For Noah at 9, Love Mommy

It has come to this ... NINE years old. Wow!  I guess it was time, wasn't it, my sweet?  It was.  It really was. Already, you make a fantastic nine year old.  I have seen it in you for months now.  There's not a thing I don't like about the person you are turning into - all the subtle ways you are slowly and surely morphing into a strong and solid man.  I see a sweet new maturity in you peeking out around every corner these days - a reliable man in the making.  I see the energy you put behind your work and your activities - an honest man in the making. I see a deeper confidence emerging in your demeanor and your speech - a quiet leader in the making.  I see a boy who is learning to rise to challenges he didn't care to tackle before - a capable man in the making. I see the brightness in your eyes when you receive accolades for your work and efforts and I see how that motivates you to keep it up - a successful man in the making.  I see your quickness to respond to correction, your growing knowledge of scripture and its application, and your willingness and comfort with leading in prayer - a godly man in the making.  In the meantime, all of this just goes to show what a great kid you are til then, Noah! And your birthday is just a fun opportunity to celebrate you and document fun details about who you are in the right now.

You at 9 ...

• You have "pasta salad" looking curls (your words) when it is long and wet.  Love them!  I always grieve a little when it's time for your next haircut.
• You remain unabashedly amused by all body functions involving smells and sounds.
• This includes your reckless abandon jiggling your body around so I can hear the liquid sloshing around in your belly.
• Daddy still puts y'all to bed every night with bible study, tucking in, goodnight kisses, and all.  I tell him you guys are old enough to go to bed by yourself, but he makes no apologies for his nighttime routines with you.  He promises to give you kisses at bedtime until you a have a beard of your own. ♥
• Anna NEVER stops to wave at me when I drop her off, which makes the memory of you always, always waving at me at kindergarten drop-off even sweeter.  You even did it again recently when I dropped you off at co-op a couple times this spring.  Love that about you!
• Your chores involve dust-busting, watering plants, cleaning bathrooms, checking the mail, bringing in the trash cans, putting away your clothes, cleaning up the playroom and your room.
• Your giggling has not subsided over the years.  Your innocent and happy heart is still always ready to giggle.  Speaking of innocence, you still believe in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny.
• You are big enough to use a backless booster now - hooray!  You weigh 53 lbs and are 48 inches tall. Both measurements are still very small for your age. This is the first year that it has bothered you and that hurts my heart for you. 
• You are committed to having your closet doors closed at night and having multiple night lights on, not necessarily because you are scared but just because that's how you like it.
• You were AMAZING learning and mastering your multiplication facts this year, and have seamlessly moved into your division facts as well.  You completed your second homeschool year with ease and much more enjoyment in our routine and academic requirements than the year before.  Grade 2.5 was just the ticket.  Now you are full-fledged 3rd grader ... and one who is already ahead of the game in several subjects ... all in the language arts family.  You maintained A/B honor roll all year long in all your subjects. I went broke paying you for your good grades and your AR points ... of which you earned 127.5!!

 

• Tending to your first foster brothers, Erick and Aiden, was the most natural and enjoyable thing for you.  It blessed my heart more than you know.  You did struggle a little with the loss of your usual one-on-one downtime with Daddy, though. 
• Foods you, my before now good eater, hate currently - hot dogs, BBQ, potatoes, bananas. 
• You are sometimes overly eager/anxious waiting for friends or company or small group to come over.  You often hear me chiding you to take it down a notch by telling you to relax or chill out.
• You are the kind of brother that evokes loves from your sister.  That's a big deal!

 

• Being nine meant you could finally get your own pocket-knife and get to see The Hobbit. Your daddy and I love getting to enjoy these movies all over again through your eyes.
• You have the softest skin - face, arms, legs, hands, feet.  All of you!
• Dressing yourself right continues to be a challenge ... you never match shirts with right shorts, you cannot remember what the heck "khaki" means, the term "jean shorts" stumps you every time I tell you to find some, and at least twice a week I have to stop on our way out the door to notify you that YOUR SHIRT IS ON BACKWARDS. Heaven help us.
• You learned to use an electric drill while working with Daddy recently.  You are also learning to code.  Your and Daddy's latest project is your Lego Mindstorm robot.
• If remotes are ever lost, I can be sure to find them stuffed in your default spot in the living room - the leather chair - that you have to sit and turn sideways/backwards to watch TV from because I won't let you put your shoes in the chair and you just refuse to take them off.

