Before You Turn Nine

I feel like turning Nine has crept up on us, probably because of the strange year we have had.  I just re-read the post I wrote this time last year and I am so grateful that things have changed in the past year.  Whilst we are still in a pandemic, the world has opened back up and you have reclaimed your childhood from it.  Unlike last year where we weren't allowed to see anyone outside our house, we have spent today trampolining and eating out with a big group of friends and you have a party planned with both your friends and with your family.

As an eight year old you have been certain, loving, outraged at every injustice done to you, full of love and quietly contemplative.  You became a big brother again and you refused to look at his photo when he was born, wanting to wait instead to see him in real life.  You adore your brother, you are wonderful with him and I am eternally proud of how you handle it all. I love watching you interact with him, desperate to teach him, trying to copy the way I talk to him.  You are the easiest child in some ways, not desperate to be the centre of attention, not as talkative as the others, not as big or bold or needy and I hope you never feel like you get less attention because of this because my love for you could not be bigger or bolder or louder.

As an eight year old you still love black, blankets, computer games and cuddles but you have recently started loving books more too (as long as you have someone to read to) and your favourite place ever is the arcades. You don't always want to talk, but you love company and you are still quicker to tell me what you don't like instead of what you do.  

I want to remember how kind and loyal you are, how deeply you love, how you are so big and so small all at the same time,  the way you talk, those features that are starting to change and give me an idea of how you will look as a teenager.  I want to remember eight year old Archie before you change again.  

Before you turn nine, as I kiss you for the last time as an eight year old, I want you to know how truly loved you are.

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Nun Night Eight Year Old

The countdown started earlier than ever this year, I think with every passing year the excitement grows and unfortunately you will always be the last of your friends to have a birthday.  We are here though, I have just tucked you in for the last time as an eight year old and you will wake up nine, probably another inch taller and a little bit more grown up again.

Over lockdown you felt a bit younger again, you played more with toys and with your siblings once we took away friends and the social normalities but as things start to lift, as you find a social side of your gaming, as you went back to school for a few weeks, I saw you grow up again and we are caught in the middle now, two sides of you, the boy who is still my baby and the child who is racing towards independence and maturity.  

Eight was the year you seemed to learn more about the world, to understand things a bit better and to ask interesting questions.  It was the year you gained such amazing confidence skiing and I have seen recently how much you have progressed in swimming as you finally choose to swim in the sea after years of rarely going in past your ankles.  Eight was the year you started to think more about your future and your school report shows me how much you have been trying at school.  I still haven't managed to get you loving books but I will never give up trying.

This year your birthday is a bit different.  Lockdown is lifting and we can do much more than we could, but we still can't celebrate in the same ways and you are happy with a smaller party and a special family day out.  You have asked for a gaming headset so you can talk to your friends as you play on the x-box and you can't wait to connect.

These photos are from yesterday, we went to the beach after dinner and you wanted to go swimming in the sea and practice treading water.  You weren't that deep when I took these but you are turning into such a water baby and I love that.  You were so happy.  I find it hard to capture photos of you as you get older but I see you so clearly in these.  You are my son, my baby boy and my friend and I love getting to spend time one on one and learn more about you.

9 is going to be a big year, school is going to be different, everything will be different and year 5 is important in an area where you are expected to sit the 11+ in the first week of September (when you will have only just turned 10).  I know you are strong enough to cope with everything, you have a brilliant attitude to life and you can't wait to get stuck in to learning again.

Eight was full of fun but I think nine is going to be an exciting new adventure for you, I can't wait to be part of it.

Sleep tight my gorgeous eight year old, for tomorrow is a big day 

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