Zachary is Inducted to Hogwarts

Zachary is 11!  He started his birthday with, of course, a letter from Hogwarts inviting him to join the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry on this important birthday.

The letter sent him to his big present: the Harry Potter lego set, 878 pieces that he assembled in a couple hours.

His birthday landed on the last day off of Winter Break this year (lucky kid!).  We started the morning off with birthday waffles, Grandma Edwards' style, which included orange syrup and whipped cream.  

He also recorded "Hedwig's Theme" on the piano to make me happy.

At 11am, Zac's friends showed up for his birthday celebration: Garrett, Finn, Caleb, Chase, and Jojo joined us for Pizza Hut buffet.  They thought it was hilarious to put salt in drinks, making the worst tasting concoctions and then drinking them.  Lots of laughing while not being too obnoxious to the other diners.  They all came out with a gut bomb.

 Next up, Zac's favorite place in the world: Sheratons.  The boys brought played on the waves that were disappointingly small, but made the best of it.  They ramped, played ball, dug in the sand, and made giant rafts with their boards to ride the waves together.  I was proud of the way the boys included each other, even though they did not all know each other.

We did cupcakes on the beach before saying goodbye.  I left feeling so grateful for these boys and how much they add to my son's life.  Sigh.  These next few years are so difficult to navigate and I hope they will keep their same desire to include others and play hard as they tackle middle school.

Zachary's friend David had another commitment that morning, but he joined Zac for the afternoon.  They took off on bikes to get gelato, cast spells on each other with Harry Potter wands, played basketball and threw footballs for the afternoon.  What a spectacular day!  

Zachary ended his birthday with family gifts and a basketball game.  It was a spectacular day for a spectacular kid.

 Zachary is intense.  Everything he does reflects his driven personality--even the way he reads for hours at a time, drowning in the plot and oblivious to everything going on around him.  I thought for a time he was ignoring us selectively, but I have tested it by loudly giving the kids rolls or treats when he is reading in the chair across the room, and he has no idea what is happening.  He would never turn down an opportunity to eat a roll.

His intensity spills onto the soccer field, basketball court, school work and card games.  He sets his alarm on Saturdays for 6:20am so he can do his 45 minutes of piano, 30 minutes of reading, his chore, and then have the day to play, read, and do electronics.  He is competitive but he knows how to lose.  He is obsessed with fairness, but it goes both ways.  He is the first kid to tell a referee that the ball touched him on its way out of bounds when the ref calls it on the wrong team.  He is intensely honest, and not in the hurtful way.  We made a family honest pact a year ago and he honors his signature on that page.

Zachary has a gift with younger children.  He easily makes them laugh and run around with him.  He is superman to his little brother--attentive, loving and patient (even with little bro breaks his Harry Potter legos and he has to rebuild them).  He is a good leader with games and projects.  He is also organized in a sloppy way.  He knows where his work is at all times, even if the handwriting is less than calligraphy and the paper is bent on the corners from going into his binder haphazardly.

 Zac is coordinated and athletic.  He skim boards, boogie boards and swims like he grew up in Hawaii.  Yep.  He has acquired a healthy dose of fear with his tricks which makes me sigh with relief.  He can still flip every direction when he ramps but he knows to be careful with his landings and the depth of water.

Like most 11-year-olds, Zachary is gaining more self-awareness which also means a little more insecurity.  He is more nervous than he used to be inviting new friends over, and is less willing to try new activities or skills he is not already good at. On the other hand, when his friends from school were break dancing and demonstrating their skills from hip hop class, he joined right in on the handstands.  I hope that with Zac's intensity, he remains the kind, content boy he is with the courage to try new things.  I hope he will continue to believe in himself the way he has for 11 years.  I hope he will reach out and be a kid others are attracted to, the way they seem to be now.  Parenting Zachary is a gift.  Happy Birthday, Son!  So proud of you.