Aidan counts down his birthday like I do- and I both love it. I love how excited he is. I love how fun he his, how smart he his, how compassionate he is and how empathetic he is. I love having conversations with him. I love hearing about what interests him (even if I can’t always understand the latest video game/science puzzle/math challenge).

He has a great group of friends, he’s doing well in school and is enjoying his after school activities. He can’t wait to get to jujitsu, enjoys practicing his piano piece and really likes his story writing class.  And I’ve never met anyone who loves to read more.  He mades us proud in so many ways. And now he is 11.
Aidan’s birthday was a three day celebration. He first had his friends party- a laser tag party with his besties including a couple of girls he has known since first grade. They had lots of fun playing both laser tag and also in the arcade. One friend even gave Aidan his points so he could choose a bigger prize. Aidan really like his Mario cart cake too!

Because of Brendan’s rehearsal schedule he couldn’t make the laser tag party and tech week was starting on Aidan’s birthday. So we had a special family celebration at Aidan’s favorite place- Unos. Bren even told the waitress it was Aidan’s birthday and they snag to him.

Aidan’s birthday started with him waking up to a silly string fight! It was messy and funny! He brought cupcakes to school for his friends and then we had our family party at the house. Chris made and incredible “Luigi death stare” cake. It impressed Aidan!

His favorite gifts included Lego (and gift cards to buy more), Nerf guns and tinker boxes.

Sometimes it’s little moments that make me proud of my kids. One such example happened yesterday.

Aidan has been waiting for weeks to get together with his friend who doesn’t go to the same school anymore. We talked about making plans during school vacation week and he orchestrated the planning with her on their own (no parent texts!). They decided on SkyZone and Brendan invited a friend as well.

It wasn’t overly crowded but SkyZone still has a policy of grouping kids for dodge ball. Aidan realized the grouping meant his friend was with older kids having already turned 11 and he was with Brendan and his friend. He came to me with his concerns. I suggested he could try talking to the front desk.

I followed at a distance to see how he would handle the situation. He respectfully asked if it was possible to change the letter on his name tag since his birthday was in about two weeks and he was with a friend in the older group.  The staff member agreed and went to get a replacement label. Aidan was very proud of himself. And I was proud of hime for taking care of it on his own.

Of course in the end they decided not to play dodge ball. But still a great opportunity to watch Aidan advocate for himself. 11 is coming so soon.