One morning Liam ran into the kitchen crying. Before I could say anything, Soren asked in a genuinely sweet voice, "What happened, Liam Baby?"
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One day Soren told Briar "I'm going to be an inventor--and you're going to be an explorer and find new stuff me."______________________________________________________
At night Soren likes for me to tell him a story. I'll make up random stories using whatever comes to mind, things like, "Once upon a time there was a family of badgers who decided to move out of their badger den and into a condo in the city. The badger kids started wearing name brand sneakers and playing at the park every day. The mother badger had her hair set once a week by the beautician whose shop was around the corner. The father learned to golf and went nearly every weekend with his friends. They all enjoyed traveling on the subway together. They lived like this for quite some time and were generally happy. The end." But if I tell a story like this, Soren will say, "But you forgot about 'and then one day,' Mommy." "And then one day" is apparently the phrase I usually use to introduce a conflict into the plot during story time. That kid, he's a stickler for plot.
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One of Soren's greatest fears is that a truck will come while he's using a portapotty, load it up, and drive away while he's still inside. My job while he's doing his business at the city park is to stand guard and make sure no trucks take him.
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The boys and I were playing in the sandbox one evening and Soren was flooding a corner of the sandbox with the hose. "Look, Mommy!" he told me, and went on to explain that he was flooding outerspace but that he lived on a crater and the people who lived out in space thought he was a giant machine. A very important giant machine, apparently, because he then added: "They even pray to me! They start their prayers, 'Dear Heavenly Giant Machine'..."
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After work one night Abe was watering the lawn and Soren wanted to play in the sprinkler with me. I was reluctant-- didn't particularly want to get cold and wet-- but I finally took his hand and we ran through. After two giggle-filled passes through the shockingly cold sprinkler, he wrapped his arms around my legs and exclaimed, "I love you, Mommy!" Totally worth it.
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Mommy: Soren, how can you stand to sleep in this filthy room?Soren (surveys the mess for a minute, then shrugs): It doesn't make any noise!
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Soren amazed us on Father's day by making a very nice Father's day card. All by himself he wrote "Dad" and "Soren" and drew a bunch of hearts. At church he answered a questionnaire about his daddy too. According to Soren, Abe's favorite thing is ice cream and his favorite food is ice cream. He also remarked that his favorite thing to do with his dad was go to the Army Surplus store. (You know you're from Idaho when...)
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The first thing Soren said to me upon waking one morning was, "Why is every day so dumb?"
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Soren told Briar that the only "fing" he liked to do in the back yard was watch the garden grow.
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I was doing a fingerplay about Joseph Smith at Family Home Evening. Liam happily chanted along with me, doing his best to match my actions and words; Soren covered his ears and said, "Blah, blah, blah!"
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One night when we were camping Soren was having a hard time settling down because he's so scared of the dark. Finally, out of the darkness, I heard his little voice begin a prayer."Dear Heavenly Father...."
Little Liam chimed in with his own nonsensical words and they prayed together in the darkness. Their prayer went something like this:
"Fank you for this day.
Fank you for Mommy and Daddy.
Please somehow make this trailer less scary.
Name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
Then there was silence.
Then: "Mommy? I'm still scared."
I climbed down form my bed and lay down with the boys until they were asleep.
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Soren helped push Grandpa's pickup truck into a jump start while we were camping. He pushed all his forty pounds into it and was very excited when it started to go.
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One night we gave each of the boys a cup of water, kissed them good night, and closed the door to their room. Sweet silence. Then, Liam started screaming. On investigation, Abe discovered that Soren had emptied his cup onto Liam on the bunk below. "Soren, why did you do that?" asked Daddy. Soren looked bemused. "What else was I supposed to do with it?" 
Playing (and hamming it up) at the park with daddy.
Behold: The Giant Machine God.
Soren made a robot out of yogurt containers, pom poms, and an empty paper towel roll. They played together all morning. Here, they're playing under the rug.
Now they're posing for a few pictures.
Soren will probably use these exact same faces in a photo booth someday.
Soren's preschool class had school pictures taken. I paid for the group picture. It was quite adorable. This, however, was his individual photo. I thought it was hilarious but was unwilling to pay the package price to get it in duplicate. He's so cute it hurts my heart a little.
Soren loves Briar's ferret, Mice. Mice is a bit of a nibbler, though, so Soren always makes sure to wear shoes on his feet and socks on his hands when they play.
There are truly no words to adequately describe this child. He is just....so....much. So preciously much. So intensely much. And I love him so much. And "much" no longer sounds like a word.
The end.
