My Airheaded Preteen!!

Oh heavens!!! That is a very common phrase in our house lately. I also have to repeat over and over how much I love my son. I do this quite a bit recently as well. Seems the more I try to find ways to better communicate the more absentminded he becomes. Lately he's excited about all the hair he's gotten. Poor kids been shaving his upper lip since he was 9 but now he's getting the armpit hair.. To me even though he's taller than me now he's still my little boy. I am not sure if he has just quite mastered the selective hearing phase or if he really is as absentminded as he is leading on. The most recent even was I made tacos the other night for dinner. I had just finished cooking the tortillas on the stove and turned off the burner and moved the hot pan to the back of the stove. What does my son do? As he JUST watched me cook and do everything he grabs a styrofoam plate and puts it on the hot burner to make his plate of food. Anyone else see the issue here??  The wonderful styrofoam plate is melted to the burner and we have a huge mess. What did my son say.. Oh I didn't think THAT would happen... HUH?!?!?! Or the times I tell him 11358 times to clean his room and every time I go in there its a pigsty. It's not just that but even school work. Kid is in 6th grade and sometimes STILL spells his name wrong.. JAMES... really?!?! I sometimes feel I am redoing the terrible two's, and never know if he really is as absentminded as he thinks. He can take apart a radio and put it back together but can't remember to flush a toilet, or turn off a light, or put a trash bag in the trash can after taking the trash out. And heaven forbid remembering to take shoes off and put them in his room or after changing clothes to put the dirty clothes in the laundry basket. I wish I could post a pic of his room. I still have NO idea how he sleeps in there. His bed as action figures (with spikes and sharp edges), dirty socks (and OMG they stink), Stuffed animals galore. papers. pencils, anything you can think of is on his bed. including legos!!!! I don't understand my child at times and recently got a book from my counselor and hoping to open it soon and read a few chapters.. I promise to get to it as soon as I am done cleaning up all the messes my son leaves behind for me to clean. :)