My first born is eleven today and, I’ll be honest, I can barely handle this information. I think this is the first birthday he’s had where I find myself in denial. Why eleven feels sooooo different from ten, I’m not sure. But here we are.

In celebration of his big day, here are 11 things you should know about my newly turned eleven year old.

1. He is a very considerate, kind kid. I’m not saying he is never in a bad mood, but by default he is friendly and compassionate. He cares how you are doing and loves to make people smile.
2. He is always helping out around the house – emptying the trash, running the dog, helping out with laundry. He’s my right hand man during the day and he does it with a smile (most of the time).
3. He is a voracious reader and loves to return to old favorite stories. He’s probably read his favorite series, Gregor the Overlander, more times than he can count.
4. He is strong. I’m always surprised and impressed by the things he can lift and carry – he’s quickly becoming a little man rather than a little boy.
5. He loves video games, just like his father. When he’s not working on homework or curled up with a book, his default favorite activity is playing Minecraft or Skyrim.
6. He’s a creature of habit and likes to have a set schedule for the day. What time things are happening is important to him. He totally gets this from his mother.
7. Some of his favorite foods include tacos, bacon cheeseburgers with mayonnaise, breakfast burritos and cold cut sandwiches. He’s really come a long way this year with trying new foods though and has graduated from picky eater to willing to try most things.
8. He loves to play board games with us, especially Munchkin (we love this Marvel edition) and Forbidden Island. He also likes designing his own games – I might be raising a future dungeon master. My kids are often found playing complex story telling games that I do not understand at all.
9. He’s not an especially sporty kid, but this year he has started to discover more and more games that he does enjoy like soccer and kickball. This is making recess a lot more fun for him!
10. He started Boy Scouts this year after graduating from Cub Scouts and he and my husband are avidly looking forward to all of the hiking and camping and knot tying and rock climbing in their future.
11. He would wear running pants a t-shirt every day if he had his way. He’s a creature of comfort and doesn’t care about fashion at all (typical boy). He loves witty t-shirts and a relatively dark color palette (but probably doesn’t know what a color palette is).

Happy birthday MM!