Nyle’s Birthday

Gwen made this awesome invitation for Nyle’s Birthday Party. 

Nyle has never had a friend birthday party.  I’ve asked him if he wanted one several times, but he always declined.  This is odd to me since he is my most social child.  This year, I decided to throw him one.  His friends are all true boys so we took them out to the desert to shoot some arrows, then had a fire with hot dogs and ‘smores.  They made the fire themselves and had a blast trying to hit the targets!  Of course they were boys and played with fire, took off running and exploring the desert and threw things like rocks and sticks.  It was perhaps the simplest party to plan and so much fun!

These boys were found in Grandma and Grandpa’s building during a cleaning session.  They are designed just for kids and were super fun/easy to use.  We had to teach the boys some rules and etiquette to shoot them, but they listened well and they all did really well.

They learned how to use flint and steel to start their fire.

Nyle really loves airplanes so he was super excited about this remote control airplane.

 Some things we love about 11 year old Nyle:

Nyle has been able to be in the classroom next to mine.  It’s so fun having him in the same grade .  My coworker is so good to him and just loves Nyle for his kindness and his work ethic.

Nyle continues to be very empathetic.  He gives me so many hugs, especially if he can tell I’ve had a rough day…which he always does! 

Nyle is so smart!  When he asks me for help on things like Math, he doesn’t need me to say much and then he computes so much of it in his head.  I usually tell him, “Nyle, don’t try to do it all in your head”, but then I discover after working it out that he was right.  

Nyle is so social, he was usually one of the first students his teacher would go to to befriend students who struggled to make friends. His teacher would often pull Nyle aside to tell them how he wanted to give a certain student t a chance and he was wondering if Nyle would be willing to have this student sit next to Nyle.  Nyle always said yes and I believe he was rather effective in helping the student transition to improved behavior.  

Nyle is very athletic.  He plays soccer almost every day at recess and has gotten much of his class into it.  At the beginning of the year, only Nyle and one or two students would play soccer, now 3/4 of the class plays and Nyle is easily the most skilled.  

Nyle is determined.  This year he wanted to achieve a 95% or higher for all of his grades.  He watched his grades closely and if they ever slipped below 95%, he would ask his teacher what he could do to bring it back up.  

We love our sweet, and passionate Nyle!!