The Curse of Being the Middle Child

Poor Brandon is our stereotypical middle child--always overlooked, always overshadowed, quietly going about with little recognition. So today I want to repent of my parental neglect and let the world know what great things my middle child (What was that kid's name again? :) ) has been up to lately.

This summer Brandon worked really hard to complete the requirements to receive his Arrow of Light award in Cub Scouts.
We missed pack meeting a couple of times busy with other kids' activities (see what I mean about being overlooked) but were finally able to see him cross into boy scouts a few weeks ago. He has really enjoyed moving up to the big leagues in scouting. He has already gone on an overnight camp out and an 11 mile bike ride. Although, in all honesty, I don't think he'd have shown up for the bike ride had he realized what the boys were doing that day. He was pretty sore after.
Brandon also successfully passed his test to receive his purple belt in Akido last month. (Natalie earned her green belt and Bryce got his blue belt--oops talking about other kids again. ) It has taken Brandon about 5 years to get to this point and he is now the 2nd highest ranked student in the class.

And, if all that wasn't enough, Brandon has started music lessons on two different instruments. He really wants to follow in Natalie's footsteps and be a percussionist, so he started both piano and drum lessons in order to prepare for band next year.

With all his accomplishments in the last couple of months, it seems like he just went from little kid to big kid overnight. He is now working as a peer helper at school tutoring in one of the pre-K classes, he has become quite a good babysitter, a great assistant for all kind of projects around the house, and is just an all-around sweet boy. In fact, I would say he's the most amazing Brandon in the whole wide world. How's that for some recognition!