 

• Still the foot quirk continues ... it's a battle to get you barefoot or in shoes that don't also require socks.
• You have created quite a trademark at recess at co-op this year with your ever-popular tennis ball.  Your friends' moms report back to me often about how their kids don't accept their offers of toys to bring for recess because they "play with Noah and his tennis ball."  It never leaves your backpack between Thursdays ... and we have always have some on hand in the car.
• You had a scary reaction to dates this year so that is another food we will avoid just to be safe.  Your peanut allergy has not gone down and neither has your lactose intolerance.  I started you on a probiotic and some kefir to see if we can't help that out a bit.  In other disappointing allergy news, your dog allergy has returned and you cat allergy has remained as well.  And just to keep things crazy, you reacted to dandelions this month, blistering up in hives on your wrist and hands.  Never a dull moment in terms of your body interacting with its environment. : /
• You have become very interested in people with missing limbs or other physical deformities.  I suggested you might like to be a physical therapist one day.
• You are still not much of a breakfast eater.  It's a trial to make you get anything in your stomach each morning.
• You get so amped up playing Wii.  You just can't sit still. Always bouncing in excitement between plays.  Mario Baseball and Skylanders are your regulars.

• You have become quite the hunter of coins on any and all errands we run.  And you hardly ever come up empty-handed.  You and your sister are saving up for a dog so you put them in a special bank for just that cause. 
• Also, you love to waste those coins on candy and vending machines.  Oh, the allure of those coin-operated machines.  No matter what I say, I cannot dissaude you from your being enamored by them.
• Mommyisms you hear from me often include, "Don't make me do your thinking for you," "Are you promoting peace or stirring up trouble?" and "Choose wisdom, son. Wisdom blesses and protects you."
• I recently let you return a buggy to Kroger from my parking spot waaaaaaay back in the lot all by yourself.  You had to navigate around people and cars and traffic and return it inside the building and watch before crossing the street.  You loved being trusted with that responsibility.  You did it carefully and just like I instructed. When you got back to the car you said you would really like to get to do that again. :)
• You man second base again this year in baseball and have seen the most improvement in your catching and withitness playing the field.

• You get along with all your peers awesomely, but you still seem to gravitate towards kids just slightly younger than you.  Which is totally fine!  
• You often jump into conversations you overhear me having with Daddy and ask questions and/or guess wrong conclusions based on the bits of discussion you have heard.  You never quite have the facts right. I mean, you will be so off and misinformed, that we can't even answer or explain it to you.  I usually just shake my head at the silliness and tell you to go back to what you were doing. 
• Shows you watch these days are Word Girl, Odd Squad, Star Wars Rebels, Lego Legends of Chima, America's Funniest Home Videos, and a new one called Tom and Jerry Tales. 
• To accommodate our in-and-out Jonah's Journey visitors, you happily moved your bedroom back to where the classroom was, where your room was when we first moved here almost seven years ago.  It looks like this at the moment ... we are still transitioning your wall decor from the old room over.

• You have had an explosion of vocabulary this year. You are so much more verbal than ever before. Daddy says he even sees it in your downtime - where you used to hum and sing while you played Legos, now you gab, gab, gab, gab, gab!  Or whistle. :}
• You are such a grateful kid - always making a point to thank us for taking you to different places, trips, special occasions, etc.  I love how alert you are to what others have done or provided for you.  That sort of consideration will go a long way for you in your life.
• I would like to submit these adjectives for describing you that slightly differ from the ones you chose for yourself on your birthday survey.  I describe you as social, gentle, positive, teachable, thoughtful, friendly, cautious, anxious, active, silly, noisy.
• Your favorite song is actually Sweet Home Alabama this year and that cracks me up.
• Your teacher at co-op, Mrs. Steen, has been impressed with all the bible verses you know before she has even assigned them.  So it followed that you were awarded the Enthusiastic Bible Memorizer Award.  May it always be so - that you are known for your knowing (and living) God's word. 

