You are the kid who made me a mom and now you're so close to a decade old. We've lately been looking through baby pictures anticipating the arrival of your new brother or sister and it's so hard to believe that that baby is the big kid sitting next to me, snuggling in for a closer look.
Every year, I think, you look and act more like Dad. Sometimes it has me rolling my eyes, usually it has me grinning big.
I have realized that you are a pro and winding up your sister, but it takes a lot for you to notice that someone is winding you up - you rarely take the bait. That goes hand in hand with your easy going nature.
You love video games. Obsessed. It's all you want to do/talk about/spend money on/think about. Obsessed. It's such a hard balance of letting you self-monitor your video game consumption versus encouraging you to vary your life experience. We talk about how even if you only ate green beans (arguably healthy) it wouldn't be healthy to eat them all.the.time at the exclusion of any other food source. So it is with video games. They are fun and have lots of benefits, but it's not okay for that to be the only thing you do. You get it, and you're good with the limits set for the most part - but if you had free range entirely, that's all you'd do.
If someone is hurt, you're the first to ask if they are okay.
You love carbs, but have a limit on sweet things.
Recently you've had times where you feel like organizing and picking things up - like your bedroom -even when most of the disarray wasn't yours.
You value time to be quiet and think (known as "thinking time").
You also love listening to upbeat music, at volume: loud!
In light of video-gaming, you've also become adept (for the most part) at researching games.
You're not usually a phone person, but you go through occasional phases where you ARE a phone person.
Usually you opt out of board games.
You enjoy reading - the funnier the better; being read TO is the best.
After a few years of asking, I finally signed you up for basketball. You like soccer better, but might do basketball again. It was fun to see you readily included with a team that all knew each other from school. It also was fun to see you figure out the "rules" of being in an indoor school gym. While everyone else was running around loudly and stealing balls from one another, you were hesitant, especially in the earlier practices. During games, at first, you were more apt to hand the ball off to a persistent opposing team member, rather than keep possession.
Throughout the season, you went from never having touched a basketball to being able to run and dribble at the same time. A basketball was a perfect birthday gift.
You also discovered ice skating this year. I was amazed at how quickly you took to ice skating! You wore shorts all winter - yes, during this record-breaking-cold winter. To be fair, you didn't go outside much, and relative to the outside temps, the ice rink felt warm! It also made you easy to spot as you skated around, with more confidence each time we made it to the rink.
People keep asking if you want a brother or sister. You say, a little bit more you want a brother because of our "history", as you call it. A break from sisters wouldn't be a bad thing (our girls went home a little over a month before your birthday, after being here for 18mos). I've recently realized you REALLY want a boy, but you tone it down, I think to take care of me. I really think it's a girl, and you say you're okay with that.
You amaze me. I can't believe you're half way to 18! I'm so thankful for the person you've been, the person you are, and the person you're becoming.
Love you always,
Mom
No comments:
Post a Comment