Dear Joseph,

Happy Birthday! We officially have a teenager in the family now that you are 13. I asked Dad if he wanted to write the letter, but he all but said he was going to get AI to do it. I'm sure you wouldn't mind, but I'm going to stick with tradition. Onto the letter!

In addition to officially being a teenager, you are officially taller than me. Hard to tell, but if we line up, you have a smidge on me. My prediction was correct on that. I buy clothes from the men's section now and I don't think you mind as you prefer more plain, grown-up versions of things. Something new? You have glasses! And will be getting braces very shortly as well. You have a decent appetite and still love the same things (Fanta, sushi, pickles, etc) but recently I've been buying coconut greek yogurt and you love that stuff. You love anything lemon as well and recently had the idea to open up a lemonade stand. We'll have to try that soon.

 After reading your last letter, I am so happy to report that you now have friends! Your best friend is Troy, but you have also made friends with boys named Andrew and Aiden. Perhaps you will be open to even more friendships. You are kind of at the stage where you are being influenced by your friends. You went through the 6 7 craze like most middle schoolers, and you are signed up for orchestra. That is something I never thought would happen, but your friend Andrew plays the viola, and you figured orchestra is popular now and are willing to try it. I'm not going to hold my breath, but it makes me happy to see you interact more with kids your age.

School has been a roller coaster in 7th grade! You are capable, but we have to be on you like flies on honey to make sure everything is turned in. You managed to make the honor roll for the second nine weeks, but here we are at the end of the school year, just limping along to get to the finish line. You took Spanish this year, which counts as a high school credit! Hopefully, it transfers all right when we finally make it to New Mexico. You don't want to take Spanish II, hence taking orchestra instead. Overall, you seem to enjoy your school, especially now that you have friends. You take the bus most days, which extends your school day quite a bit, but you have a 3DS to occupy the time, so you wouldn't mind too much. 

Let's see, what interests do you have? You love to learn about any type of cryptids and your favorite is el chupacabra. We visited Roswell, and you've taken a liking to aliens as well. You liked to make your own cyphers for a while and attempted to make a cypher club, but the word didn't get out much, and it fizzled before it could take start. You love Pokemon XY and ZA, so anything to do with the Kalos region. Your favorite pokemon still appears to be Sylveon, but you love Zygarde as well. Sadly, you did not stick Scouts out. You realized you didn't like tent camping that much, and I don't blame you with this hot Texas weather. But instead we invested in the Hack Packs from Crunch Labs by Mark Rober. Maybe you'll learn a lot from doing that instead.

We've been attempting to get you into after-school behavior therapy for autism for months now. I felt you needed extra support to cope with things and to know how to behave in certain situations. Maybe we should have done it a while ago, but now I know why I avoided it. If it's not the doctor's office, it's the insurance. If it's not the insurance, it's the therapy place. Hopefully, I'll be able to report all the good things by the next letter. You struggle with conversations with others. You also struggle with coping with things that annoy you. You bite your hand really hard and cannot stand when your siblings bother you, intentionally or not. You immediately resort to yelling or even getting physical. Needless to say, we need the help! 

 

I'm interested to see what this year has in store for you! I sure hope it's a good year and you continue to make friends and keep up in school. I also hope you continue to participate in Young Men's and gain a testimony of Jesus Christ. I love you and your truly unique personality. Thank you for being our little guinea pig for our parenting! Keep being the amazing boy you are.

Love,

Mom

Beginning of 2024

Happy 2024...2 years later! This is mainly a photo dump, but the kids are too cute not to share!

Noah was still falling asleep in the most random but cute spots.

Both these cuties fell asleep on me. Had to savor the moment.

They like to keep each other up yet hate to be alone!

Seeing if they could fit on the bookshelf.

Eden putting on the makeup she got for Christmas.

Working on using a pencil!

He loves to help and be independent.

Elijah moving through the ranks rather quickly!

The amount of Legos Eli currently has is astounding. It's even bigger 2 years later!

And he still asks for more!

Noah is getting into building as well with Magnetiles!

Joseph took an after-school science class.

