Fathers and Sons

My son Bryan wrote this about his son, Aden, for his kindergarten teacher.

Aden is 5; he was born on April 11th 2003. The happiest day of my life, but with all the crying I don't think he would have said the same. He is an only child, and an older brother. He is a very typical first born. He likes order and structure, even at five he loves to make our plan for the day. And that's fun for me too, if you ever get the chance let a five year old plan your day, it's always a good time. Even when he was very little he would line things up like toy cars, he would make a line 60 or longer all the way across the room. Some times the line were multiple with all the big cars in one, all the bright cars in another, like he had a little grid in his head.

He is an amazing athlete; he has a great arm. He hates pickles and mustard on his burger. He is not fond of trying new foods unless they are new junk foods. He has amazing tenacity; he can really stick with things. He is a master negotiator already.

Aden sometimes can really obsess about things and that can be great, like reading. He will read every thing he can that is on his side of the road on the way home. If he can’t read it he will tell me the letters and ask me what it says. Some times it's math and counting and he will give me large numbers and have me add them for him, then I will give him numbers and have him add them for me.

You can always tell if he is sick or not feeling well because that’s the only time he stops moving. Even as a baby he would not sit still for any length of time. I feel bad but it's kind of nice when he does get sick as that is the only time he will give a snuggle. Aden took a little longer then most to start walking because he had short tendons in his heels. He was such a fast crawler by the time he could walk that he could keep up with me walking at a normal pace. He used to walk on his tip toes a lot because of the tendons and some times will still do it out of habit. It ended up being fine because he got great calves because of it.

He does not like to sleep, he never has. It really seems like he just does not want to miss anything. He has to go to bed at 8:30 at the latest regardless of his contempt for normal sleeping habits.

Aden is very hairy! He has a fuzzy back, I know I should not be writing that. It's true, I think it's kind of cute we call him little man because of his long body hair, well, that, and the fact that he will tell me I'm wrong and he wants to be a grown up way too often.

He has a huge personality. He loves to be around lots of people and he tells me he wants everyone in our family to live with us. There is no happier time for him then when there are tons of people around. Aden tells me all the time he can’t wait for me to make him a brother or a sister and when asked how many he wants he comes up with huge numbers every time. I'm trying to convince him two or three is a great number when it comes to brothers and sisters.

Aden is the best Wii bowler I know; he scored 218! He loves to beat me at it. He gets a real kick out of being better at some things than his Dad.

Aden also loves pets, dogs and cats, whatever you’ve got. Unfortunately he is never scared of any dog, it does not matter how mean they look. He loves them and is just sure they love him too.

He is my favorite person in the world, he says I'm his too even though I have no problem being the bad guy when I need to (I'm a dad, it's part of the job). I hope we always have the kind of relationship we have now.
Thanks!

Regards,

Bryan