Memory For Today - My 12 Year old Boy

Alex turned twelve yesterday. He has been really struggling these past few months. He has been testing his boundaries and wanting more and more independence. It is tough because he so wants to be a teenager but he still wants to be a kid. Last year his birthday was not that great. We had some things come up that we could not make it a big celebration. Carl and I really wanted to make sure that this year he felt special. Sometimes being the oldest he doesn't feel special. We started last weekend by going to the aquarium and then a really nice dinner (Cracker Barrel). He had a great time. We had to do it last weekend because Carl has drill the next two weekends. We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at my mom's house and he got to go out with my mom to Toys R Us. She always takes them and lets them pick out a present. I met her at Chuck E Cheeses with all the other kids and they had a great time. There was no one there because we went while school was in. We then ordered his favorite food for dinner and had an ice cream cake. Carl came down and spent the night and we all had a great time. Carl and Alex have been really struggling lately and there is a lot of healing that needs to occur. Carl decided to take him out on his actual birthday. He got off work early and he and Alex went to Golden Corral for dinner. That is Alex's favorite place to eat. He also requested to go to Frankie's which is like a big kid version of Chuck E Cheeses (only more expensive). Alex wanted to ride the go-carts but they were closed. They had a great time playing games. While playing one game (that Carl had paid $4 to play) Alex said he did not want to play any more. Carl was curious and asked why. Alex said he was uncomfortable with the way that the women in the game were dressed and how they were dancing around. Carl was impressed at the maturity level to recognize this. I was very proud when Carl related the incident to me. Carl also said that at one point Alex looked at him and said that they had done all the things he wanted to do and was there anything that Carl wanted to do there. Again Carl and I were impressed. He is such a sweet boy and I really see him maturing. He is right at that age where things move from little boy to mature young man. I think going out with just Carl went a really long way to heal their relationship. The greatest gift I gave Alex this year was making sure that his time was Carl was a priority. Just a side note to this post about my boy growing up. Carl and Alex stopped by the mall last night and Alex got a build a bear wolf dressed in a Harley Davidson outfit. I guess he is still my "boy" for a little while.