Asher Briggs. Crash. Brigadier. You are six! How in the world?? You, my son, are beautiful. You have such a beautiful heart and soul. You love adventure and seek out a thrill every chance you get. Yet you can sit still at a table and create for hours with paper, scissors, glue, tape and your imagination. Your laughter is infectious. Your smile is contagious.
You have done a lot of growing up this year. You were a very difficult young child. You hit your "terrible twos" at about 18 months and they didn't seem to fade even a little until after you turned five. This last year though, we have made great strides. Cutting out red dyes made a huge difference. Working constantly on appropriate behaviors, although slow, was definitely rewarding. You went to speech this year with Teacher Mike from February to September. You learned how to properly enunciate about 8 new sounds including ch, sh, k, j and the most noteworthy one was R! You have one sound left that you are trying to perfect and that is S. You are so close and say it sometimes but it isn't completely natural for you yet. You're going to be there in no time. Going to speech with Teacher Mike is something that you really looked forward to every single week. You got to play games, have fun, have special attention, and learn all at the same time. Perfect combination for you! It helps that Mike is awesome, and really was an incredible and patient teacher. We'll go back in January (when insurance kicks back in) and finish up your S's, if you haven't mastered them on your own by then!
You are in kindergarten! You love going to school. You love your teachers. On Friday you proudly came home showing me that you could count to 13 in Spanish, and Monday (two days ago) you came home counting to 20! You are a sponge and are soaking in all of the information your little brain can take in. Your teacher, (same teacher that Brayden had in kinder), Mrs. Martinez, is super nice and says that you are a great little student. We went to a "Meet the Teacher" night last week and she had nothing but praise for you. This is a testament to how much "growing up" you've done. You are so ready to be in kindergarten! It is your happy place. You are making new friends daily and come home with a smile on your face and a bump in your step.
You have an incredible bond with Maverick. You dote on him so much, and he adores you for it. You two are inseparable. If you ever get a chance to push him in the stroller, or play with him, or get him out of his crib after his nap, you jump at the opportunity. It makes my life easier :) but mostly, I'm just so grateful that you two have each other. You get along great with your other brothers too, but there is definitely something special between you and Mack. Let's just hope that sticks!
You are obsessed with ninjas right now. Aunt Natalie bought you some ninjas from her store and you play with them all of the time. I find them hiding in random places, protecting things like the books on the bookshelf, or the doorway. You even set up a "tight rope" across the "lava river" and had ninjas hanging from the rope. Your imagination is incredible, Bud!
For your birthday you got a remote control car. You had been begging for one, and you couldn't have been happier with the one you got. You played with it after dinner until the battery ran down and had a huge smile on your face the entire time. We had aebelskiver for dinner, with chocolate chips in them! We'll do cake and ice cream this weekend when Jamie is in town, and you get to have a sleep over at Aaron's on Friday night. You sure do love your cousins!
Asher, I am so proud of you. Daddy and I both are. You are caring, smart, funny, (you have a wit that exceeds almost anyone I know) creative, energetic, happy and curious. You love life and aren't afraid to live it to its fullest. You have a big heart and a sweet testimony, and I am so grateful for the example that you are to me. I love you Briggs. I hope your 6th year is full of laughter, making memories, and lots of your little art projects hanging on my walls.
