Eleven

Happy 11th Birthday, Owen! You've reminded me all week that you're only 6 days, then 5 days, then 4 days (and so on) away from being eleven.   In the whole of your young life, this is the first time I remember you looking forward to your birthday with anticipation. We (your father and I) spent a lot of time tiptoeing around your birthday in years past.  You were not a fan of getting older and couldn't understand why you had to turn six or seven or eight when you were perfectly content with being five or six or seven.  You also hated (hated)birthday parties and being the center of all that unwanted "blow out your birthday candle" hoopla.  As for the singing of the "Happy Birthday" song, from your fourth birthday on you have given me strict instructions that no one should sing that song for you. Ever. (As an aside, you were so very cute on your second birthday when you sat under the dining room table until the song was over and on your third birthday when you took the Thomas train right off the top of the cake and walked away before we could finish the song).  Of course this change in your attitude surrounding your birthday is just one of the many changes I've seen in you this year. There are the obvious things (you keep outgrowing the bottoms of your pants and the ends of your shoes) and there are the not so obvious too.  You have gained a confidence in your own abilities that you didn't have this time last year.  You're trying new things and it doesn't take nearly as much effort for you to move out of your comfort zone.  More times than not now, you can tell me why you are angry or upset rather than just storming off to your room and closing the door (although this still happens from time to time and since you're related to me, I fear that controlling that angry gene is going to be a lifelong endeavor for you.) I was talking to your Aunt Stacey about you recently and telling her that as difficult as parenting was (at times) during the early years of your childhood, this last year with you has been absolutely wonderful - I'm in the sweet spot of parenting these days. You aren't perfect, but you are, quite frankly, a joy to parent.   If I were to try to come up with a list of things I'd like for you to work on, it would be made up of such mundane items that it's really not worth taking the time to make the list (although I may nominate your room for an episode of "Hoarders" in the near feature - but you already know this).  I hope you believe me when I tell you how proud I am to be your momma - how lucky, how blessed.  And as sad as I am today that your childhood is flying by at warp speed, I'm looking forward to your future.  You, my sweet boy, are a great kid! I'd love to say "let's go eat some birthday cake!", but since you don't like cake all that much, maybe just a sugar cookie?  Or a slice of pizza? Or maybe a movie? Whatever you want, it is your birthday.