Today was a day where Augustin was just busy; a busyness that has been building for at least a week.  Most likely since the weather got cooler and time outside hasn't been as plentiful.  And this is nothing new for him either.

Augustin is Augustin, he's not at all like any of the other boys.  It started the day he was born....9 pounds 2 ounces, 20 inches long with dark Italian skin, black hair and eyes almost as dark as his hair.  Where did he come from?  In a house with all pale blonde kids.  And he was solid not this small, skinny thing like his brothers.  He's been smooshy since the day he was born and I love it; he's fun to hold and snuggle.  So not only does he not look like the other boys, he's not built like them and his personality isn't the same either.  He didn't talk until he was over 2 years old, but he understood everything.  He would sit and watch...when he wasn't climbing something...just taking it all in.  Speaking of climbing...he's always been one to want to investigate everything.  I found him on the changing table before he was a year old, having scaled a chair, the computer desk, some how climbed over the filing cabinet and reached his destination....the top of the changing table.  I think the built-in shelves were next, but I found him before he tried scaling them.

He is the first to offer help (he doesn't always have the desire to finish helping), but he's right there to help you haul something, carry something, drag something, move something, build something.  You get the picture.  Always looking for a reason to do something physical and if it's heavy and requires tools, even better.  Lately he's been into crafts and school; something very surprising for my "never sit still" kid.  However, Augustin can't just cut paper and glue things, he has to put his own fun and unique twist on things.

At the end of last week he comes up to me and casually says, "I learned to use the stapler!!!"  Huge smile on his face and he shows me all these papers he can indeed stapled together.  And not a staple mark on the table or a staple in his finger.  I was impressed.  I shouldn't have been worried though because this is the kid who at the age of 4 years took it upon himself to change the batteries in a toy he wanted to play with (I wasn't quick enough I guess) and did it successfully.  He found the batteries and screw driver and did it all himself.  So the stapler discovery shouldn't have shocked me.

So he's been stapling paper ever since.  Yesterday he decided, on his own, to make Christmas decorations to hang around the house.  I found him in the office with glue sticks, scissors, the stapler and of course the hole punch, which I've learned he taught himself how to use.  So here he was cutting, gluing, stapling and of course hole punching decorations that he would make his own "hangers" for with from either yarn he's cut or pipe cleaners.  Busy, busy.  By himself, quiet and best of all...happy.

So today, I let the boys hang Christmas lights in their room.  Grant was in charge of making sure as few nails were put into the walls as possible (and as close to the ceiling as they could get).  Augustin comes to me with his hammer (he got it for Christmas last year) and tells me he's now hanging his decorations on the walls in the room.  This is where his independence and creativeness take a wrong turn.  So he showed me the hole...yes only one hole...he's made and I told him that he wasn't to hammer nails into the walls without asking first.  I was envisioning walls full of nails and holes as he tried to hang 50 decorations up.  Well, that didn't last long because he comes to me about 30 minutes later to tell me he'd hung a decoration (w/ the hammer and nail) above Grant's bed.  I don't think he could help himself, I really don't.  He did get in trouble and lost the hammer for the day and he was crushed; as in sobbing crushed.

He eventually got over it though and went on making decorations, crowns for me (and every other relative in the local area) to wear.  Crowns out of glittery, sparkly pipe cleaners. And then when he was tired of that (after about 4 hours) he decided to fix his little pretend bug catcher.  It lights up and plays bug sounds when the batteries work.  I didn't know it wasn't working; I figured it out only when I saw him replacing the batteries...screw driver and all.  That would have been fine because he's an expert now on replacing batteries.  I guess, however, that the light didn't work, so he took the entire bottom off of the toy and then took out the light and went into the basement looking for a light bulb that matched the one he had.  I can't say the kid isn't resourceful.  He finally asked my father for help and they fixed the light and everything.  A happy day....until bed time when I discovered he couldn't get the bottom back on the bug catcher.  I unfortunately couldn't either.  I'm hoping we can get it fixed in the morning or there will be tears.

I'm wondering what adventures tomorrow will bring...more cutting, gluing, stapling, hole punching I'm sure.  Hopefully no hammering or dismantling of electronic devices.  Brad has the day off tomorrow so maybe they can do something together to keep him busy.  He's busy and it's hard to keep ahead of him, but boy do I love him.