Our Happily Ever After: SEVEN Years Old

Samuel Jacob, you are SEVEN years old. You're growing up quickly and are as sweet and smart as ever. At seven years old, you are hard working, bright, independent, shy, thoughtful and creative. You're such an essential and wonderful part of our family. You make a great middle child- able to play easily and happily with all of your siblings.

You are EXCELLING in first grade (and I know you'll continue to thrive even throughout all this COVID-19 mess). Your reading and math skills are in the upper third grade level, and you've just taken off with those essential skills. I've been shocked at how your reading has improved in the last year. I still remember how many times I banged my head against the wall trying to get you to learn your letters in Pre-K. If I had only known that you'd figure it out on your own developmental timeline and then take off running, I would have saved both of us a lot of frustration.

You struggled some in Kindergarten with a few (normal five year old boy) behavioral issues, and it sunk your self confidence some. You've regained that this year through your hard working academics and physical/behavioral maturity. Your Dad and I are just so proud of how hard you work at school and are honored to get to watch that talented brain of yours at work. You have such a great teacher, and I know that has helped your confidence so much too. Her husband comes up to the school once a week to read with you and a few other students, and you feel so special to get to read with him. I think it's the highlight of your week.

You love to read and listen to audio books. You've devoured so many book series (especially audio books). Your favorites have been Humphrey the Hamster, Magic Treehouse, Land of Stories, Geronimo Stilton, Eerie Elementary, Ramona and Beezus, everything by Judy Blume, Catstronauts, and Flying Beavers. You always listen to audio books at night before you fall asleep, and if we aren't paying attention, you'll stay up way too late listening to them. Out of all of those, The Land of Stories has been your favorite series. You were almost always up in your room listening to it until you finished all the books.

You are such an independent and determined boy. You hate to ask for help, and you get really upset/frustrated if you can't figure something out on your own. We've been working on asking for/accepting help, but you would still always prefer to do everything on your own. I think your struggle to ask for help comes from a combination of being really shy and being really independent. That can be a tough combination to deal with at times, but awesome traits during other times.

You're also very goal oriented/determined. Challenges and hard things don't intimidate you. You don't like easy things, ha! I love that about you. Your brother said something about you that was really profound. He told us that you never accomplish the goals that you set, because when you get close to completing things, you set a new, harder goal. That's so true! You also never give up. If you have a plan in your head of a project/activity/idea, I've learned that you'll figure out a way to complete it. I've given up trying to talk you out of complicated or time consuming projects, because you're going to do it no matter what.

Your biggest interests right now are reading, playing outside, soccer, video game characters- Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, art/creative projects, and building/designing things. You've also recently been enjoying smart games puzzles/brain teasers.

We tease that you live in your own little world, and you're too busy contemplating/thinking about bigger things than to pay attention to small details. You can get distracted easily and staying on tasks that you don't really care about (like chores, ha!) is a struggle at times. There are also times when you can get really upset about small things and scream/cry/throw fits and have a hard time calming down. We still see hints of some impulsivity come through during those times when you a have a hard time calming down instead of just reacting and getting upset.

Your favorite foods right now are pancakes, cereal, pizza, macaroni and cheese, any type of fruit, pickles, raw broccoli with ranch, and homemade chocolate chip cookies with milk. You're starting to outgrow some of your picky eating that you struggled with when you were younger, but there are still several foods you don't enjoy eating.

You are a very thoughtful kid. You always stop to pick me a flower, find ways to make and plan things for your siblings, always ask for extra candy to give to your friends after school. In general you do have a way of looking for ways to serve/bless others.

At your seven year old well check you were 47inches (35%) tall and weighed 48lbs (50%). You're wearing size 6-7 in clothes and a size 1 shoe.

You never seem to demand extra attention, or want to be the star of the show. You're content to be in the background and go along with others' ideas. You usually don't have strong preferences and are laid back (except for the random times you get upset about tiny things). You find pride in your own accomplishments and don't need as much recognition or outward approval from others as other kids.

Your best friends right now are Asher, Jaxon, Jax, Cade, Hayden, Bennett, and Grant. You tend to live in your older brother's shadow at times, so I'm glad you've found some good friends of your own.

You always have such unique/different ideas, and it never bothers you that your preferences are different than others. You definitely march to your own drum, and I love that about you. You're always surprising us with your unique, creative ideas.