This year, you joined Boy Scouts, and you have enjoyed making new friends, learning new skills, and going on many campouts, including two week-long camps during the summer. You have completed many merit badges and have advanced in rank. You were even elected by your patrol to be the their very first Patrol Leader, and you have been the Grub Master for several campouts. I'm proud of the the things you have accomplished during your time in Scouts and for the ways you've stepped up to lead when no one else was inclined to do so!
Aside from campouts, you had the opportunity to travel Florida, Barbados, Washington D.C., and Lake Tahoe. You thoroughly enjoyed the beach and the snow and pretty much everything in between, and you delighted in our visits to lots of cool places like The Coca-Cola Museum, Mammoth Cave, The Corvette Museum, Monticello, The Louisville Slugger Museum, and The Spy Museum.
You played baseball in the spring and really enjoyed the season, though sports don't seem to be your true love. You tend to prefer to spend your time reading, building, playing with friends, inventing, and solving interesting problems. You have also gotten really into music this year and can often be found curating and jamming to your Spotify playlist. Currently, The Git Up is your favorite, and you can nail the dance from the video in a most impressive way.
This school year, you started attending the ischool STEM Academy, and it has been such a great fit for you. You have made many new friends, and you seem to truly enjoy your classes and teachers and the structure and opportunities the school provides. And once you got the hang of the way assignments are turned in and graded, your grades have been fantastic. Your teachers also really love you, and Ms. Hyde has pulled me aside on several occasions to tell me what an asset you are to her classes and to the whole 6th grade. She has talked about how helpful, attentive, and eager you are, and it made me super proud to hear these glowing reports. You really seem to be blooming in that environment, and I'm so thankful you have been given the opportunity to go to school there.
Shortly after school started, you started having lots of headaches, and we realized you needed glasses. I think you look very handsome in your new eyewear, and I think the glasses have made reading even more enjoyable for you. You also developed a wild case of blood poisoning in the fall that was scary and uncomfortable for a bit and required you to miss a day of school. Fortunately, you avoided being admitted to the hospital, but you discovered that you are definitely not a fan of IVs. I think you also learned the importance of thoroughly cleaning even minor cuts and scrapes.
You started attending the youth group at The Village Church, and you really love it. You are enjoying learning more about the Bible and about prayer, and you are especially enjoying the social interactions you have there.
We had the opportunity to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at the ranch, and you were able to shoot a small 8-point deer, which you were very proud of. You also got to get some more practice driving the Ranger on your own, and you are getting to be a pretty good driver.
Max, you are such an amazing kid! You have a big heart and often show so much love and care and thoughtfulness for the people around you. You are generous and kind and so creative. Your mind is always churning with curiosity and new ideas, and I love to hear about the things you think about and see you working to make the ideas in your head into realities. You still struggle sometimes with controlling your big, intense emotions, but you have matured so much in the last year, and I can definitely tell it is getting easier for you to manage them. I'm proud of the way you keep working to improve your happiness and make yourself stronger. I love you so much and I'm so thankful for these 12 years with you! I look forward to seeing what the next year brings! Happy birthday!
Love,
Mom
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| My favorite 12-year-old |
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