San Diego Mom and Tech Blogger

Today, you are ten.

Last year at this time, I promised you that I’d do whatever I could to make it the Year of Awesome.

Did I succeed? Was it even an attainable goal?

If nothing else, it was a year of change: you are becoming a young man as fast as I can blink.

It seems like every day, there is a new warning bell, showing me that things are not the same.

You began acting like a tween; sometimes in ways that caught me off guard and hurt me.

You asked questions you really didn’t want the answers to, and realized that growing up sometimes means creating magic for others rather than experiencing it firsthand.

You grew peach fuzz. Got a zit. Rode in the front seat of the car for the very first time. Acted as wingman for a friend who liked a girl. Cheered that friend up when the girl broke his heart.

You ran for election and gave a speech. You won that election and truly gave me my proudest mom moment. Not for what you did, but for who you are.

Puberty is eating away, ever so slightly, at the edges of your innocence. I rejoice, and I mourn.

This is a time of paradox.

You sleep with a teddy bear and carry a phone.

You snuggle with me, then beatbox with your friends.

You tell me I look beautiful in my glasses, and roll your eyes at me when I act utterly uncool.

You include your sister in  your spy club, then kick her to the curb when the neighbor boys show up.

I love seeing the  hints of the young man you are becoming, even the parts that make me worry a little, or the faults that I know you may struggle with forever. It is better than giving birth, hearing you say mama for the first time, watching you ride a bike or earn your black belt. It blows my mind with its utter coolness.

I am witnessing the evolution of a boy. My boy.

I have a simple wish for you this year:  that our relationship, while changing and sometimes rocky, STAYS a relationship. I wish that a year from now, we’re still talking in the car, snuggling on Saturday mornings, and figuring out this tween thing together. I hope that you’ll keep allowing me to watch the becoming of you.

Happy birthday, Boy Wonder.

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