Project 14 to 14: Day 5

I had to wait a while today to get this post done because I really wanted to highlight this part of Wonder Boy's world:


This is the boy and his instructor, Mr. J, at piano lessons! The first year or so the Boy was in lessons, he went through 3 different instructors until we finally landed with Mr. J. All of them were great people and they were all so encouraging in getting the Boy started down this musical road. But Mr. J has been such an important part of the Boy's development at the keys. Mr. J makes lessons fun and exciting - even when working routine scales and pieces. The Boy works very hard to earn Mr. J's praise and we look for that smile on Mr. J's face at the end of each lesson. And Mr. J has been such a blessing all around to our Boy. He has come to hear orchestra performances. He introduced the Boy (& the rest of the family) to a Percussion Studio on campus. He encourages and inspires at every turn!

Lessons are on Friday nights, which is just the perfect way for Wonder Boy to wind down after a long week of school and homework. I know the Boy looks forward to these lessons as much as we look forward to hearing him practice!

In our look back today, we flash back to the Summer of 2005:


Here we see the boy working on a Shrek puzzle. He has always been a fan of puzzles, problems, and brain teasers. And, as you can see here, he started at an early age. But one thing that has always flabbergasted me is that he never solved puzzles in the way I was taught to solve them. For me, I always started with the edges and then matched things up by color until I found a match. However, Wonder Boy never worked that way - he always matched things up by shape. It used to take me by surprise when he would try to match a one piece to another when they were obviously not the same color. I asked him once why he did it that way and he just shrugged and said that it looked like the shape would fit.

It was one of those ah-ha moments for me, where I truly understood that this little person was NOT an extension of myself or his father. That his is completely his own self. At this young age, it can be hard to remember that. But every day I see more and more evidence of this kind of thing. Personally, I get a lot of satisfaction seeing the Boy's unique personality emerging. He's a fun guy to be around and I am enjoying this stage as much as I can!