Happy 7th Birthday Auden! You are a toothless wonder right now with no front upper teeth and a missing bottom one, for a total of 5 teeth lost to date. It's funny having to get used to a new smile on you as these baby teeth go and adult teeth come. You are still our little boy that wakes up with a smile on your face every morning and a smile on your face as we kiss you goodnight. Please never change:)
You had an awesome birthday! Daddy found a place nearby that does Ninja Warrior parties like the show American Ninja Warrior which you love. We invited a bunch of your closest 1st grade buddies. You did rope swings, quintuple steps, the sonic curve, rings and the WARPED WALL. It was so exciting watching you and your friends master each obstacle and cheer for each other. The video we have of you making it up the warped wall is priceless- you grabbed the ledge by one arm, pulled yourself up to standing and put your arms over your head shouting- whoohooo!!!
To top off the birthday fun, your present from Mom and Dad was a new bike- real deal mountain bike with handbrakes, gears, shocks and big fat tires so you can ride in the woods with Daddy. It will take some time for you to get comfortable with the gear shifting but so far you are loving it.
What are you up to lately? Well, we just got home from another amazing Utah trip with Nana and Pappy. You are getting so good on skis you are leaving Mommy in your dust big time! You have a need for speed. You are learning the technical stuff too like getting your skis nice and parallel and working on your turns. What fun it is to watch you! You are also still having fun doing indoor dryland diving on Thursdays- we aren't really sure what you are learning after we drop you off but it's lots of trampoline and diving board fun to get your energy out. This year you have really enjoyed joining Cub Scouts and had a blast at the Raingutter Regata and the Pinewood Derby, winning a medal for both. It has proven to be nice one-on-one time with Daddy to help you build your creations. You begged to do an after-school Robotics class that starts this week, so we shall see how that goes!
This past year has actually been a lot of learning about how you tick. In fact, today is your first day at school under your new IEP (individualized education program) which is a fancy document that was created to give you the special accommodations we discovered you need to reach your potential in school. After many months of special testing, we learned that you are a pretty exceptional young man. While you are above average and even gifted in most areas, the tests show you have a "speed processing disorder"- which we were able to base the IEP on. Your slow processing speed is due in large part to attention and focus issues. I've learned a lot about ADD in the last few moths and realized that you don't have to be hyperactive to have it. You seem to show signs of the "inattentive" and "hyperfocused" parts of ADD. What does that mean? When you aren't interested in something, you are really good at tuning out and when you are interested in something it is hard to pull you away from it. Which makes it very tricky for teachers. Here is the funny part- your main distraction is books. You love reading! You love learning! Your teacher has to tell you to "close your book" all day long! How can we be mad at this?! We all giggle at the meetings because they have never had a child like you before with such a "positive" distraction. You had a substitute teacher last week and the special ed. teacher checked in on your class and you had 31 books on your desk. She said 31 books and you a reason for every single one of them. Oh Auden, how Daddy and Mommy laughed so much at this and will never forget it. I hope your love for reading never dwindles.
You brought home worksheets on the Jamestown settlers almost blank last week. So then I asked you questions while you were playing Legos and you knew everything on the worksheets backwards and forwards and I even had to google some of your commentary because I don't know Virginia history well. It is clear that you love learning to learn and don't really care or understand why you have to "prove" or demonstrate your knowledge to your teachers. You are so different from me, I was always trying to please and impress my teachers by telling them exactly what I thought they wanted to hear. While you love learning about animals, space, history, nature, etc. just for yourself and the details you remember and can explain to people amaze us. Last Thursday we found you in the school office after our teacher meeting "quizzing" another teacher on whale "flukes" and what they do for each particular species of whales. She was enthralled listening to you and you were equally enthralled to teach her. So far, you don't seem to mind or be bothered by getting special ed pull-outs and just go with the flow. You enjoy school and that's all that we can hope for. We feel so very lucky to have your amazing teacher and school doing everything they can to help you reach your full academic potential. It's clear that the school structure with all the frequent transitions is not your style of learning but they are really trying to adjust things for your needs which is great.
I'm not going to lie and say homework time isn't frustrating for us. To watch you take over 30 minutes to do something that could take you less than 10 minutes (if you take out all the breaks and distractions in between) is just plain hard. We don't want you to sit at the table any longer than you have to. We hope you are able to channel the hyperfocus you have with reading to writing and math one day. But for the meantime, we will keep reminding ourselves that your brain works a little differently and patience is key.
We love you so very much Auden. The school psychologist talked a lot about the fact that you were a preemie and had a traumatic first year of life with your hospitalizations, heart condition, feeding issues and how much we can't discount it when discussing some of the challenges you have now. I have to admit that felt like a blow, just when you think you can put all that behind you, it comes sneaking right back up into the conversation 7 years later. Regardless, we will support you and advocate for you just like we have since the day you were born 9 weeks early. You are so smart, adventurous and kind- we can't wait to see what lies in your future. But don't grow up too fast- we are enjoying 7 year old Auden and all your awesome jokes, puns, quirky facts and still willingness to snuggle with us.
7TH BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW
- What is your favorite toy? Legos and Pokémon Cards
- What are your favorite books right now? Notebook of Doom series, Captain Underpants series, Roscoe Riley Rules series, any non fiction about animals and dinosaurs
- What is your favorite food? Hot dogs
- What is your favorite thing to do/play outside? Ride bikes, play tag
- What is your favorite show? Wild Kratts
- What is your favorite color? Green
- Who is your best friend? Neighbor John
- What do you want to be when you grow up? A Palenotologist
- What is your favorite sport? Skiing
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