insane.

I think another reason that Clyde seems older is how much responsibility we give him as the oldest of four kids.

 Clyde and Carma! Clyde is for sure just faking sleep there, but it's a darling picture nonetheless.

 Clyde and Jack:

 I'll tell you what, it takes some real bravery to sit that close to Jackers. He's back to being pretty mellow overall, but he remains a bit unpredictable and you never really know when he'll bare his teeth and go for a bite...

 Clyde and Will, aka the cutest brother duo in town:

 This is usually where Clyde really melts my heart - his relationship with Will. Chuck wisely reserved the Minecraft video game at the library so that the boys could have it during their adenoids-ectomy recovery (notice their hospital bracelets on their ankles in the bottom middle picture, haha). It was so sweet to watch them play together - Clyde was constantly aware of Will and helping him and building him armor and a house and letting him bunk overnight and such. They seriously got loads of extra screen time during that few days just because of how adorable their interactions were, haha! 

  We sure love our Clyde, happy birthday sweetheart!!