Andrew in 2013

This was quite the year for Andrew. If it could be official, he changed from a boy into a young man this year.

He got some new glasses and a new haircut this year. He looks like a teenager even though he's still 11! I've been giving him the same haircut for 11 years, but now, he wants to grow it out and style it.

He's always been tall for his age, but he shot up and is truly the BIG brother. He grew about 5-6 inches this year. He's right around 5' 2" and is just a little shorter than Sandy. His shoe size is 9 and his feet are almost as big as mine.

He had a great year athletically and showed some skill in basketball. Whether or not he has a future of any kind in basketball, he can always look back on this year as one where he really excelled, especially defensively. The coach of one club team said that his defensive skills were superb. He can't beat me yet, but that time is coming. I told him that his goal should be to beat by the time he's 15, hopefully sooner.

I've always wondered what Andrew's future occupation(s) will be. If he ends up in programming, we can look at this year as a turning point. He tried it out for the first time at Robot Camp and liked it. He programmed a robot to do all sorts of fun things.

Academically, he's made some real strides this year too. The decision to home school him has been so beneficial to him both spiritually and academically. His previous school environment was less than ideal so it was good for him to develop academically in a more rigorous environment in preparation for middle school. High school is only a few grades away! He's also taken his voracious reading to a new level. Not only is he reading 400-500 page (easier fun reads like Harry Potter) books at the pace of about one every day or two, but he's also reading adult biographies and histories at about one a week. We have to go to the library every week sometimes twice a week and get him 5-6 books every time!

Andrew's also become a ton more helpful around the house. He does a lot. He takes out the trash, washes the dishes, helps set the table, vacuums, unloads the dishwasher, folds his clothes and cleans the bathroom too. And he's now big enough to help me move heavy things around the house too!

There were a lot of firsts for Andrew - his voice changed for the first time; he had surgery for the first time; he learned programming for the first time; he stayed up til midnight for New Year's for the first time. But I am most proud of Andrew for reading through the entire Bible for the first time last year. More important than physical or developmental milestones is this spiritual milestone. I bought him his first MacArthur Study Bible in honor of the achievement. Great year Andrew!