Birthdaycraft

Dear Ben,

Here we are again on the eve of another birthday for you. No really. I know it feels like you just turned seven, but I have it on good authority that tomorrow, my little buddy man, you turn eight. While the time has flown by yet again, you have still managed to somehow grow and develop so much compared to a year ago. You have continued to excel in school, especially in math where last spring you moved ahead a year into a second grade class. Even there you surpassed standards and adapted quite well to the material as well as to working with older kids in both your math class and your specials. This school year you have continued into third grade math, and were just evaluated to see if you were ready for fourth grade since you have yet to find a good fit in your current class. You are still doing incredibly well with your reading, too, and have finally started to find some books that challenge you but also keep you interested. This has made bedtime a whole lot easier for your parents, as you no longer argue about having to complete your reading homework. Since reading is so important to the rest of your family, I am glad to see that you have started to enjoy it too.

You have also become quite the athlete. Last year your soccer season was cut short when you broke your ankle, but you made up for it this year for sure! You did so well on the field both from a skill standpoint and by demonstrating teamwork. I was so proud of you. You have also been really focused in Karate since you got your last belt. You had to learn all the techniques for green belt as well as about half of the Kempos from the previous belts when you were too young to be trained in them. I am amazed at how quickly you have picked up many of these new techniques, and I am so proud of how hard you are working.

So while you sleep tonight and dream of all the wonderful things you will do when you turn eight (such as build your "row"bot that you got from Auntie Leah), know that your Daddy is proud of his little man, and I will always love you to the moon and back. If I can leave you with just a little advice for your coming year, it would be to continue to focus on the journey and taking satisfaction from the challenges along the way. Life is about the journey, not the destination. Oh yeah, and don't mine at night.

Love,
Daddy