Mark

Once I was talking to my mom on the phone when Mark was little and describing his disruptive and destructive behavior while I was trying to teach his siblings school.

My mom said, "The problem is, you just want Mark to sit quietly in a corner."

It at once made me seem like an unreasonable cow and was absolutely true.

I tried to take her counsel and let Mark be Mark.  (I bought a gate and put him in his room adjacent to the school room.  I would step over the gate and visit him from time to time.  I gave him Duplo Lego blocks and the rest is history.)

**

*

Saturday (because I live at the school, except on Saturday members of my family live there with me) Adam and I were working on something in my classroom and Mark had found a rubber band and folded up a small square of paper and was zinging it around the room.  He was experimenting with different methods of configuring the rubber band and testing distances.

I said, "Mark, stop.  You're driving me crazy."

Adam said, "Mark, your mom doesn't like noise."

It at once made me seem like an unreasonable cow and was absolutely true.

Mark went to the hall--where he had even further distances to experiment with, and I finished up my work.

**

*

Also Saturday, I called our health insurance company.  I've done that more times than I can count this summer and I totally know the drill.  I know when to say what to the automated system to get me through to an actual live person.  Except this time, when they asked me for Mark's birthday I said he was born in 2012.  I accidentally made him ten years younger.  Looking back on pictures of Mark ten years ago no one could blame me for trying to slip that in.

Here's Mark at the Canadian border, peeking out of the ever green evergreens:

Here he is in desperate need of a haircut (but I was reluctant--those curls!):

This is after the haircut and reminds me that he shut all the bathroom doors because he didn't want to look in the mirrors at himself (he wasn't a fan of the shorn curls):

Also notice one front tooth is discolored from the time he closed his eyes and spun around in his room and crashed into his bed.  He just wanted to see what would happen...

 Here he is catching some rays at the hotel pool in Los Angelos:

Slipping and sliding at his grandparents' house:

 Here he is waiting for his cue as ring bearer at his aunt's wedding:

 We would go to the zoo after school started and have the place to ourselves:

Mark led us on a hike east of the mountains when I needed a mental health sunshine day:

That time we took Horace on a family vacation to visit my parents in Nauvoo:

That time on the Oregon coast when Mark ran full speed up a steep hill then collapsed.  On a picnic table.  And Braeden mocked him a bit.

That time Mark dressed up like a shepherd for Pikkujoulu even though no one told him to and we weren't acting out the nativity.

Six year old Mark melts my heart.  He's never going to sit quietly in a corner and I'm OK with that.