Dear Eli,
I finally convinced you to let me give you a haircut so I could take your 11 yr old portrait. Oh boy, you've never needed a haircut so bad in your life. The past few months, you've only let me cut around your ears and in the back so that you could grow out the top. But then you'd never do it side-swept with gel like I asked, so it would just hang down onto your forehead. I'm so glad you're looking a little more groomed now!
You've seemed so mature to me lately and are starting to look like a teenager. It's freaking me out! I bet you only have a few more years before you pass me up in height. You're getting so tall and handsome. You've been acting more mature lately too, not just looking mature. You're fairly helpful when I ask you to do something and seem to understand adult humor more. You love being in the middle of conversations that I'm having with dad and always want to know exactly what we're talking about. If you don't understand something, you're sure to have us explain it to you. I like that you want to be in on the action.
You love Minecraft, science, legos, and drawing comics, but above all else, your true love is screen time. You would be on screens from sun up to sun down if I'd allow it. Screen time is the #1 source of contention in our house, particularly with you. You literally never turn it off when I ask, you sneak it when you think I'm not watching, and you're always begging for more, no matter how much I've already given you. In fact, you had a screaming fit a few nights ago about screens and ended up telling me you hated me, saying you wanted to kill yourself, and slamming your door when I sent you to your room. It's always drama, I tell you. I'm going to have to be really careful about how much screen time I give you as you get older because you seem to have an all-consuming obsession with them. You're already begging for a smart phone and I'm worried it's going to get even worse when you go to middle school in a few years.
You've started mentioning lately that you might want to be an engineer when you grow up. I think that would be an awesome career for you because you're so good at math. It seems to really click with you. I'm so excited to see what you end up doing and where you end up going to college. Right now you're saying that you want to go to BYU. You cheer for BYU, which makes my heart so happy. You don't like to watch sports but tell people you're a BYU fan when they ask. Dad has taken you and your brothers to a few Utah football games and Jazz games and you act bored out of your mind while you're there. You've played basketball the past few seasons but aren't very aggressive. Sometimes you step aside for the players on the other team to let them pass by you to get to their basket. It's pretty funny.
You love to laugh and love watching funny memes and videos on YouTube with dad. You have a routine with him where he crawls into your bed every night and you guys watch a few minutes of funny videos. It's so cute to hear you laugh together. You've been reading a ton lately and have been plowing through the Wings of Fire series. I think you've read 13 books in the series at this point.
You're really sensitive to what people think of you and get sooooooo embarrassed if I have any personality in front of your friends. I like messing with you sometimes by singing and dancing a little when they're around. You should see the daggers you can shoot out of your eyes at me when I do it. 🔪 I always tease you that I'm going to come to school and do something super embarrassing in front of your whole class. You part laugh and part beg me to not do it. You say, "Mom, you're not really going to do that, are you?!? Mom, promise me you won't do that!" Ha ha. I love it so much.
You love having your own room and have been hanging out in there more and more lately. Even though you're a big 11 year old, you can't go to sleep without snuggling with me and getting his back scratched and his arms tickled. You love snuggles! You're getting really excited to get out of primary and move up into Young Men's soon. You also can't wait to get the priesthood. You're very quiet about girls and even though I know you've had a crush or two, I can't get you to say a word about it. You're very private. Hopefully I'll be able to get you to open up a little more before too long.
You have such a good heart and are such a special kid. I am trying to soak up all the time I have left with you before you go off to college and on your mission. I love you so much!!!
Love forever and always,
Mom
11 Year Old Stats:
Height:58.2 in (75th percentile)
Weight:82 lbs (55th percentile)
