Just a few minutes ago… at September 12th at 15:14 UTC (8:14 AM Pacific, 11:14 AM Eastern), Alex was exactly eight years old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!!!!

First of all, here is the traditional annual interview with Alex. As usual, he clams up and is not very talkative. But he goes along with the exercise anyway. Meaning he puts on a show of his non-answers to my questions. Or maybe he was answering in pantomime. In any case, here it is…

Now, a rundown of milestones from the last year. Each year of course the I provide less details, as it is more up to him to talk about himself. But I’ll allow myself a few highlights.

• Alex’s YouTube channel is now up to 39 subscribers. Help him get to 50. Subscribe now!
• Alex is now in second grade!
• He got to see DanTDM live! Dan has dropped of his regular YouTuber watching rotation for the moment though. Every few months he seems to shift his favorite and spend lots of time watching as much of one YouTuber’s stuff as he can. His current one is Sqaishey Quack. There have been many others over the months though.
• He loves his dog Miley. He is sometimes a bit rougher than he should be with her, but she loves him anyway, especially when they get to play in the surf at a local beach.
• Alex is still a Minecraft wiz. He has some worlds that he has been working on for over two years. They are now very elaborate! He does both survival and creative mode depending what he feels like. The whole family plays together.
• He has a best friend from 1st grade that we make sure to have playdates with at least once a month, more often when we can manage it. They run around the house chasing each other in between riding bikes and playing computer games. She hides a stuffed penguin to try to get him to do what she wants. But that doesn’t always work.
• He goes on “adventures” with Grandma Ruth regularly and loves them. He usually prefers to just stay at home, but when she is coming for an adventure, he hurries to be ready and is super eager to go.
• Alex and I went to a “family camp” together at Camp Seymour for a long weekend this summer. He fought and resisted and begged to go home almost the entire long weekend… in between the actual events. Whenever there was an activity… making home made stomp rockets, archery, swimming, nature walks, meals, camp fires, etc… he was fully engaged and having a great time. He said next year his sister Amy should go to Camp Seymour… instead of him. But he had a blast. So we shall see…
• I’m pretty sure he is practically a grown up now given how big he is. But he is still reluctant to giving up occasionally being carried by Daddy. (And sometimes others in the family.) But I don’t know how much longer this will be possible. I can only do it for very short periods now.

As usual, there was certainly much more. But this is enough.

Happy birthday Alex!!!