Seventh Heaven

Dear Big Brother,

Happy 7th birthday, Big Brother! (Man how the time has flown.)

You had an awesome "boys only" party at the bowling alley. It was the perfect place for hyperactive 7 year-old boys on a rainy day who would've otherwise destroyed our house. Mom-E made some rich, delicious bowling ball cake pops. You got a very cool bowling pin water bottle. And a good time was had by all, including Bab-E Brother, who at one point went running down one of the lanes, only to be "rescued" by Mom-E half way to the pins. Whew!

You're having a wonderful year in first grade, although I know you're already looking forward to second grade.

You're skills have grown by leaps and bounds this year. You're reading books now that would've seemed impossible at the beginning of the year. We read books together every night. This affords an important life lesson - to get good at anything, you have to practice regularly. And even small amounts of practice, 15-20 minutes a night, really add up over time. I hope you can apply that wisdom to many other aspects of your life.

As your reading has progressed, you're particularly proud about reading "chapter books". In addition to the chapter books from school, we've started reading some Hardy Boys and a little Harry Potter, too.

You've been taking piano lessons for about a year now, too, and have shown some real talent here. Like many things for you, there's always a little fear of the unknown, but once you get started your ability and poise shines through. You've just recently started playing some jazz and popular pieces. I really treasure the time we share together at the piano. And while it involves some work, it's also fun, too. We won't tell Mom-E or your teacher that sometimes we make up silly songs about farts while we're playing.

You're learning to ride a 2-wheel Spider-Man bike. And while we still have to work on some "finer points", like mastering turns, you're able to balance and ride quite a good distance. No doubt, the warmer spring and summer weather will mean lots of bike riding.

You love to play with Legos and Kreo, and we build stuff all of the time. We also play a lot with Transformers and Beyblades. Oh, the Beyblades - all of them - regular, electro battlers, tornado battlers, IR spin control, rippers, launchers, string launchers. But sometimes it's hard to share with Little Brother and Bab-E Brother.

Your favorite TV shows include Beyblades (of course), Spider-Man, Phineas & Ferb, Johnny Test, and Scooby-Doo, although we do pretty well at watching a modest amount of tv. You also like going to the movies. You, Big Brother, and I have some special dates at the movie, complete with a kid's pack of snacks and 1 turn at a racing video game afterwards. I treasure these special trips together to the movies.

Oh, and GAMES. LOTS AND LOTS OF BOARDGAMES. You're a very logical guy, and hence really into games. We play a game at breakfast at least 5 days a week. Most recently it has been Stratego, but we play Gopher It, Candy Land, Busy Town, and Word Play (amongst others) quite a bit soon. I've told you before, but when we play games together I do not "take it easy" on you. You're a sharp guy and that's not fair to you. Sometimes you win and sometimes I do. We're working on being a good sport about losing. We've talked about what lessons we learn when we lose, including 1. No one wins every time, 2. Having fun and spending time together is more important than who wins, and 3. When we lose, we ask ourselves why we lost, and how can we improve upon that the next time. On a related note, you've been fascinated about how Thomas Edison first found out 2,000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb, before he got it right.

There's so much more I could say, but I'm glad that I've said much of it in other posts throughout the past year. You're a very sweet boy. You pray for others who are sick that you have never meant. You ask very thoughtful questions. Your younger brothers very much look up to you. And while sometimes your patients with them runs thin, many other times you are extremely patient and kind with them.

Mom-E and I love you very much. You make us proud - every day. And we look forward to continuing to help guide you on this journey, to help you become the best version of yourself.

Happy 7th Birthday to my favorite "oldest boy"!
I love you,
Dad-E