D's spotlight

D's birthday came up on us fast. He's 14! I can't believe I'm old enough to have a 14 year old child. Life continues to move too quickly for me and keeps getting faster. I can't seem to keep up on everything that I used to. I figured that since D just had a birthday, this might be the perfect time to spotlight him. Here's what I came up with for him:

“In a million words or less…”

He's our oldest child - and that may explain a lot right there. He's always been very good at taking care of younger children, especially babies, even when they are crying. We have felt for a long time that he will be a good dad someday. He used to watch Na for as long as I needed him to when she was a baby – he literally wouldn’t leave her side – he was very aware of protecting her. One example of this was when he even turned down playing with a friend (back when he was 5 years old) because the friend wouldn’t include his sister. When he was a small child he would make all of his toys (especially the dinosaurs) “fight” which meant banging them together over and over again, with the sound effects. He can be funny, and entertaining. He's stubborn. We can depend on him in many situations. He has a soft heart. He loves playing most sports, especially soccer. He is currently trying to learn how to play the piano by teaching himself. He's working to be better at school, and loves his theater class (hidden talent maybe?). He's very ready to grow up - and at 14 he is at the stage of "I know" whenever we try to tell him anything! He used to stand at the top of the stairs and cry for a long periods time – just like his mother used to do as a child – the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! He doesn't like to fail at anything. When he was old enough to walk (and we knew he could) he wouldn't take even a few steps at a time if he thought he would fall. I think he wanted to wait until he was sure he could walk across the room without falling before he even tried it. He did the same with talking. He didn't talk until after he turned two. We thought he must have practiced saying words at night while we were asleep so we couldn't hear him, because one day he just started saying everything. He works hard in scouts and enjoys it – most of the time. He loves rewards for behaviors and we have found that money or food work well as motivation for him to do almost anything. He enjoys cooking and seeks after opportunities to make all kinds of foods. He enjoys being in charge – as an oldest child usually does. He says he wants to be an orthodontist when he grows up - he likes to be the one to pull out the loose teeth in our family. And sometimes his younger siblings will let him. He's very confident. Basically, he's a good kid and I look forward to watching him grow into a good man.