Celebrating those big brown eyes that stare so intently, your smile that lights up any room, your belly laugh that feels like the best reward in the world, your soft and sensitive heart, and that easy going approach to pretty much everything you encounter in this life. A few things that make up who you are as an EIGHT year old...
1. You are a smarty pants! You are off the charts in reading and math, are learning spelling words with all the hard vowel combinations, and you're taking full advantage of that new library at your school reading book after book after book. You love school, love your teacher who brings it all to life for you, and appreciate the details. You give me daily, detailed updates on your class read aloud, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and your eyes got watery when you told me the ending when Edward gets reunited with his owner. Keep paying attention, keep feeling with that heart of yours, and keep finding the joy in it all.
2. Your favorite things these days include playing soccer with your friends at recess, playing "theme game" with your neighbor buddies, watching all the superhero movies with Dad, building Legos, and telling me all about Pokemon battles. You are NOT a fan of what you call "decent clothes," still eat less than a bird (unless it's breakfast food, then you're all in), and still struggle to remember your backpack, your coat, and sometimes to shoes on your feet! Keep using those quick feet and big imagination of yours.
3. You continue to be thee best brother in the world. Watching you and Mila practice your "secret handshake," or work together to build big marble towers, or snuggle up to watch a show together, brings me more joy than anything in the whole world. You truly are her best friend and the way you appreciate her, look out for her, and laugh with her is a beautiful thing. Keep including her, spending special time with her, laughing with her. She'll be your sister for life.
4. You are the most easy-going of kids. You are a good athlete, but sometimes we wonder if you really like it, you are a good piano player, but don't show much interest in it, and you rarely get worked up about anything. You operate at a seven, much like your Daddy, so when something does get a reaction out of you, we know it's important! Keep taking this life in stride, buddy, for all too often we take ourselves far too seriously.
5. You appreciate all the homey, cozy touches I love to sprinkle around our house. You appreciate a Friday night movie night and snuggle session more than any of us, love when I make you Saturday morning pancakes, and look forward to our bedtime readings of Harry Potter, all curled up under the blankets in your room. Keep the feeling of home, your anchor and your safe place. I'll always keep it cozy.
6. You brought home your leadership notebook from school the other day and it gave us such a sweet picture of who you are as a second grader. We were surprised to hear that you want to be a "Caseys worker" someday so you have full access to donuts and all the food they make, and loved reading your expressive story of getting left outside at daycare when you were three years old. How you remember the tiniest details in a story, but lose your entire backpack still amazes me! Keep writing stories, remembering moments, and expressing yourself through words.
7. At your birthday party with friends this weekend, we noticed many things about you. 1) You were the loudest of them all. 2) You say "dude" and "bro" more than we were expecting. 3) You are an includer and encourager, and 4) You laugh at the weirdest of things. At one point, you were all sitting around the table eating birthday cake and you were laughing at the dumbest things! It gave Beau and I an all-too-familiar glimpse at life to come! Keep investing in those friendships, finding the ones you can laugh with and truly be yourself with.
A few videos from your big birthday bash...
Happy 8, Cruz Bennett! We love every bit of who you are and pray this 8th year is one filled to the brim of more joy, more growth, and more good people to fill up your little life in all the best ways.
Eight years ago this night...
I can still get you in my arms! I plan on squeezing you forever, bub.
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