Aidan, on this your 11th birthday, I want to tell you something important: I admire you.
Your beautiful brain works a little differently than most other people's brains; and that's okay! It's what makes you YOU- silly, sweet, resilient, loving, innocent, empathic, feeling, loyal, and a little fiery (as per your namesake). And that's beautiful! It has dawned on me over this past year that your brain's wonderfully, different beauty means that some tasks, connections, emotions, and steps that I take for granted take you a little bit of extra work and self-reflection and self-control to get there. In other words, a lot of people's starting points is already like step 4 for you. You have to work a little bit harder to get there than others'. And you do it in stride, without a chip on your shoulder, without remorse or sadness self-pity, with quick (and getting quicker) recoveries. In short, you are an AMAZING young man. Who has already in his short 11 years on earth done SO much hard work and growth and learning. It's why your heart and brain and spirit are SO strong, and why we love you so much, and admire you.
At 11 you are growing tall and strong. You are sweet and innocent and full of love and laughter and music. You LOVE your sister and mommy and me. You are loyal and true, and feel things deeper than most.
You love music. Your favorites are on repeat all the time. Some recent all-time best hits incldue: "Dancing in the Moonlight," Maroon 5, Coldpay, "Hallelujah" (Pentatonix version) and the Zombies soundtrack.
You love video games and legos and squishies.Mario and Luigi are about the best.
You love books of all kinds. It's not uncommon for your backpack to be loaded down with 20 pounds of books. Your reading continues to improve.
You love animals and babies...especially Toby; the two of you have bonded a lot over the past year.
Your laugh and smile sustain my heart for a hundred years; your cry breaks my heart. Your laughter and smiles are contagious. You try to make Julia laugh (with fart noises) when she is sad.
You are a story teller. Especially in the morning.
You love movies and shows...and love to inhabit them into your being. I did this when I was a kid too; so I'm more than happy to do it with you as an adult. For example, after we watched "The Temple of Doom," you were Shorty, I was Indie, and Julia was a village Princess and we had to save the artifact! After "Kong vs. Godzilla", you were Kong and I was Godzilla, and we battled until the bloody finish when we teamed up to beat Mecca-Godzilla together time and time again!
You love board games, and playing games, and swimming. You're not a big fan of walks, but you join us anyway and wind up having a blast.
You are funny; and -most importantly- you can laugh at yourself.
You are a hard worker; and a proud one too. You love science, and work hard on math ("I'm a math genius!") at school and with Mommy. You are an artist- you love drawing and sketching, stencils and finger puppets and little doodles.
You are amazing. You are eleven. You are the one and only one like you. You are Aidan. And I'm so proud to be your Daddy.
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