At the end of July, Solomon turned twelve. I remember being twelve so clearly. I think most people do. It is the first age at which I felt more or less the same as I do now. So, here is my (once little) boy, twelve.
The morning of his birthday, Solomon and I went to the farmers' market together. In the car on the way there we were watching the minutes to 8:13, the exact time he was born. In the end, we missed that exact minute, being engrossed in a conversation about his latest book idea. Quite appropriate, I think. Neither of us minded a bit. If I recall correctly we were making up monsters to populate this imaginary land and discussing the merits of a swarm/hive sort of monster with many small creatures that acted as one versus something bigger. Or we may have been discussing the group of children he imagined getting lost in the wilderness and surviving together for over a year. Or maybe it was one of his epic fantasy ideas. I'm not sure. Book ideas were coming fast and furious that morning. After a couple loops around the farmers' market, some beef jerky and plenty of plants for a butterfly garden, we headed home.
In the afternoon we went to his Chaska where we celebrated with all his grandparents and Uncle Matt (Aunts Brynn and Marianne live out of state). We have a long standing tradition that the birthday child gets to pick the meal (though all food groups are required). This started when Solomon was about to turn three and requested 'brown chicken and parsnips' for his birthday (no--he had never had a parsnip before requesting them). At twelve he requested latin pork roast, broccoli cheese soup and plums. For his three-year-old birthday cake Solomon requested 'peanut butter and jelly and chocolate' which I interpruted as a chocolate layer cake with jelly between each layer and peanutbutter frosting. This year Solomon's cake request was a chocolate lemon marble cake. There was early talk of butterscotch frosting, but that was nixed--too many flavors. The lemon chocolate combo was surprisingly good. Especially if you like chocolate and orange, I recommend it.
We all pitched in on Solomon's gift--a computer for him and his dad to build together.
A little father son time at Valleyfair was slated for the evening, but a thunderstorm interviened. Instead Charles and Solomon headed to the Mall of America, went on some rides and saw a movie.
A couple weeks later, Solomon had several friends over for a sleepover (though he was so sure they would not sleep he had me send out invitations for a no-sleeping sleepover). It all began with a water fight Charles, Nova and Charlotte got in on the action too. The treehouse was the coveted high ground. From there the boys moved to video games, movies, and board games. Ghostbusters was the top movie pic.
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| Trying out the water balloon sling shot |
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| Nova distracts the opposing team while Chase sneaks down from the treehouse with a bucket for water. |
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| The lemon chocolate marble cake makes a second appearance. |
While the boys watched and gamed in the living room, Charles installed the last of the software on the computer he and Solomon had put together over the last week. The computer was up and running!
At 7:00 am, only one boy (who was on his fifth sleepover that week!) was sleeping. After breakfast, it was round two of the water fight. I do not recall having that sort of energy--even as a kid. Solomon had never stayed up all night before. He was elated.
"Why sleep at all? Let's do this again tomorrow night!" said Solomon at 8:30 am while lobbing water ballons at his friends.
I told him he would crash by noon. While Solomon disagreed, Philip, his friend who had been to sleepovers more that half the week, told him it was true. Our guests left at 9:30. Solomon held out until 11:15, when I found him 'reading' on his bed, having wrung every minute out of that party.
