My Baby is 12!

Branden's birthday was Tuesday, March 31st. He is now a twelve year old. I had forgotten what an important birthday 12 is. There are a lot of 12 year old milestones. Of course, he graduates from primary and becomes a deacon. He gets to go to "big boy" scouts. Movie theaters and sporting events now charge an adult price for him, and yet he's not really even a teenager.

To celebrate Branden's 12th birthday I thought I would list my 12 favorite things about Branden:
1. He has a sweet tooth that's even worse than mine. This is great because I can always count on his vote when it comes to getting dessert.
2. He loves to read. I love this! He has even developed my childhood habit of spending hours in his room reading in order to get out of work. You know, out of sight out of mind. Yesterday he was reading in the living room for a couple of hours and I was so jealous I got a book and sat on the couch by him and started reading. It was great.
3. I love his nose. Check it out sometime. It has a great shape to it.
4. He has a great vocabulary...incomparable to all of us.
5. He is competitve...don't know where he gets that from but at least he's fun to play games with.
6. He has a great sense of humor. He tells very intelligent jokes and makes intelligent comments that are way beyond his years.
7. He doesn't bite his fingernails. A great trait for a 12 year old boy.
8. He is an early riser. I am not. I greatly admire and respect this quality in him.
9. He is very intense. Sometimes this is good, sometimes this is bad. But, if he really wants something he will give 200% and wont stop until he has it.
10. He shares. This is great especially when put with #1 above. He will always share skittles, gum, candy, ice cream etc. when I ask him to AND he doesn't complain very much about it.
11. He is very independent. I am often gone all afternoon running other kids around and I know that he will get all his homework done and anything else he needs to get done without me reminding him.
12. He is tall. Come on, admit it. Everyone wants their son to be tall.
Happy birthday, Branden! I love you!