Learning how water towers work!

Admiring our new snake.

Eden in her element for the Chinese New Year.

The parade at school.

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Caught Elijah's name in the 50-word club at school!

Excited about her Valentine goodies!

Now to end the post with a trip to Sea World!

The brand new Tortoise exhibit!

Dear Joseph,

Happy 12th birthday! Your dad said it is also the anniversary of our becoming parents. Thanks for making us feel old! But I feel 12 is a big number. There are so many things that have changed in the last year for you, so why don't I go on and write about that?

You are growing so fast! I'm constantly having to buy new pants and shoes for you. I still do! I noticed your church pants were short just last Sunday, and I pulled those out not too long ago. You are telling me your shoes are too small and I bought three different sizes just this past year. You are definitely having a growth spurt. I bet you will be taller than me by your next birthday. You still love Fanta, sushi, and melon! Nothing really changed there. You also love bean burritos and orange chicken. I think you are a pretty good eater, but you dislike chocolate and will make that well-known. We made you a mint ice cream cake for your birthday and I had to make it myself since chocolate chips tend to be the default. You have fun tastes, that's for sure!

 

You started middle school this year. I was honestly so worried about you. It can be a tough place and kids can be cruel at times. But you love it! You love your magnet school where there is a focus on STEM and you enjoy those classes. You still prefer not having friends, but I hope that might change one day. Your favorite subjects that I hear you talk about are social studies and science. You also love to do block coding on your computer and have a couple things on Scratch that have had a couple hundred views. You were very excited about that. You do pretty well on tests, but I get e-mails about assignments not getting turned in or not completed. With it being so close to the end of the year I just hope your grades don't drop and we can move on. You are pretty smart, just working on responsibility!

In addition to starting middle school, you are now in the Young Men's program at church. When our ward was split we were put into a ward with many boys your age. Previously you were going to be the only deacon, but now we have at least 7-10! I thought that would be awesome for you, but sometimes I wonder how the transition has been for you. Patience for each other isn't the highest, but I hope you can still be friends with them someday. You've been to a couple campouts and I am so grateful for the leaders that looked out for you. You've been to the temple and I'm so proud of you for doing baptisms! Also, you have been passing the sacrament almost every week. I try so hard not to step in and just watch you do it, but I'm sure you will be a pro soon.

 

Your interests haven't changed too much from last year, but you love Pokemon right now. Especially the 6th generation as it has some of your favorites. Your favorite pokemon is Sylveon, who is cute, pink, and fox-like. I still haven't figured out why but sometimes we like what we like! You also have been into a lot of creatures. You still have your hognose snake, owned a tarantula for a tiny bit (he was a tiny guy), and talk about giant wetas all the time. They live in New Zealand, so you get excited about anything New Zealand as well. Another place you really like is Costa Rica. In fact, you signed up for Spanish next year in hopes that you can learn and go someday. Maybe even your mission! I love watching you get excited about so many specific things and we learn all we can about those things. The most recent as of yesterday? The longest word in the English dictionary: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. You made a dictionary yesterday with just that word it. You are so fun, Joseph!

Something that is new? You joined Boy Scouts! You expressed interest and your dad jumped at the opportunity to sign you up. You haven't shown any interest in any extracurricular activities before and this has been good for you! You have done a few campouts and attend weekly meetings. The boys have been fantastic and good examples. I feel it's different from Church in that these boys actively choose to be a part of scouts and genuinely love it. They take the younger scouts under their wings and want to make the community a better place. After one council-wide campout I asked if you made any friends and you said "I think so". That's a big deal for you! I hope you stick it out even when you have to do physical activity (which you loathe). You did a 5-mile hike last campout and I was shocked to hear you did it. Keep it up!

 

What a year it has been for you! I worry about you sometimes, but that is just the job of a parent. Your dad and I will always be here for you cheering you on when you do hard things. I hope this next year you will continue to grow as a person and conquer all your challenges. Thank you for being patient with me, I wasn't a mother before I had you! I can't wait to see who you become and what you do. I love you, Joseph!

Love,

Mom