Quarantined 11th Birthday

Height: 56.75 in (53rd percentile)

Weight: 73 lbs (33rd percentile)

Matthew is 11!  What a special birthday it was this year as he spent it at home quarantined due to the Covid 19 pandemic.  He didn't express any disappointment about it though, which doesn't surprise me because he's always been pretty laid back about things.  Many people were doing birthday drive-by parades but he was not a fan of it and didn't want that at all [thankfully!!...I'm not a fan either!].  Instead, we had a Zoom celebration with family in the middle of the day to celebrate and blew out candles on mini-cheesecakes that he requested we make for his birthday.  His other birthday requests were to get an Oreo ice cream cake and a poke bowl from Pokeworks.

Since no one else other than Matthew and I really enjoy eating poke bowls, I decided it would be perfect to pick that up as lunch after his 11 year old check up the next day since we would already be out of the house.  The 11 year old check up was a rough one and it was evident in the weeks leading up to his appointment as he would suddenly comment that he's not looking forward to turning 11 because of the shots and blood draw that he would need.  [He walked away very relieved and unscathed during his 10 year old check up so he had asked the pediatrician when his next round of vaccinations would be......as you can guess, her was answer was 11 year old check up.]  As we got closer to his birthday, he got more anxious and the only thing he could think of was his annual check up.  I told him the incentive for going to his check up would poke bowls and bubble tea afterwards to which he answered "then I'd rather just not get either one of those."  The evening before his check up, he started tearing up during bed time and then on the day of the check up he was full out crying when I told him it was time to head to the pediatrician.  This kid rarely cries so it must have been a serious burden for him.  He eventually calmed down while we were driving there but as soon as we got to the parking lot, tears were rolling down his face again - but at least he had a facemask on to catch the tears!  In the end, he was fine after getting 3 vaccinations and 1 blood draw and even said to me "oh, I guess that wasn't too bad!"  I should have gotten that on video so that I could show him the next time we have to go through this again!

During regular times, he would have been away at 5th grade camp on his birthday.  Instead, we set up the tent for him to sleep in the basement to kind of make up for missing his camping experience.  He was also showered with presents from near and far.  We got him a Lego robot set to work on, Sophia got him shark slippers, Madio got him funk pop figures (Fortnite ones because that's ALL he does these days when allowed electronics time!), Keith got him a cool Dubai Lego set, Stacy got him his favorite brand hoodie (Under Amour) and Chrissy promised to take him to do something of his choice when she comes back next time.  Overall, not a bad quarantined birthday!