You are 8. In eight more years you will be ...driving?! No! It can't be.
But I admit that it is becoming more evident with each passing month that you are leaving a little bit of your defining "little" boy traits behind. On to big boy stuff... and big teeth and gangly limbs and more defined facial features, I can see glimpses of the kind of man you will be. Not only in your more defined jaw line and the feet that were actually two sizes bigger than I had estimated when they were measured at the shoe store but in your increasing patience, and insight and initiative and sense of humor and depth of thought. You interact with your little siblings some days with a responsible big brotherly leadership role with eye rolls at their sillyness and the wherewithal to pick up your baby brother and comfort him or give him a bottle. Other days you are the most silly of them all. I take these increasingly rare moments with more sustained perspective now as I see the glimpses at this cusp of changing childhood stages as a mix of who you were and who you are becoming.
You are concerned with doing the right thing, and doing it exactly right. It is no surprise that intricate lego sets with specific instructions and 1000 pieces are your favorite past time. You enjoy your circuit sets, mine craft and really any activity that involves creating anything. You have a list of inventions you will create when you are an inventor/engineer and I have no doubt you will be.
You are passionate about kung fu and practice diligently. It is your favorite night of the week. You are less passionate about the piano and the practicing we force you to do...but once you get playing we can see that it is rewarding to have such seemingly effortless skill. That effortless talent is something that is a blessing to you in most areas, but when you encounter something that offers an unsuspecting challenge you will not stop until you have mastered it. I admire many of these character qualities in you. You are so inquisitive and curious. You have good initiative and as serious as you can be, also love to laugh and have a fun loving side that is so endearing. Just as when you were a baby your face can go so quickly from the most serious of looks to a smile that lights up your whole face.
I told you recently that no one in the whole world could ever love you as much as your mother. You said "really?!".
Oh yes. Really.
I love you, and I am so proud of you.
Happy birthday Benny!
I love every inch of you and every moment of being your mother.
Mommy xoxo