Things you've said:

• When you over heard me say to Daddy, "Hey, my knee feels better," you thought I said, "Hermione feels better." We got a chuckle out of that one.  This happened during a season of reading and watching Harry Potter, of course.
• You spelled Calvin, your stuffed bear since your baby days,  COWvin.
• You called Columbus Day Clumsy Day trying to remind me what holiday was upcoming.
• When you saw me with concealer dotted on my face, you said I looked like an Indian.
• You do not accept that festival is pronounced with a v; you are committed and unapologetic about saying it with a b.  Same goes for Ritz crackers; you can't break the habit of calling them Rich crackers.  And tazer.  You heard it on Despicable Me 2 and you repeat it but you say it "tizer" no matter how much I tell you it's tazer and that I know what I am talking about.  You do not accept that. Ha!
• You prayed for me when I got lost in Nashville, prayed for the rain to go away on Halloween, and praised the Lord for his answer when we saw it.  In the rare times I have to get onto you for stirring up strife with your sister, you are quick to pray for help getting along with her.  
• When Erick and Aiden were scared of the noisy trees in the yard on a windy, windy day, you responded so naturally, "Don't be afraid, the Lord will protect you."  Anna added, "It's just like our song, 'Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.'"  When Erick was still nervous, you encouraged him again saying, "That's just the wind. God makes it."  And Anna, right by your side, backed you up saying, "And that's just the trees ... praising the Lord and saying, 'Oh, Mighty God!'" And she put her hands high in the air as she said it and you put your hands on Erick to comfort him.  I put my hands to my face and wiped away tears of joy and pride over your testimony to your foster brothers.
• You often drop declarations of "I love you" when I least expect it. 
• When I tortured you by making you smell my stinky breath, you insisted it smelled like "soup and salad and chocolate bars".  Of all things.
• Far into your zombie stage of recreation, you often randomly growl/squeak out, "Brains."  We have the DS game Plants vs. Zombies to thank for that, I suppose. :}  That game also inspired your latest pet project - growing a venus fly trap.
• Goofy words you created that get used often around here by you AND your sister are Eck Eck Em and Summy Summy Ho. They are used in all manner of speech and scenario and silliness.
• You used the word "prefer" a lot. I kinda adore it.
• You are at this stage where you seem to want to fill the air with repeated jokes and mindless commentary.  Bless your heart though, it gets annoying to be around.  I have taken to reminding you lately that "if you would like to have a conversation, please do.  But don't just fill the air with noise if not."  Papa astutely commented after that, "I like you the way you are. You don't have to impress me."  Is that why you try so hard to make people laugh?  Quite possibly.
• You asked, "Will I ever have to go live with another family, like Erick and Aiden?"
• You asked, "If I had been born in Mommy's tummy instead of Tania's tummy would I still have a peanut allergy?"
• When it came time to call Tania and Justin on your birthday, you jumped to do it as soon as I offered and you conducted that whole call with them yourself.  You were so comfortable and well-spoken!  I grinned the entire time at how you would help conversation along.  Tania texted right after the call to remark on how well-spoken you were, too.  You had so much more to say this year compared to years' past. It was really something!

While the list is long that names all your sweet buddies, on your birthday you only asked to have our old Bible study friends join us for cake.  Let the record show, though, that you would have LOVED an official party.  That'll be next year!

It was delightful watching you discover your surprises.

This year's birthday presents included:  microscope/slides, dino excavation kit, hexbug, throwback net for ball practice, Sounds tickets, zombies, Stink books, pocketknife, money, and a lego set, of course. :}

I just cannot believe this was your last birthday in single digits!  It is getting real over here! What a fantastic trip is has been thus far raising you, my precious boy.  I said it last year and I say it still - your daddy and I are having the time of our lives being your parents.  What a gift you are and every day it is new!  You are such a joy, you are so beautiful, you are ferociously loved.

Happy Birthday all over again, Noah Brown!

Love for you always, always, always, always, always,
Mommy