On June 21st Tucker turned 12 years old! Twelve is such a big milestone in our culture. It marks the end of his young childhood and now he is on his way to being a teenager. In church this is the age when the children stop going to primary and join the older young mens class. More importantly it is when they receive the priesthood. This is the first year where instead of doing those things on their birthday they do them in January of the year they turn 12 so Tucker has already gotten the priesthood. But it still feels like a huge deal for him to be 12.
Tucker has had a great year of tremendous growth. We really let him take on a lot this year and gave him a lot more responsibilities and freedom. We let him ride his bike to school the four miles by himself. He doesn't have a cell phone, so letting him go alone felt scary to me. I had to trust that if something happened he would be able to deal with it. And he did. He had a few incidents where his bike broke, but he figured it out. He also forgot his ID, something needed to get onto base where his one class was, and we let him figure out what to do. We really just gave him a lot more freedom and I had to let go some of the control that I had over him and let him grow a little bit. He also took on a daily dog job and participated in several sports and after school activities. He has become so independent.
Tucker is really brave. By that I mean he is always up for trying new things and he doesn't let the fact that he has never done it before or he doesn't know anyone stop him from trying. All of the after school clubs and different things he participated in he was nervous at first. It is a little harder for him to come into these things because he is homeschooled and only takes one class at school. He doesn't have a group of friends and goes to most things not knowing anyone. He doesn't even know his way around the school so finding the right classroom means he needs to ask the office for directions. I normally wouldn't think this is a huge thing, but looking at it closely I know it is something that many children would just be too scared to do.
I had to include the above picture because that is the face I get when I ask him to do something he doesn't want to. He can be a bit dramatic and when he doesn't get his way he usually gets over it quickly. Sometimes I tell him no to something that I think he will be really upset about and he doesn't care at all, other times he gets really upset over the smallest things. I think he is a bit moody and unpredictable, but that is probably the age.
Tucker has his shirt on inside out for these pictures. He totally didn't realize until after we started taking them. I knew right when I looked at him, but I didn't care because I actually liked it better without the logo on the front. But I thought it was a testament to how much he cares about his looks. He really gives no thought to what he looks like at all.
We got Tucker a skateboard for his birthday and he loves it! We really got him the pieces and let him put it together himself. He really liked that. Lately he has been going with a friend to the skatepark. He doesn't know a lot, but has been enjoying learning.
Happy Birthday to our first born!
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