Thursday, March 17, 2016

Clayton's Birthday

I can't believe that Clayton is 11!  Ugh - so crazy!  We are very proud of the young man that he is becoming.  He is such a neat kid!

His birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so he got to bring special donuts to Sunday School.  :)
 He chose Slim Chickens for his birthday lunch - yum!
 We drove to Houston that afternoon, and he got to enjoy cookie cake with his Papa D, Aunt Becca, Uncle Jeff, and cousins.

My Clay Boy...

You are 11!  We are in full blown tween years, my Dear.  You are funny and able to hold deep conversations.  You are super friendly and happy to strike up a conversation with just about anyone.  You are passionate about your faith, your family, and the game of baseball.  ;)  You are a go-go-go kind of guy.  You literally NEVER sit still.  You move quickly 100% of the time.  This is wonderful in soooo many ways - you are the first one in the car when I tell you kids it is time to go, you run fast in baseball and make quick plays, your brain works so fast and you learn things in no time flat.  However... your never-slow-down style is not so great in some ways, as well - you rush through assignments and make careless errors, you can't be bothered to slow down and focus on your penmanship so your handwriting isn't great (and that is being generous!), and you run off every calorie that you eat so you can't seem to gain any weight.  You are so lean!

You have a few close guy friends, but you mostly pal around with the girls at school.  That is still okay for now, but I am afraid that those friendships may change a bit in the coming years.  I continue to pray for strong male friendships for you.  I want so badly for you to be surrounded by a group of Godly boys that will rally around you in your teen years.  I pray that you will have friends that will help guide you to stay on the right path and that you can do the same for them.  Please, Jesus, give my Boy strong male friendships.

You are soooo brave and fearless, almost to a fault.  No, usually to a fault.  You will climb anything, jump off of anything, and try to outrun anything.  You don't always calculate the risk, and that scares your Mama silly.  They say that, in men, the prefrontal lobe isn't fully developed until the age of 25.  Oh, I how I hope that is a milestone that you meet far earlier than the average.  Mercy.

You have become a pretty good little ball player!  You are hoping to play catcher some this season, so we are excited about that.  You work hard and take your coaches' critiques to heart.  That is the key, my Friend.  Listen to the adults in your life that want to teach you.   They know better than you do.  If you can listen and try to make corrections, you will go far (on the ball fields and in life).  

I love you so much, my Clayton.  So, so much.  There are times when my heart literally hurts because I love you so much.  I want so badly to remain close in these tween/teen years.  I know that can be a tricky time for mother/son relationships.  I'll try hard to relate to you and you try to relate to me, okay?  I'll try to see where you are coming from if you will, do the same.  Does that sound like a deal?

I love you to the moon and back, 
Mom

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