Yes, we now have an eight year old, as of September 17th at 3:23 in the afternoon. I'm swallowing eight about as well as when you have to take one of those huge horse pills and it gets stuck right in the middle of your throat. Yep, it's going down hard on me. Don't know if it's the juxtaposition of having a new baby, the hormones (for me) that come along with having a new baby, that we had to give Addison deodorant already (what on earth will adolescence smell like- yikes!), or that we had our first sleepover this past weekend to usher in a new era of parenting, but eight just seems a lot older than he should be. That's my baby. The son of my youth. Half of the time I still feel so young myself it doesn't seem possible that I'm seeing this guy grow up before my very eyes.
But he is. And as sad as I am that time is stealing away my little boy and slowly replacing him with a little man, I am also looking forward to this next season of life for him. I am so proud of the person he is already at a young age that I can't wait to see how that will continue to unfold and develop as time and maturity begin to be poured onto the foundation that's been laid. I think one of the reasons I am having such a hard time with it is my own fears and insecurities about that foundation we are helping shape and build for him. I am not far enough along in this process to know if I will always have those I-hope-I'm-doing-right-by-my-kids moments, but I imagine you probably always will as a parent. It seems the older he's getting those moments are feeling weightier with the responsibility of making sure we're being good stewards of this great gift God has given us in our son (and all our kids for that matter). The good news is that it's not really all about us. God has written his book of days before he had his first breath, so ultimately I know His grace covers our shortcomings and I believe He is merciful and faithful to lead and guide Addison in that path. And that He will guide us as parents as well.
I know, I know- it sounds like he's about to be a teenager or something. I'm aware that we still have some precious years of boyhood ahead of us to celebrate, but with this one we have lots of moments that feel like he's older than he is. We are trying to slow him down more than speed him up most of the time in many departments. But that's also part of who he is that we love so much. Here's a snapshot, literally and figuratively, of Addison at eight:
- He is becoming a voracious reader. We love that he loves reading and are amazed at the level in which he does so. When I tested him back in the spring, he was reading between a 6th-7th grade reading level. He reads chapter books and will sometimes finish one in a day, depending on the book. He loves Hank the Cowdog, Loud Boy, and Captain Underpants to name a few. He reads the Bible a lot also, which is really awesome. Readers are leaders, buddy!
- Still all up in video/computer games. He really likes what he calls "strategy games" that he has to think about. Currently the cool thing is to download games on Daddy's iPad.
- Daddy has gotten him into Fantasy Football with him. Being a guy that loves stats and such, he is having fun keeping up with the games and how well Daddy's team is doing. He is into pretty much anything with Daddy these days, as a matter of fact. He's really identifying with "guy" stuff, and he has been desiring and requesting more and more "quality time" (as he will call it) with his Daddy. Daddy is happy to oblige.
- He is a sponge for trivia and general knowledge. He loves to "quiz" anybody and everybody on any and every topic.
- Still hasn't outgrown the famous Addison hand shake- anything exciting from a game to something on TV, he shakes his hands and sometimes his whole body! I wonder how long he will have this trait. We still get a kick out of it, even though he's done it for years.
- He is such a good big brother. Always has been, but we've been seeing it even more since Jaxon has been born. He has helped so much with his sister- sometimes I think he's more patient with her than I am! There have been days when I go upstairs to tell them it's rest time, and he's already helped her get into bed (because he's been watching the clock) and turned on her music. We have heard him go and comfort her at night when she's gotten out of bed. And of course they play together and will have their moments, but for a big brother with a little sister, he is so tender and caring with her. Like I said, they do have their moments of course :) I am looking forward to seeing him with Jaxon as he get older and takes him under his wing as well.
- Still a super hero guy through and through. When we moved earlier this year, I asked him if he wanted to redo his room into something else, thinking maybe he would want something cooler and older. But he was very adamant that he wanted the same super hero room he had and didn't want to change anything. I think part because he still loves superheroes and part because he doesn't change things up very often. He's very much a stick-to-what-you-like, vanilla, plain cheerios kind of guy :)
- His heart for God continues to grow and grow. He has shed tears over things like worrying that he loves his parents more than God to mention one specific example (which at his age we certainly didn't want him feeling bad about that so that was a little tricky). His concern with loving God and people is very genuine, and it's always so touching to see that manifest at different moments.
- He has strong convictions. And I mean strong convictions. If he is convinced and has concluded through reasoning (that sometimes makes sense and sometimes doesn't) that the sky is green, good luck trying to persuade him that it's blue. I am certain that when he takes the Strength Finders evaluation one day Belief will no doubt be one of his themes. This is and will probably always be a blessing and a curse in his life that he will have to wrestle through and sort out. Of course at eight years old, it can prove to be a challenge to us as parents because he can tend to think he is the expert on things and can have a hard time with being teachable on something he thinks he already knows. But when it comes to convictions about Kingdom things, this will be a wonderful thing because he will not be easily shaken or persuaded.
- He has, and has always had, perfect pitch. Love to hear him sing. He has also inherited my ability to hear a song like once and know the words and how it goes. This will come in handy, from personal experience :)
- Something that he has also seemed to inherit, from both Mommy and Daddy, is that little bit of perfectionist streak. The good side of that is that if he does something it will be done well and exactly how it is supposed to be done. The dark side of perfectionism is the tremendous fear of failure. We are really working through this right now, because he will want to quit too quickly if he thinks he is not going to be able to do something. Or be instantly good at something. We're trying to really encourage an adventurous spirit to try new things. And always remind him it's okay to mess up, be wrong, and even not succeed at something right away and try, try again. He's way too hard on himself!
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