Nate vs Aiden

Nate vs Aiden

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

10:52 PM

This kid is awesome, but he is definitely the most challenging of the three. One of the things that bothers me the most is how he always compares his relationships with his parents to the relationships that his brothers have with Sara and me. For example, "You cuddle with Lucas for 10 minutes, but you only cuddled with me for 3 minutes." And what he doesn't realize is I just kicked the ball with him outside for an hour, while Lucas played with his friends. And he doesn't even like cuddling!!! It baffles me. Well, actually it doesn’t. He wants to be first at everything. He loves competition, it's what drives him. So I know damn well when I am putting Lucas to bed at night, and Logan for that matter, Aiden is counting the seconds that I am in there.

I love his drive though. My first real memory of it was when he was about 5 years old, and not even in kindergarten yet. He was playing on his 2nd soccer team (the first season wasn't great, there was a time when he wasn't really that good!) and he was really starting to enjoy it. But not the way a normal 5 year old would enjoy sports at that age. He wanted to know who played the best, then 2nd, then 3rd, etc. He wanted me to rate each kid on his team. Dad knew what his motivation was, so I always ranked him 4th (he was 3rd). My other favorite thing about his determination is going on amusement rides. He treats them as a source of accomplishment instead of enjoying them for what they are. He told me that the Power Tower should go higher. He thinks that the Wild Thing should go faster. He says that the Steel Venom isn't long enough. Everything can and should be better, but honestly I wouldn't have it any other way.

I wish he could have a best friend. He so badly wants to have a ride or die, but going to 3 different elementary schools in 4 years, and then losing his final 3 months this year to distance learning has been really hard on him. It breaks my heart. Logan doesn't really need a best friend right now, or maybe ever, because he gets along so well with everyone. Lucas has a best friend (he's probably had 3-4), but Lucas falls hard for his friends, and gives them everything. Aiden is a lot more standoff-ish, but rightfully so. I would love to see him find someone that he can confidently confide in, and really develop his friendship traits.

Aiden's greatest asset is his independence. There are times when I feel like he is an adult already. I think he prefers the company of grownups; he likes playing board games with us and he really wishes he could watch PG-13 films. (Outside of Marvel, we really don't let them). He already talks about going to Europe to further his sporting education. He is dead serious about it too. No sad feelings about being separated from his parents. I feel like this could go one or two ways for him and I. Sometimes I think that he thinks that his dad isn't relatable to him, and that's why he tries to tear down other relationships that I have within the family. I really relate to him, but he also has a drive that I never had when I was a kid. I always felt like when I was a kid that I was scared to be the best kid on the team for fear of letting down my friends and teammates. Aiden always wants to be the best kid on the team because if he isn't, then he feels like he is letting down his friends and teammates. It's quite a cool mindset, and I can't wait to see how he continues to develop in the future.