AJ- 7 years old

Wow! A.J. is 7 years old today!

A.J. . . .

is becoming so much more independent.  At church, he walks upstairs and into his classroom all by himself, sometimes doesn't even say bye to us.  I remember the teachers peeling him off of me as he screamed when he was a toddler.

is such a rule follower and hates to be in trouble especially at school.  He will be concerned even if he was associated with someone who did something wrong.

doesn't play with "toys" much anymore and when I ask him to clean up the toys, he'll say, "but I don't play with any of these".

likes playing independently.  I'll find him in his room playing by himself a lot.  He loves his brothers, but he likes to be by himself too.

has become such a great reader.  He impresses me with the large words he can sound out.

still loves math and can do his math homework so easily.  We try to challenge him with more difficult math problems.

likes teaching his brothers.  He'll do sight words with Ty and he likes to show Mark how to play with certain toys.

asks for me or Jeff to lay out his clothes at night so when he wakes up he can go ahead and get dressed.  He never complains about what he wears and has no preference on brands/styles.

likes to be organized- he'll straighten his clothes in his drawers and he'll make sure things are put in their proper spot.

is very literal and is not creative.  He understands concrete information much more than something he has to imagine.  He prefers to read non-fiction/factual books rather than fiction.

wears size 7 pants, size small shirts and size 1/2 shoes.

I can't believe I have a 7 year old!  He's so grown up and such a blessing in our lives.

We told AJ he could pick where we went to eat on his birthday and he was debating between IHop and Chick-fil-A, but Dadda convinced him to try something different and more special- so we went to Japanese Steak House and he loved it!  Our Chef was very entertaining and made fire and a volcano.  All the boys were impressed and they loved the food!  It was a great time to celebrate!