Happy belated 8th birthday, dude! It didn't seem like a year had passed, but things certainly happened for the family and you. I'm ready to jump in and talk about the amazing boy you are.
This year we made the move back to Texas and you started second grade. You have been slower in making friends, but you seem happy enough. You excel in areas like reading and math. In reading you have finished the Chronicles of Narnia and are flying through the Percy Jackson books. Your only homework in second grade is reading and you gladly finish your homework with no complaints. Your favorite subject is math. This summer your dad bought you a pre-algebra book and you have completed some pages there. You can calculate square roots and just have the brain for memorizing math facts. For Show and Tell you brought the math book, but I think it was to show off to the class. You are very proud of the fact that you are smart! You will be tested for the gifted program in February and I will be surprised if you don't qualify.
As far as extracurriculars, you finished Cub Scouts in California and took a break with kung fu when we moved to Texas. We found a new dojo and although the teaching styles are very different between the two sifus, you still really enjoy kung fu. We put you in a Junior Engineering class with Joseph, and not too long ago we started piano lessons. You have such discipline and I hardly ever have to fight you to do anything. You practice on your own, do your chores and homework, and overall like to do new and hard things. Sometimes you get frustrated when you are not good at something from the start but who isn't really?
You have always been tall for your age and this year hasn't that. Some people guess you to be older than you are, and sometimes face kids older than you in kung fu because you are their height and build. You finally lost some teeth! You lost three so far with a fourth loose one. Coincidently all of these teeth are on the bottom and you don't have any loose top teeth. Not the typical order, but you are not the typical boy I guess! As for eating, you like cereal, ramen, Hawaiian pizza, burgers, and crackers. You are disciplined with dessert stating that it is unhealthy a lot of the time. You have more self-control than your parents. You are still on the pickier side but are willing to at least try new things.
Besides school and activities, you love to read books, play video games, and build Legos. So not much has changed since last year in that regard, but your collection of all three has grown. You were originally going to share a room with Noah in Texas, but Noah ended up bunking with Eden so you have your own room. We put a long table in there for you to do Legos and there's already so many Legos that you started building them on the ground again. I'm not sure what your favorite game is, but you do play Super Smash Bros and love to watch Dad play Tears of the Kingdom. Seeing as you learned to read by playing video games, I don't mind you playing so much. As long as you do your chores and whatnot beforehand and you almost always do.
We started reading the Book of Mormon at the beginning of 2023 and finished before your eighth birthday. I loved hearing you read and gaining quite the vocabulary. You chose to be baptized in Albuquerque over New Year's weekend. It was a beautiful baptism and made me so happy to be called your mom. A lot of family showed up for the occasion and it was a really fun time to be with family. Now to keep your covenant by being nicer to your siblings! (You are actually a really good brother, just a big tease).
I've enjoyed being your mother so much and seeing you learn and grow so much. There are times I wish I could be more like you Elijah, you teach me so much as well. I'm so proud of you and the person you are becoming. You are so smart, funny, energetic, disciplined, and thoughtful. I hope you have the best year and I can't wait to see what you do next.
Love,
Mama
