Happy 9th Birthday Owen!!
Height - 55.5 in (88th Percentile)
Weight - 75 lbs 6 oz (83rd Percentile)
This has been such a crazy year!!! With the COVID-19 pandemic, you haven't set foot in your school in almost a year. Can you even believe that?? Some day you are going to look back and that will seem so crazy! You've been doing everything remote, which means sitting at a desk we set up for you in the living room and having school via Zoom video chats. Even soccer practices have been via zoom. You've actually adapted really well. There are definitely times where I need to remind you to pay attention, but overall you do a great job!
I know one of the biggest things you miss about school is seeing your friends and having "real" play dates inside someone else's house. I've started to notice you're a little more shy than normal and you're more concerned about what other people think.
I'm not sure if it's the Zoom and constantly seeing yourself on the screen, but you've all of a sudden become very aware of making sure your hair looks just right. You use your fingers to brush it over to the right side. Even if you're just wrestling with Dottie for a minute, or outside snowboarding in the backyard....if you feel you did something that made your hair move out of place, you quickly rebrush it over to the side. Trying to get you to wear a hat outside, even when it's below zero, is a losing battle. Same thing goes for helmets. I couldn't figure out the helmet thing at first. I thought it was because your helmet had spikes and was all of a sudden too kid-ish for you. But then when the hat thing began it made more sense. You don't want to put anything on your head that is going to mess up your hair. The funniest part about it is you don't even put any product in your hair or style it. You just have a certain way you like it to lay across your forehead.
You've always had a bit of a perfectionist in you. If you can't figure something out right away, you get super frustrated. Thankfully you're very athletic and most things sports related come natural to you. But if you're learning something new and you don't get it right away, you get super upset. We're really working on problem solving and teaching you to take your time and work through things before freaking out. You tend to go from 0 to 100 quickly, so we're trying to help you slow down and work through things. But as soon as something goes wrong, one of your favorite phrases is "I hate this day!" or "I hate (whatever might be on the receiving end of what made you frustrated)". Thankfully those moments don't last long. We can either tickle you into a good mood again or you can take a few minutes up in your room to calm down and emerge back to your old happy self.
Even with your occasional temper flare up, you are the still the sweetest boy! So thoughtful, loving and affectionate. I still get lots of hugs, which makes me super happy!! Dottie probably gets even more hugs than me. You can't walk past her without walking over and giving her a huge hug or kiss. And you love spending time as a family! Especially having movie nights...mostly because we make a huge bowl of popcorn, which is your favorite! :)
Right now your favorite thing to do is play Fortnite on Nintendo Switch. You would probably play it all day long if we'd let you. You play it far more than you should, but with the pandemic I've had a love/hate relationship with Switch. I don't like you to be on video games too much, but it's how you're connecting with your friends. You're able to use headsets to play online and chat back and forth while you're playing. With us not being able to go in each other's houses and play like we normally would, this is filling a void of being with friends and allowing you to keep those connections. Not only with local friends, but recently you and Simon (your oldest preschool friend who moved to Ohio) connected on Fortnite and you've been playing together. I think that is so cool!! When I was young, if a friend moved away, that was it. But you're able to jump on your game and do what you love with a friend you haven't seen in years. Like I said, it's a love/hate relationship. It's hard to hate something that brings you so much joy.
You also love taking walks. Typically our routine after school is to go for a walk past Asher's house. He's come to expect us, so he's normally waiting by his front door. When we walk by, he comes out and plays for a bit. Since it's one of the only times you get outside for the day, I love this little routine of ours. If there's anything that I know for sure, it's that you and your brothers need some time to burn some energy! It's typically one big wresting match on the walk there, a wrestling match when we get there, and then another wrestling match on the walk home. Whatever works!
It's been so much fun watching you grow and mature. It's crazy to think you're already nine, but I love seeing where life keeps taking you and I'm excited to watch the next 9 years.
Happy Birthday Buddy!
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