11.5

(this post has been sitting here unpublished since January - it's not his birthday, just things about him right now)

It's the best of time; it's the worst of times. Eleven is proving to be tough. A few things about Camden at eleven and a half.

He is a little adult, but still a child all at the same time.

He is very clever, and it's fun to see his personality and sarcasm develop.

He has mastered the art of obnoxious. Finding out what drives the rest of us crazy is top of his "to do" list.

When he started 5th grade, he outgrew Children's Church, and I've loved having him sit next to me in church and watch him absorb the sermons.

I also love having him sing next to me - he's good and LOVES it so much. Music is our love language. We both don't bother with lyrics so much (although he's really good at memorizing them), it's all about the sound, beat, and harmony.

Fifth grade has been challenging. He can pull off near perfect grades about 95% of the time. However, he's a perfectionist who is not really willing to put in the hard work to do perfect work. We have spent many, many frustrating evenings this year. He works himself up into a tizzy (this is putting it mildly) that is almost like an anxiety attack. When he finally settles down, he makes up his mind to do the work and it's over. This issue is much more difficult than I've chronicled in this paragraph, but it's all I'm willing to share for now.

I hear he sits by his teacher at school during lunch nearly every day.

He has so. much. energy. It's like age 11 has brought on an incredible surge of energy (of course, that's probably called hormones). He's going to play baseball this spring, and I think getting him back into sports will help with some of that extra energy.

He reads everything he can get his hands on. He especially loves series, which I understand - there's nothing better than immersing yourself into another world.

He LOVES food and thinks I'm the best "chef" ever. In fact, he tells us over and over how good the food is. Seriously, he averages 6-8 comments per meal.

I've already mentioned music, but he (like me) likes to have music playing at all times. And he can't help himself from singing along (also like me).

I think many nearly 12 year olds would be ashamed to show their family love, but Camden is not ashamed at all and voluntarily gives lots of hugs.

He does not, however, show his sister that same love. I'm just going to assume this is standard for siblings, especially at this age.

Easter weekend our church helped the city of Clarksville with their egg hunt, and Camden spent a solid 3 hours manning a game, helping little ones toss eggs, encouraging them, cheering them on when they made a shot. I literally could not have been more proud of him, and I felt like it was a sweet glimpse into the man he is going to grow up to be.

(picture from back in December)