One Down, One To Go

My middle son, Alec, turned 12 today. His sister will be nine in 2 weeks. So, one birthday done, one to go. Birthdays are kind of stressful, for some reason. This year was a quiet, less-costly (out of necessity) one which is just fine. He had a great day. Todd worked, came home this a.m., decorated the cake he baked yesterday and went to bed after Alec opened his gifts. We do this at breakfast usually, why wait, I say? Chad and Carmen decorated the dining room with streamers and balloons. All I had to do (after spending 3 weeks of "what do I get him and what can we afford?") was wrap the gifts and sign his card. I personally spent the day quietly, walked with Carmen and read a lot. Alec wanted hot dogs for dinner so that was easy. He's usually a much more demanding kind of kid but today, he was just appreciative and nice. In fact, Todd had said that we could do the cake after lunch, as usual, even though Todd would be sleeping (he works again tonight). When I told Alec this, he asked if we could wait until dinner because he wanted his Dad to be a part of it. That's not like Alec at all, to wait for anything! I thought it was sweet and Todd appreciated it, too. It did make for a hectic meal, as Todd gets up at 5:30 and has to leave by 6:30 but we did it. It was worth it. Todd, by the way, makes great cakes.

We watched a DVD that Todd's sister sent for Alec, a great documentary on whales and dolphins (right up Alec's alley) this evening. When it was over, Alec jumped up and said (for some reason), "I'm strong, I'm 12!" and dashed out of the room. We all laughed ... I think he was really happy. 12 seems to be a milestone for him. And I'm breaking all the rules here about how to write numbers in a sentence. Chad's recent grammar lesson explains the appropriate way to write numbers and I can see glaringly what I'm doing wrong. It's amazing how much I've learned by teaching my kids. Homeschooling is cool.