Dawson is Eight AND A HALF

As of November 14th, Dawson is eight AND A HALF!  Since turning 8 in May, Dawson has seemed to grow taller every single day!  He also just seems like an older kid now.  He is so responsible and helpful which makes him seem even older/more mature.  Dawson is so kindhearted.  He is always willing to help, and 90% of the time that he helps me or others he does so without being asked.  I love this quality about him.  He sees needs and just does them without being asked or without complaining.  When I see him doing this, I always try to praise him or thank him, because I love this about him.  He is so thoughtful.  In addition to doing these un-requested chores, ninety-nine percent of the time Dawson does his required chores without being asked or reminded.  Dawson loves to work or have a job.  This fall he regularly asks permission to go outside and when I look out to check on him, he's raking leaves or picking up sticks.  

Dawson is a good big brother to his three younger siblings.  He sets a good example for Carter, Nora Kate, and Clayton, and is generally happy to help them when they need.  He loves to play with them.  Dawson usually tends to be more serious, but when he plays he can get silly-especially when he plays with Carter!  Dawson plays well with Nora Kate too; his favorite thing to do with Nora Kate is to show her, teach her things, or help her do things when they play. "Let me show you how to build these Legos" or "Let me drive you around in the princess car."  He plays great with Clayton too and will build towers just for Clayton to knock down.

Dawson is in 2nd grade this year, and he continues to do well.  Dawson has been getting more into chapter books this year and has done well so far meeting his reading goals at school.  Dawson has spelling and vocabulary words to learn every week, and he usually already knows these at the beginning of the week or quickly learns the couple he might not know.  Second grade has brought more homework than the previous years, and we are still adjusting to this-BUT he always focuses and does it.  Dawson says his favorite parts of school are recess, gym, and STEM this year so far.  He seems to play with may different friends from his class and not the same group of friends every single day.  When I go eat lunch with him at school he has picked a different friend each time to sit with us.  I'm glad that he can easily play with various classmates.  

Dawson continues to do Cub Scouts and really enjoy it.  This is so perfect for Dawson as he loves all the things they learn, talk about, and do-camping, hiking, fishing, etc.  In addition to this, Dawson will be playing basketball this winter which should start up next month.  He enjoys basketball and is good at it.  In addition to basketball, Dawson is a great runner!  In the past six months he has run his first 2 official races and done amazing!  When we were at the beach last month he did his best run ever-he ran two miles with me in less than 19 minutes!  He would love it if we ran together every day, and I need to make it a point to do this with him more.

Dawson still says he wants to be a farmer when he grows up, and as hard working as he is I actually think he would be a great farmer!  He will still tell us specific things about his farm that he will grow or what he will do on his farm.

Dawson loves to be busy!  He is not really a lay around and watch tv kind of kid, never has been.  Over the summer we went somewhere or did some activity every single day, and he LOVED this!  

As I wrap up, I want to include a few more details about our sweet big boy at 8.5:

-Dawson LOVES art!  Painting, creating, drawing-any type of art!

-He enjoys fishing and golfing.

-He loves growing things and enjoyed our garden this summer probably more than anyone else in our family!

Dawson is growing up way to fast, but, oh what fun it is watching him grow and learn.  We love our sweet, smart, caring, helpful, thoughtful, considerate big boy!