To Timmy, at 7 Years Old

Timmy,

I can't believe that you are seven.  How big you have gotten jumps out at me from time to time though.  When I hold your hand it takes up most of mine.  As I lifted you out of the top bunk bed yesterday I said, "Well that might be the last time we do that," between you ducking to keep your head from hitting the fan and me trying not to break my back or drop you because of how heavy you are, it's probably safest if you start taking the stairs down!  I have to double check socks when I'm putting away the laundry to see if they are yours or Dad's, I no longer confuse yours with Tyler's...  You have your first loose tooth.  You are the last person in your class to lose a tooth (though one kid had a tooth pulled at the dentist, so I'm not sure that counts!)  You hope that the Tooth Fairy will bring you enough money to buy a video game...

We are so proud of the person you are growing up to be.  You are typically still a rule follower, but sometimes a rule bender.  You know what's expected of you and usually want to meet those expectations.  But you are still a little sneak when you would rather not follow the rules.  Like when you want a snack but you know it's almost dinner time, you sneak through the living room to the snacks instead of asking when you know you will be told no.  You also like to sneak into our bed after you've been tucked into your own.  Sometimes we see you on your way and let you think you've snuck by, other times we send you back to your own bed.  Sometimes we really are surprised to see you in our bed when we are going to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, you are happiest when in your underwear, especially for sleeping.  You don't take your clothes off as soon as you get home, but it is very common for me to find you in front of the TV in just your undies, and on the weekend you see no need to put on clothes unless we are leaving the house.  You have a stuffed animal problem.  I took this picture last weekend when I was washing the sheets on both your and Tyler's beds, but easily 80% of this pile belongs to you.  You make a little nest out of your animals when you go to bed at night.  You are obsessed with electronics.  You try to wake up in the morning before school to get some game time in before I get you up.  One day you got up so early that you fell back to sleep on the couch, Ipad game still running!

You have determination.  You set your mind to selling 100 coupon books for Reston Little League this year so that you could earn a Nintendo 3DS and a new baseball bat.  Daddy and I took turns taking you door to door and selling them in front of Lucia's.  You sometimes complained when we said it was time to go out selling, but you were always polite with your customers.  You had your pitch down and improved it over time.  When you were down to needing $10 worth of donations or one last sale, your customer said she would make a donation.  This is you waiting to see how much she'd bring back, and celebrating on the way home.  I told you how proud I was of you, and that even though you always had a parent with you, that you were the only one who did 100% of the work.  Daddy stressed to you that when you work hard you get rewarded.  I hope that you are always motivated to work hard.

You also worked really hard in school this year.  You made huge strides in your reading, writing, and handwriting especially.  You had some big projects at the end of the year and they both turned out so well.  You did research on an animal, wrote about it, made a booklet about it in Computer Class, and a model of it out of recyclable materials in art class.  You chose a wolf and it turned out really great.  At the very end of the year, you did a research report on a Famous American.  With a little guidance, away from a Disney channel actor, you chose Walt Disney.  Your work that you did at school and your poster that we made at home are all really well done.  You had your facts down and had a nice presentation.  We are very proud of your work and effort!

You are athletic and adventurous, but you don't necessarily know it.  You doubt yourself, or you say you don't want to do something because you're afraid of the dark or of heights.  You don't look like you're afraid of heights to me...

You had a great baseball season overall, but you did have a hitting drought for a few weeks.  You continued to be excited about playing though and worked really hard doing batting practice until you worked out the kinks.  We were very proud of your good attitude and hard work under these circumstances too.  One evening when Daddy was telling you that he was proud of your hard work and for not complaining during batting practice, you said, "I was thinking lots of complaints in my head."  That made me proud in an entirely different way, since you knew not to argue with Coach Dad at practice.  You had a tremendous year fielding, having a part in many of the outs that your team made, like this stop and forced out at 3rd base.

You are creative and imaginative, but in a completely different way then Tyler with his fanciful stories and made up "facts".  You don't like to color by number or draw what you are asked to or follow suggestions for your homework writing.  You want to do it your way, the way you see it in your head, not how it's "supposed" to be.  You recently wrote a story about your family, just for fun.  You were very accurate in your descriptions of all of us.  When I find it I will scan it and put the pictures here, but each of us had a sticky note a piece with a little drawing, and it said something along the lines of, "Tyler is my brother.  He likes to wrestle me.  I love him so much.  Daddy takes me to the movies.  I love him.  Mommy makes my lunch.  She works a lot.  I love her.  Grammy plays with me.  She plays Candy Crush.  PawPaw likes to hunt.  He is very serious.  Sometimes he is not serious."  We all got a kick out of your story!

You love being behind the camera taking pictures, selfies, and videos.  We are always finding gems like these on our phones, and you have been known to fill memory cards with scenery shots and videos.

When I posted your birthday party pictures on Facebook, Nate's mom captioned this one "Wolfpack to be".  You overheard me telling Daddy that and asked what it meant.  I told you it was from a movie (The Hangover) and that it meant we thought you three would get into a lot of trouble as you grew up, and have a lot of fun doing it.  You told me that doesn't make any sense, which I am relieved is true for you for now.  I can't wait to watch the fun you guys will have as you continue growing up together and I am so happy that you have such great friends, and have been developing these friendships since you were 2 and 3 years old!

You are a fantastic big brother.  Tyler adores you so much.  You are starting to lament being the oldest, because "it's not fair" that you always have to be the good example.  You have no idea yet how much responsibility being the oldest really is, or how much testing parenting things out we (will) do on you.  For now, just know that your biggest supporter is always, literally, right behind you.

We love you so much TimTim!  We are so proud of you!  Happy 7th Birthday!