Cameron, Stephanie, Andy, & Max: Andy at age 9

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Andy at age 9

It's been too long since I did an update on our Andy! What an energetic, motivated, smart boy. We are so lucky to have him in our home.

He is always reading. Like...always. I bet he reads 3-4 hours a day. He's always trying to sneak a book under the table or his desk at school. He loves Big Nate, Dog Man, Bone, Epic Zero, and tons more. He loves graphic novels specifically. I've been reading the boys chapter books at night for the past while and he's loved those too: The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe; Where the Red Fern Grows; Matilda; Charlotte's Web and more.
He's very driven and is a hard worker. He's doing Battle of the Books at school. They're only required to read 3 of the 20 books, and he's reading them ALL! And he's almost done with them, even though the deadline isn't for a few months.
He's still a fantastic pianist. He started with a new teacher in September--Dr. Janae Williams. It's been a wonderful experience for him and he's really thriving. He practices about an hour a day and has such a good attitude about doing such hard things. He's working on the Bach F Minor concerto and loves it.
He's still a smarty pants and tested into the ALL program (gifted and talented) in the district. He would have had to switch schools and he really really didn't want to go, so we just stuck it out at Ridgeline. He's very bright though and catches onto things quickly. His biggest struggle is remembering to not rush, but if he can take his time and think hard he gets pretty much everything right. He always asks us to do math problems for him in the car. He's a whiz at multiplication and can usually get the answers faster than I can ha ha.
He's been extremely into Pokemon for the last couple of years. He asks for cards for every birthday and Christmas and has quite the collection now. He knows way more facts about Pokemon than anyone I know. We own tons of Pokemon books too. It's a whole world I know more about than I ever hoped too. ;)
He's got a good little friend group in the neighborhood: Jayden, Logan, Beckham, and Rocky. But he goes through phases where he really likes to spend lots of time with friends and phases where he prefers to stay home.
The point of life for Andy is TV time, and he spends a lot of energy working hard to earn tokens to get extra screen time. We don't own any video games, but he's really hoping to get some for Christmas along with a Nintendo Switch. He's really hoping for Minecraft especially. He loves playing Tabs too.
He really loves playing on his team, the Steel Titans. Being a defender is his favorite. It's his first year on a AA team, and he's really loving it.
Andy and Max are BFFs and enemies all at the same time. They really do play so well together and have so much fun together...until they're not. :) But all the same, it's fun to see their relationship develop.
He loves to draw and is really good at it. He has a sketchbook he got from Grandpa Mark on his baptism day and he loves to draw in it.
He loves to play games. His favorites are Monopoly Deal, King Domino, and Checkers.
He started mountain biking this past summer and really likes it (except for climbing ha ha). He's good at it and has really improved a lot!
He likes fishing out in Northern California. He's gone on two trips so far with Greg and Cameron--Max joined on the second trip. The highlight was when Greg caught a ling cod as big as Andy.
He really loves baby Davis and is incredibly sweet with him. He has the sweetest baby voice when he talks to him.
He still wakes up at 6 AM. He usually reads, makes himself breakfast, and does his jobs all before anyone else wakes up. He's the definition of a morning person!
He still loves building legos and has tons and tons of sets. His favorite is the Ninjago Shark.

How we love our Andy. He's destined for great things and we can't wait to see what he accomplishes in his life and who he becomes.