Taylor, Matthew & Brayden: My Baby Turned 7

My Baby Brayden,

You turned seven today. SEVEN! How are you possibly seven when sometimes (okay, most of the time) you act like you are four? I have joked with my friends that you are seven going on four. I do not mean this as a dig to you and the awesome little boy that you are. It's just that you do not seem old enough/mature enough to be seven years ago. I suppose birth order plays a role here. You will always be the baby of the family. You will always be my last child to reach important milestones, wrap up a season of my parenthood journey, and remind me of the years that have quickly gone by.

You are the 3rd seven-year old I have raised. By comparison, you are far behind the other two at age seven. Again, this is not meant to sound negative. It is just an observation. I mention it here so that I can remember how you and Matty and Taylor differed in your childhood. You are still very needy. You need me to do things for you that you should be able to do yourself. Some days, I still dress you. There are many, many nights that I have to personally escort you up the stairs to brush your teeth. And you still hold your pee and do "the tinkle dance" like a preschooler. I cannot tell you how many times a day I ask you to go to the bathroom! You also whine. A lot - similar to a tantrum. You also say things that are hurtful (like "I wish I was never born" and "I hate my life" and I wish I was dead.") but I know it is just from your frustration. Some of these idiosyncrasies may have to do with your anxiety. You do not like to be away from me, so you tend to be my shadow. When you wait for me to escort you to brush your teeth, it is because you do not like to go upstairs by yourself.

Despite your immaturity, you are a model student. Mrs. Thomas continues to sing your praises, constantly telling me what a star you are in the classroom. You are a good listener, you are always on task, and you are a good leader for the other children. There have been times that I've been at your school to volunteer with your siblings' classes, and I will sneak by your class and peek in. You rarely see me, but I see a very dedicated little boy, working so very hard at his desk.

You engineering brain never ceases to amaze me. Your questions and observations about the world around you are astonishing. I joke with my friends that you must think I am a complete moron. You ask me questions on a daily basis that I cannot answer. You must be so sick of me saying, "Gee, Brayden, I am not exactly sure," or "Let's look that up online tomorrow." Your latest obsession is airplanes and drones. You make paper airplanes daily, we read books about airplanes, and you enjoy telling me all about how the planes get their energy.

We celebrated your birthday last Saturday at Dynasty Fitness. It is a gym that has an American Ninja Warrior-like course. You had 14 friends come and you all had a great time climbing on the equipment. On your own accord, you asked that your friends NOT bring you birthday presents, but instead, you asked that they bring gift cards for the homeless. When you came up with this idea, it made me beam with pride to be your mommy. Now, we have lots of gift cards to hand out when we see homeless men and women. For your birthday today, you opened presents and ate cinnamon rolls before school. Favorite gifts include a phone watch (more on that later), a rocket blaster, a drone, and a new ozobot. Later, Daddy and I came to your school and saw you at lunch. Usually, I bring in food for your birthday lunch, but your request was for "fried rice and a birthday card in my lunch box." Then, I volunteered for your class's library time. Because your birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, you were out of school at 1:30 (early dismissal on Wednesdays). We went to the Museum of Flight this afternoon and then met Grandma and Pop Pop at Tokyo for dinner. We capped off your birthday with some frozen yogurt. Needless to say, it was a good day.

Other observations:

You have not lost a single tooth. I do not believe any are loose either.
You are long and lean. You are super thin and have a runner's body.
You have the cutest freckles on the bridge of your nose.
Your hair is still wirey and sticks up in the back. It is your look. Crazy-hair Brayden!
You say "chicken" and "banana" about 20 times a day. It is your token answer to a lot of questions.
You jump up and down and flap your arms hundreds, if not thousands, of times a day. You do this mostly while playing video games and watching movies that are exciting. Recently, we have watched "Back to the Future" parts 1, 2, & 3 as a family. Whenever Marty and Doc Brown were trying to start the time machine, you would stand up from the couch and jump during the entire scene. There are also mornings when you ask to play video games, and I say "no" because it is too early to wake up your siblings from the pounding of your jumping.
You love art. You love making books. You will occupy yourself for hours coloring, cutting, gluing, and writing. We recently moved the art table from the play room into your bedroom, and you are so happy about it!
You say the funniest things. Of course, I always intend to write them down and then I forget what you said. The other day, we were watching your sister at a dance performance, and the break dancers from her studio were dancing. I started clapping my hands to the beat of the music (like others in the audience) and I cheered from time to time. You begged me to stop it because it was "ruining your enjoyment of the performance." What a mature statement from a seven-year old!
You still need affirmation. "Mom, aren't you happy that I am a good student?" "Mom, aren't you glad that I am helping you?"
Your best friend is still Owen. Our neighbor Andy is also a favorite.
You do not have a favorite color. You said that you like all colors in the rainbow except anything that is a poop color (brown and greenish brown).
You are a great eater, the least picky of my three. The other day, I was trimming green beans for dinner, and you kept coming over and grabbing raw green beans by the handfuls! You say your favorite food is sushi.
You love to help me cook dinner. You pull up a chair to the counter and ask me for jobs. Years from now, I am going to miss my little sous chef.
Recently, your anxiety has returned. I am not a psychologist, and you sure have me stumped as to why you get nervous. We talk about all the reasons you should feel safe and loved. I have never left you home alone and I am at the bus stop every day when you get home from school. If anything strays from your usual plan, you lose your marbles. Yesterday, I needed to pick you and your siblings up from school at the end of the day, and you had a meltdown when I told you. You cried and said that you were nervous and wanted to ride the bus home. I promised you that I would have the front office call for you before the final bell rang, and I would be waiting for you in the office, and you still whined and cried. So, then I had to play a little reverse psychology on you and told you to ride the bus home as usual. Once I said that, you agreed to let me pick you up. Oy! Some mornings are mentally exhausting.
You have been begging me for a phone watch for the past month. I mentioned this device a while ago during one of your panic attacks. I asked if it would help your anxiety if you could call me when you felt scared, and I mentioned that I thought there is a watch out there that has cellular capabilities. Well, it turns out that there is such a watch. Daddy and I switched our cell phone plans from AT&T to T-Mobile as a result, because T-Mobile has the watch and its cellular plan is only $5/month. This watch allows you to program up to ten phone numbers, and it will only make/receive calls from those ten numbers. You were ecstatic when you opened the watch today. You called me and Daddy all morning from inside the house, but then you decided not to wear the watch to school. Haha. You can imagine how well it went over with your older brother and sister that you have a phone number before they do!
You still stifle your smile at times when you are happy. When you get on the bus in the mornings, I will wave to you through the window and make silly faces. You try so hard not to smile at me, and I will always love the memories of your little half smiles.
Your favorite movie is "The Polar Express."
Your favorite sport is soccer. Second favorite is basketball. No mention of baseball from you. You have mentioned that you would like to try track.
You get along best with Taylor. You and Matty tend to argue more, but I think it is mostly Matty instigating things. Whenever you feel anxious going to school, your sister and brother step up and walk with you to the bus, sit with you, and reassure you that everything is going to be okay.
When I asked what you would like to be when you grow up, you said you want to fight in the war. I pray this is only because we took you to the Museum of Flight today for your birthday, and we looked at a lot of WW2 airplanes.

Brayden, you complete our family in the best way. You make us laugh and keep us young. My prayer for you on your 7th birthday is that you grow and mature and feel confident wherever you are. You shine a bright light and make all of those around you smile. As I say to you all the time, I am so grateful God gave you to me. I am beyond blessed to be your mommy.

I love you, Fufamaloo,

Mommy