Christopher–or Chris as his friends now call him–is quite the 9 year old. He’s grown leaps and bounds this year…several inches according to the board we’ve tracked their heights on each year. He’s tracking a full year head of William which honestly makes Christopher pretty proud and William more than a bit nervous.
Christopher would like you to know he’s a “left handed genius”. He has a couple mugs and school pencils proclaiming that fact proudly. He would also like you to know he is inches taller than William was at 9 years old (quite a point of contention between the two brothers). He’s having a great year in 3rd grade despite being in the biggest class in the school (31 kids I believe). When the year started I was pretty concerned he would be overwhelmed by the shear noise of that classroom. Through the course of the year he has actually become better at not taking things so personally and advocating for himself as needed, this is a big improvement over first grade where too many kids crowding near his locker was enough to elicit tears.
My Christopher has an introverted streak like his mother. He is the brother who prefers to have 
alone time on a consistent basis and will often disappear to the basement to watch a show solo. He is still the sensitive one in all respects. He’s more sensitive to smells and sounds and has BIG emotions. His brother casually asked one night at bedtime what we’d do when someday Kiki dies and there were instant tears from Christopher. I hope he keeps his soft spot. Christopher’s soft spots make him a super friend but also lead to a bit of picking on a select few at school who know how to annoy him. For the most part Christopher lets this roll off his back with everyone except for Andrew. Boy do those two still butt heads from time to time and 9/10 William has his nose right in the middle of it.
9 year old Christopher is almost done with braces. He has the cutest row of freckles across his nose. He loves Kiki, books full of random facts, the “little dipper” baseball cap he got for his birthday, and grilled cheese sandwiches. He took all of his piggy bank and birthday money on a trip to the Lego Store and was in heaven. As he’s grown he is getting a bit better with motion sickness, or we’ve all gotten better at expecting and dealing with it. Nine year old Christopher cannot stand strong smells, people who don’t listen to the teacher, and anyone he has deemed “annoying”.
Pretty excited about this age and stage as he heads into his last year of single digits. Happy Birthday Christopher!!