Brayden,
You turned eight years old last week. We celebrated your birthday while on vacation with Mimi, Baba, Uncle Ryan, and SMAC near Zion National Park. You could not contain your excitement for your special day. You talked about it all week, going so far as to say you hoped everyone would be sitting in the family room, waiting for you when you woke up on your birthday. You were awake when daddy and I crawled out of bed (we were all sharing a room) but you waited for us to leave the room before you woke up Taylor and Matty to make your grand appearance. Brayden, your innocence and lack of desire to grow up is so refreshing! As I said in my Facebook post about your birthday, you are beautifully and wonderfully made.
Daddy and I gave you a Nintendo Switch for your birthday. You are in heaven. You have thanked me no less than 20 times for giving you such an awesome gift.
After Uncle Scott made breakfast burritos, you played Mario Cart on your Switch before we left to go hiking in Zion. Mimi and Baba came with us, and we did a 2-mile hike to the Narrows. We came home and made carnitas for dinner and celebrated you with cake and ice cream. Uncle Ryan serenaded you and we all laughed and laughed at his funny voices.
Thanks to Covid, we have not planned your birthday party yet. Our governor issued another Stay-at-Home order through 1/4, so who knows if we will be able to have one this year? I remember that we never had an 8th birthday party for Matty either, so maybe this is a good year to skip? Regardless, I hope you know how much we love and adore you. We would do anything (well, almost anything) to make you happy.
Tidbits about you at 8-years old:
- In the past 8-months, you have become addicted to video games. Addicted. You think about video games when you are not playing them. If Matty is taking a turn playing Fortnite on the Xbox, you pick up your iPad to play Roblox. Every day I watch you go into this dark whole of video games and I stress out about what this is doing to your social development. I fear you are frying your brain. But in the times of Covid, and in a rental house, there is little else to do. Ugh.
- You talk nonstop. You talk and talk and talk to me about things that I have no interest in learning about. Many times, I have to walk away from you while you are mid-sentence because you will not stop talking... and the best part is that you continue talking! Because my office is just around the corner from your school work station, you talk and talk and talk to me throughout the day. I love your little chatter but it is so very hard to get work done. And when I am trying to concentrate and you talk to me anyways, I have to be very stern with you to BE. QUIET.
- You do not take yourself seriously. Daddy and I love that you can laugh at yourself.
- You best friend is still Owen Park. Brookie Beppu comes in at a close second. Those are the two friends you've had sleepovers with in the past few months. Other buddies include Andy Feldpausch, Drew McNamara, Carsen Brown, Tyler Stone, and Ezra Chong. In the past months, I have become concerned with your social skills because you would rather stay home than hang out with friends.
- Your favorite food is California rolls. I think it's funny that you said this is your favorite food because I cannot think of the last time you ate them. Personally, I think your favorite food is fried rice or chicken fingers.
- You do not know what you want to be when you grow up. You said that you have lots of time to think about it.
- Your favorite color is rainbow colors.
- Your favorite movie is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. This was another funny response from you because I have never seen this movie. I guess you've watched it on Netflix on your own? You also still love The Polar Express.
- Your favorite sport is skiing. You love love love skiing and cannot wait to get back on the slopes again.
- You anxiety seems to be under control... for now.
- You are still long and lean. Just last night, you ran downstairs naked before you showered and put on a little show for the rest of us. We just laughed and laughed as you shook your bootie and talked about your ding dong flying around.
- The last two times you have had your hair cut, we have cut it really short. It looks so much better this way without your long, lettuce head!
- You have the cutest freckles on your nose.
- You still jump up and down and flap your arms in excitement.
- You still whine more than you should for your age. I have joked with people that you are 7 going on 4 years old.
- You are the messiest eater. We can always tell where you sat when you ate because the crumbs are everywhere.
- You've lost four teeth. Your top front tooth is starting to come down. I will miss your toothless smile.
- Unlike your big brother, you still love to give me kisses and you'll say several times a day, "Mom, I love you." I adore your affection for me.
- You are in speech therapy (remotely for now) through school. You meet with a speech therapist once a week for 30 minutes. You will not let me listen to your sessions, so I have no idea if they are helpful or not. You have started saying your "ls" correctly, but I can tell you think before saying an "l" word because you sort of over-pronounce these words (love, like, lemon, listen, etc). You still have a hard time with "th." You say "somefing" instead of "something."
- You had an excellent first trimester report card. If you need to work on anything, it is reading/phonics. I am most proud that you received excellent "grades" for your behavior. Your teacher said that you are consistently showing respect, responsibility, collaboration, persistence, flexibility, listening, etc.
- I am trying to update this blog post about you and you have interrupted me about 10 times. AHHH!
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