Double Digits!

Today, Nicklas celebrates turning 10 years old. He is very excited to be heading into double digits. Me? Well, I can't believe I have a ten-year-old! For a recap of his birth story, visit this previous post.

Nicklas is such a special kid. He is ALWAYS THINKING. I don't think his brain ever turns off. He loves to laugh and tries his best to make others laugh. He's not a natural comedian but he's slowly learning how to be funny. He'd rather hang out with the adults at a party, instead of the other kids (unless it's his cousins!) He loves sports and could spend all day on the couch in front of ESPN. He used to spend all his time reading statistics and figuring out who needed to beat whom to be in which place of the league. He still cares about stats but now he's learning more about the athletes, their fans, and their traditions.

Nicklas is also super smart. I'm so proud of his hard work this year. All A's! And he's in the gifted program doing work a grade ahead. That's pretty amazing. Except he came home the other day with a 63% on his math test. We were all shocked! Math is his strongest subject. There was a section he struggled with and he was SO disappointed in himself. He's not used to having to ask for help with math. He's his harshest critic. I worry about him taking life too seriously. He's going to have an ulcer by the time he's 12.

Buying gifts for Nicklas this year has been difficult. He's outgrown toys but I'm not ready to buy him his own gaming system/laptop/cell phone. He's not into clothes either. We got him a wallet, an IU puzzle, a little table top game, and a Calvin and Hobbs book. He liked everything but he wasn't wowed by anything. I think he's outgrowing the wow phase. Regardless, we'll keep trying. Parenting Nicklas is both easy and hard. Easy because he's a great kid who does what he's asked (for the most part). He rarely gets into trouble. But difficult too because I worry that I'm not doing everything I can to help him be successful. I'm always wondering what else I can do for him. (Maybe he gets the overthinking from me?) I hope he knows that I'm trying and I'm doing my best. I might make mistakes along the way though. Regardless, I know he'll grow up and do some incredible things. Because he's Nicklas. And he's awesome!