Oh my William,
Another milestone year of sorts for the big guy. This year William turned 11 and for his 11th birthday received his first “phone”. It’s actually a Gabb Watch so it’s very locked down, but it allows him to call us, and for me to contact him when he’s not with us. This gives him a newfound freedom to stay at home by himself for short periods of time, walk with his brothers to the park, ride his bike a bit farther from the house that I previously felt comfortable with, and walk to or from a friend’s house on his own. He has a select group of friends he can message or call and I can check in with him at school. (In all honesty I think I love this new freedom as much, if not more, than he does.) 
William the 11 year old is a pretty cool kid. After years of input from his parents his sense of humor is really starting to develop. It’s sure awesome when he hits us with an unexpected zinger. It’s pretty certain that he’ll have an offbeat sense of humor just like the rest of his family some day and it’s starting to emerge a little bit here and there which is really exciting.
William has the best group of 5th grade friends. I hope he remembers and treasures the time he has had in elementary school as he moves into middle school next year. I hope this group of boys I’ve come to know and love remain friends for years to come. He has no idea what a charmed elementary school experience he’s had. Now as we move into the ‘tween’ years I’m excited to see what’s next.
Eleven year old William faces the same challenges most oldest siblings probably face. (His father and I both being eldest children are intimately aware of this). He often tries to parent his younger brothers, but we’re still in a place where he hasn’t developed the emotional maturity to back down from a conflict, instead trying to win and inflict his will on his younger siblings. We often remind him he shouldn’t parent his brothers but that desire sure is strong. Eleven year old William also tends to be a bit of a critical know it all. He’s so used to being miles ahead in school that he feels a bit overconfident in his knowledge of the world. We’ve purposely enrolled him in some new activities (rock climbing, skiing, soccer to name a few) that he isn’t a pure natural at, in order to challenge him to overcome things that are hard or uncomfortable. Speaking of skiing, William had 11 ski days this season during an all time record breaking snowfall year. Watching him learn to ski with his dad, grandpa, and cousins has been great! He had so much fun this winter.
Eleven year old William likes s’mores, computers games, has some pretty solid Spanish language skills, and is learning to code. This year he signed up to be a “Junior Coach” and help play with/monitor recess at school with the younger kids. He’s still reading everything I can get from the library and recently started The Hobbit (before deciding somewhere in book 3 that it was pretty heavy and he’d come back to it). Can’t say we didn’t warn him. 🙂 William is an early bird and rarely sleeps past 7:00am. He certainly did not get that from me. He finds snails especially disgusting. Loves our cat Theo and decided rock climbing would be better if he liked being up high a bit more.
Happy 11th birthday oldest boy! We love you and look forward to another exciting year!