Oh, My 12-Year-Old Noah

Oh my 12 year-old Noah, 

You will hear no groaning from your daddy and me as you turn this new number of a year older. 12!! We love your growing independence and we continue to coax/demand/beg a little more out of you every day here lately.  Pre-teen Noah is such good company! Every new thing you can do on your own now is such a welcome help in our lives.  Going to the neighborhood park by yourself.  Staying home alone for short increments of time.  Managing toddler probs - heck, ANY probs.  🙌🏻 Mowing the lawn. Taking care of responsibilities on your own.  Taking control of recognizing when you need help from an adult and saying so.  You running into the grocery store for me for a few items at a time.  Sitting in the front seat of the car to make room for other stuffs/peoples in the back.  Taking out the trash.  Fixing Lasa's meals and medicines.  Taking care of the bunnies.  Clipping your own toenails ... mostly. 😆  Watching Lasa for me when she wants to play outside and I don't. 😉 As well, as you enter this last pre-teen year, your daddy and I keep coming to terms with what your growing up is leading to.  We are constantly looking over your choices and strengths and interests and giving you food for thought for future job possibilities that will best suit you.  It's fun.  Dreaming together about what you can pour your efforts into down the road.  Some careers we talk about together are paramedic, physical therapist, special ed teacher, zookeeper, nurse, crane operator, fireman, airline pilot, coast guard/emergency rescue that involves JUMPING OUT OF A HELICOPTER to save people/something exciting every day (says the boy), cameraman, vet assistant, disaster relief, and ideas that involve blowing things up (ha!) - demolition of some sort?

The only things we would tweak about you at this age (and indeed we attempt to) is your habit of aggravating Lasa on purpose, using a tattling tone with your sisters rather than teaching/correcting, how easily you want to quit or complain when a task requires more effort than you expected, and that one vice you keep giving into temptation on which I won't go into the details of here, but you know what it is and you keep getting grounded within an inch of your life for, and you know I WILL NEVER LET UP ON YOU REGARDING THIS, so please just embrace wisdom, believe the Lord and your mother on this, and just stop it sooner rather than later. End mini-lecture. Ahem.

This year I read a book that gave me such insight into mother/son relationship dynamics because I felt like I was getting overly upset at you for things which I worried would cause a divide between us that would last longer than these daily conflicts.  The book was called Mother & Son: The Respect Effect, and I am so glad it came across my path.  It helped me see how to interact with you, teach you, correct you, challenge you in such a way that I am keenly aware of (and speaking to) your need for respect as a young man all the while.  The advice in the book has helped immensely and I will be keeping it for review and refreshment for all your coming teen years.  I love you so, my Noah,  and I do respect the man you are growing into and I don't wanna contribute to a resentment in you that I know I felt for my parents at your age and pretty much through all the teen years.  Nope!  Not having it!  You are my precious son and I will keep that at the forefront of all our agreements and conflicts.  I love laughing with you.  I love when you rise to the challenge to problem solve. I love intentionally treating you as a bigger kid so you will rise to that role. I love the pride I see in your posture when you do.  I love how you are working longer hours with Daddy (even though you may not love it as much). I love that you are growing into a copy of your Daddy. I love that you don't even recognize the first cuss words that have crossed your ears in a few new movies this year because we have been able to protect you from that crap thus far.  I love how you responded to the book of Philippians from this year's bible study, how it caught your attention and your interest among all the others. So neat!  I love how your SS teacher's jaw dropped when you rattled off the meaning of sanctification when he posed the question to the class.  I love how task oriented you are in taking care of your responsibilities.  I love what a people person you are and how well you are received by EVERYONE who knows you.  I love how you engage with your birthparents, how you initiate contact with them, how you don't shy away.  I love what a teachable spirit you continue to have. I love how you keep on being so alert to the feelings and needs of those around you; how understanding and sensitive and flexible you are when playing with a new friend who just happens to have a rare form of down syndrome.  I love the great reputation you maintain - your friends' moms like having their boys hang out with you, they are confident that you are a good influence.  I love that you're ours!

Some funny one liners I recently saved that cracked me up when you said them:

• My belly button was crusty this morning.  
• It tastes like dead ladybugs (french fries with skin on them). 
• Your breath smells like rotten turtles.  (while wrestling with Anna)
• I like a cold drink on a hot day. (while sipping some cold root beer after working in the hot sun)
• Oh, this is SO humiliating. (giggling, when I made him cooperate with my pic of the kids feet)

Other Noah bits and pieces these days:

• increasingly pickier eater
• you are hungry all the time it seems
• still such a germaphobe
• and yet you are the kid who got caught putting dirty underwear back on after showers up to three days in a row
• newly into reading graphic novels and You Choose series of books
• less dramatics and exaggerations when upset or things don't go your way - Phew!
• recognized an idol in your life (video games) after a severe grounding/mental reset
• growth spurt into size 4 shoes and size 10/12 clothes - which is about 2 shoe sizes and 2 clothes sizes in a year
• Weighed in at 82 lbs (30%ile) and 54 inches tall (5%ile) - Grow, baby, growwww!
• finally learning to sleep in ... til 8:30ish some days!  Ha!  Bedtime is between 8:30-9ish.
• you love being with the rabbits, love being with friends, love playing games, love going places
• we cured your realllllly lonnnng shower habit by giving you a timer for 8 min showers
• math gives you the most fits most times and yet it is still your favorite.  I love that about you!

You are our beautiful boy and you are a great big brother for your sisters.  We are so proud of you all the time and love your new birthday number.  12 totally suits you, Noah!  You have grown into it perfectly - no rush, nice and easy, with your eyes on what's ahead in your years.  Continue to cling to your Lord and His Word and continue to invite the Holy Spirit to guide your thinking in all the little seconds of your days.  We love you, love you, love you!  Happy Birthday, Noah Brown!!

Love, Mommy and Daddy