Eleven is turning out to be the most fun year

Tonight we had dinner in our small neighbor town because who wants to cook wen it is kids eat free night! While trying to keep my kids contained to the booth, a lady walked over pointing at Ashton and asking if I was his mom. My mouth said yes, but I was ready for her to say something like, "um. Your son pummeled my 4 year old for the last slice of pizza." Or "did you know he was making loud gorilla noises over by the salad bar while beating his chest repeatedly." The gorilla thing happens often in public actually. Ashton has made it his pre-teen goal to embarrass me in public. I always thought it would be the other way around. We do get some odd looks when he is following me in Target singing his conversations in opera form, but so far he has not succeeded. I love that he doesn't care what anyone thinks. 

Instead she smiled and said she was a special ed para at the elementary school. She said she spends lots of recesses with the kids, and wanted to make sure I knew how amazing Ashton is because she often sees him spending his recess with kids that he probably doesn't really want to which isn't always something 11 year olds do with a smile on their face. But Ashton does. 

I couldn't be more proud of Ashton. Not only for his compassion and the example he sets for our family, but also for the person he is becoming. I often get caught in the whirlwind of life that I forget to take a step back and appreciate just how remarkable he is. I hope he always sings opera in the Target isles, speaks with a British accent, embraces his inner nerd, and continues to challenge himself and work toward his goals. He is going to do so many great things.