10.5 years old

  

As of today, it has been exactly 26 years since Paul and I met at a ballroom dance class, and our youngest child will turn 11 in exactly six months! Here are 11 descriptions that are currently true of Oliver.

1. He has a new pair of eyeglasses that he's supposed to use when he's reading.

2. One of his most favorite activities is building forts in various places around our home.

3. His favorite toys are his nerf guns.

4. He is still generally a very generous boy. For example, he received a large canister of Gatorade powder (enough to make 9 gallons) for Christmas. He shares his Gatorade with his siblings and sometimes his friends.

5. His favorite way to earn screen time is to do a jigsaw puzzle. His second favorite way is through Duolingo. His skills with completing puzzles have dramatically improved over the last year.

6. His favorite ways to use his screen time include playing Roblox or Among Us on an iPad, watching YouTube videos (ex. Mr. Beast or Unspoken) on an iPad, or watching a movie with Paul. 

7. Of my three kids, Oliver eats by far the widest variety of foods for breakfast and lunch. He likes almost everything I make for dinner.

8. Oliver is the only one of our kids who regularly opts to go to bed a bit earlier than what we have stated is his bedtime. He's the only member of our family who hasn't ever wanted Milo sleep in his bed with him. 

9. Sometimes he joins me for one of my walks with Milo. He also is the only child who chooses to go with me inside grocery stores. When I go for walks, I usually listen to an audiobook with an earbud. When Oliver joins me, I listen to Oliver because he talks nonstop. 

10. Oliver prefers to read chapter books out loud, but very recently he has made the transition to reading them silently. He only reads when he is required to do so. He's been reading Imagination Station books recently. 

11. I really like the Beast Academy math textbooks. I had been having Oliver work through them at a much slower pace. This is his second year in fourth grade, and the first half of this school year he was using the third-grade books. Although those are superior in developing problem solving skills, they are not a good fit for Oliver. Just last week I threw in the towel while he was in book 4A and decided to have him switch to Teaching Textbooks (4th grade). I feel like this was definitely the right choice. He can now complete a math lesson independently, and he sometimes does more than one lesson in a day of his own initiative! His grades have been excellent so far. What a relief! My current goal is that he will finish the 4th and 5th grade Teaching Textbook courses by May 2024. Now that I've switched him to Teaching Textbooks, he actually is sometimes choosing to do a math lesson on the weekend to earn screen time. This is a first for Oliver!