11.11.11

11.11.11 ~ A year of learning.

Owen, today you turn eight on a pretty neat day (11.11.11) and, yet again, you had a fantastic year of being a kid. You wear the burden of being the older brother perfectly and serve as a wonderful guide for your brother. You are an independent spirit not overly interested in following the crowd, but rather in following your own interests with a degree of certainty that is amazing. Those passions include taekwondo, video games, riding your bike, playing with your friends, legos (of course), watching Castle with Mom before you go to bed, and and every growing interest in reading. Watching you read more and more this year has really been amazing. You have suddenly moved from just reading words, to truly understanding what you are reading. Just the other day, as I picked you up from school, you jumped in the car and told me you had five pages left in your book. When we got home, you rushed to the living room to finish the book and were eager to start the next book in the series. While simple, it’s so fun to watch the world open up to you a little more every single day!

This year:

After a year hiatus from your bike (after you crashed into a puddle with Poppy Tom), you rode your new Specialized HotRock like never before. With Dad’s passion for riding, it was particularly rewarding to see you take to the freedom of your bike.
You told mom that you are going to be an engineer when you grow up. Somehow, I believe that. You have a passion for building things, understanding how things work, and a degree of precision and design in everything you build that will serve you well as you grow.
You continued to have a thirst for learning. This summer we went to Chicago for the first time and it was fascinating to watch you navigate the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry. You sucked up knowledge like I’ve never seen before.

While watching all of this my love for you grows deeper every day. I’m also glad to report that our tradition of a hug and a kiss right before bedtime continues. It’s simply my favorite part of the day, and I hope it doesn’t stop any time soon. I hope you know that with each of those hugs I grow prouder and prouder of the boy your are becoming. Eight years old. Hard to believe. I love you Owen! Happy Birthday buddy!

Here are my memories of your year:

Eight: Owen, I couldn’t be prouder of you!