Ben is 11 Today!

Dear Ben,

Today you are 11 years old.

Instead of writing about milestones like sitting up, walking, and saying your first word, which is where we were on this day a decade (!?) ago, I am now writing about things like how you were blindsided by the puberty video at school two weeks ago. (not my fault, one of us forgot the permission slip. Hint: wasn't me!)

Firstly, I truly hope "the puberty video" has improved since I was in school. Secondly, I hope there is no lasting psychological scarring from that little surprise!

All joking aside, did I mention you are 11?  In five years you can drive! (prediction: you won't actually drive in five years… you are already worried about having to do this….)

At this age, you are suddenly all about friends. This has come as a surprise for me because for many years there, you could kind of take or leave most other kids. The only exceptions were the ones in our neighborhood, who, my heart is happy to say, are still wonderful friends. School friends were acquaintances, people to sometimes interact with AT school, but not much more. Now, suddenly, you crave people and want them around ALL the time.

After a couple years of encouraging you to "find your people",  I am happy to report you found a couple. You did a good job too! :)  I love watching you interact with your little friends  (who are actually not so little. Sujay's feet are like four sizes bigger than mine. I am realizing how full of "men" my house is going to be in the coming years. There is probably not enough Febreeze in the world…. but, I digress.)

Your favorite sports are still are basketball and swimming, although if anyone asks you right now, you say you hate swimming and want to quit. This isn't actually true… you're just worried about having to swim two lengths of butterfly this summer. I know this because you bring it up at least once a day, and that's on a good day. One a bad day, I might hear about your swimming angst about a dozen times.  Every start of swim season is rocky because of some new worry. Last year was the same. I wish we could fast-forward to the part where you are excited because that's way more fun. But such is life with an anxious kid.

You also love to write. Notebooks upon notebooks FILLED with stories, lists for stories, and outlines for stories and games you want to create. I'm kind of envious of how much you crank out, honestly. If we go somewhere, it's common to see you grab your notebook and favorite pen so you can write while we drive.

Currently, you also love all things Pokemon (again) and Ninjago (again) and science (always).

You've done an amazing job with the HUGE transition of switching schools midyear. You are thriving at your new school and look forward to going every day. I'm so proud of you for the courage you had to do that! I know it wasn't easy.

You are still the serious, contemplative kid you have been since the day you were born, always the straight man to your brothers' comedy duo.

I just got the rare opportunity to spend almost an entire week with just you around since you were on spring break by yourself. You've morphed into this neat "big kid", who is really fun to hang out and go places with.  :)

I love the person you are and the person you are becoming!

Happy birthday, B!

Love, Mom