Getting Older

Yesterday, my oldest, Ty, turned 13. Aside from being one of my favorite numbers, it also means that my "baby" is a teenager now (officially). I know it's probably cliche to still want to say he's my "baby" but it really does not feel like he should be that old. It left me reflecting, where has all that time gone? Realistically, I know we've done a lot of amazing things during that time.

Ty has been a cosplayer for pretty much all of his life. He wore his first cosplay, and not one of my best attempts at sewing, for Halloween in 2000. He was only 1 month old; we dressed him as an Oddish--my favorite Pokemon. His first convention was in March 2001 (~5 months old)--we dressed him as a Chocobo (also not one of my best sewing attempts). Since then, he has cosplayed as Red Mage (FF I), Artemis (Sailor Moon), Jygen (Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro), Vash the Stampede (Trigun), Obi Wan Kenobi (Star Wars), Harry Potter (Harry Potter), Goku (Dragonball), Alphonse Elric (Full Metal Alchemist), Jet (Avatar: the Last Airbender), and Sanji (One Piece)--and I might have forgotten a few. He even appeared in a 2002 issue of Animerica magazine--a photograph snagged the year he cosplayed Red Mage at Otakon--yes, I still have a copy of that issue. His current project: he wants to cosplay Tron.

He's definitely a geek (not a bad thing--in fact, I applaud it). He loves books, movies (not just anime, but he likes that too), and video games. Right now he's teaching himself html so he can put together his own website. He's also teaching himself how to use Flash so he can make his own movies and/or games. He has a prototype boardgame for older elementary age kids featuring dragons and knights and all kinds of fun fantasy-themed stuff, and if we can ever get enough of it pulled together in a professional "kit" we'll probably help him put together a Kickstarter (we'll be there as the adults, but he'll get all the credit--as it should be--for the game's creation). He wants to be a baker, a chemist, and a mad scientist (his own words). Oh yeah, and he's also writing a book called Sand World. He's somewhere around the 3rd chapter, and I'm trying to convince him that an outline would be a good thing. He knows how to make chain mail, and for a short period, he was actually responsible for the chain mail bracelets I used to have at my art table. This is just some of what he does and who he is. Happy 13th to my sweet boy.