Remembering my "Sweet Boy" Dan

Trisa was almost 16 when Dan was born.  She and our other kids were worried that something would go wrong when their baby brother was born, so Derek made sure to call their schools as soon as possible to let them know all was well.  We found Trisa's note this weekend still pinned to the bulletin board she left behind when she went to college.  It read, "9:30 Her brother was born & is fat and healthy".  This was true and was a relief to all of us.  He was my biggest baby, and the Dr. thought he looked muscly when he was born.

I have often mentioned that I had decided I was just going to enjoy this baby.  In my mind he would be perfectly healthy, and fairly stress free.  Then he had Torticollis which made his head fall one direction and led to him always laying the same way and making his skull funny shaped.  Then we found out he was allergic to milk, and eggs, and peanuts.  Then we discovered he had asthma.  I kept mourning my plan to have a perfectly healthy, no problem baby, but I did not give up on my plan to enjoy him, and Dan is easy to enjoy.

I like this description from my journal:  Dan "is such a fun little boy.  He gets into everything and I call him my Tornado.  He says quite a few real words and lots of pseudo words.  He's very fast at sliding downstairs on his belly and he likes to follow his brothers and sisters down there.  He'll bang on Tia's door and yell for her.  It's cute and pesky to her at the same time.  He's a lot of work, but we aren't really in a hurry for him to grow up either."

One night Dan kept yelling in his room and he wanted to sit on the couch.  He fell asleep there and so I put a blanket on him and went to bed.  At three in the morning he knocked on our bedroom door and said, "I'm all done sleeping on the couch." and so we put him to bed. 

One of his prayers, obviously said while he was looking around, was "Thankful for Kayli, Mom, Jake, Tia, Dad, and not Trisa because she's at college, and Connor ..."  He is actually very thankful for Trisa and has been sad on more than one occasion that she is at college.  He gives her big hugs when she comes home, and is always hoping that this time she'll stay.  He loves Tia too.  She was always so good at talking to him when he was done with Kindergarten, and one of the things that I missed the most when she went to college was her conversations with Dan. 

Dan hasn't stopped saying amusing things yet.  He was explaining to me just the other day how he knew that monsters were real.  He went on and on about that, and his club, and how you get your "powers" after you fight a monster.  He apparently has his powers from fighting an invisible man on the playground.  Enjoying Dan is easy.  He is fun, has great moves (which, unfortunately, he has gotten shy about sharing), loves his family, likes group hugs, and generally lives his life with enthusiasm.  He really is a sweet boy.