The Young and the Restless

Ten

The birth of this boy really defined me as a mother. He came at a time in our life when we had just moved away from family for the first time. He taught me that I can do hard things. He brought us closer together as a little family unit. He made me more confident in my abilities as a mother. Together we figured things out. Ten years later he still challenges me. In a good way. He is such a clone of Jason, the wheels in their minds turn in sync and their hearts beat to the same drum. He reasons with logic and not emotion, which I'm learning is so much easier to parent. He is so strong willed and can be stubborn at times, but I've never seen a ten year old that can turn on the charm like this boy. Older women are putty in his hands. His bashful squinty eyed smile does it every single time. I've loved going to his parent teacher conferences ever since kindergarten because not only does he excel academically, but his teachers always genuinely love him. It's so good to hear. He has such a good heart, always looking out for the underdog and always standing up for what he knows is right. He is never one to hesitate to give me a hug or tell me he loves me, and it's a guarantee at 9:00 every night I'll hear his footsteps coming up the stairs to give us a good night hug and kiss. He's definitely a keeper. For his birthday he wanted to take a few friends to Timezone. Having Jason take the noise and mess to another location was just fine by me. They came back and had pizza, cake and ice cream then opened presents. I enjoyed meeting his friends from school and I was impressed with the kind of friends he has chosen. It says a lot about him.

On his real birthday we had a "real" breakast (i.e. anything other than cocoa krispies) and he opened his presents from us. A skim board and a few lego sets he picked out in the states. Jason is such a researcher. He likes to be an informed consumer, reading all the reviews and comparing the products before he makes big purchases. Jayden is the exact same way. He's spent the last several months researching different lego kits, watching youtube videos and reading the reviews before deciding on the perfect ones. After school he built his legos and didn't have a single buyer's remorse. All that research paid off. Jason also took him to McDonald's for his dinner of choice. It doesn't take much to make him happy, and when he's happy the whole room lights up. It's such a joy to be this boy's mom.