Project 19 to 19: Day #5

Focus, Discipline, Work Ethic

Focus, discipline, and a strong work ethic. If you had asked me back in the days before we transitioned from a couple to a family, what lessons I would hope to impart to any future family members, I likely would have included these 3 in the list.

There are days when I think we must have breathed that into the Boy from before he took his first breath because they are the first three characteristics that come to mind when I stop to ponder the man our Wonder Boy is rapidly becoming.

It started with focus. The Boy has always had an uncanny ability to target his mind on the task at hand. When he was small, we would see this when he sat down to draw, paint, build, or play. It was like the rest of the world was just background music and his activity was all that mattered.


Discipline is supposed to be a learned trait, but it has come as naturally to the boy as breathing. And I have always been amazed to see it when it comes to his school work. Most of us can remain diligent when working on something we enjoy, but have trouble maintaining that when it is a task we despise. However, that is NOT the way the Boy is wired. He will often knock off first the thing he hates the most. I have long admired that as I am wired the exact opposite way.


Today is Sunday, typically a day of rest. But after a full week of working hard each day, the Boy started off his day today with a chemistry pre-lab write up. He followed that up with hours of research toward putting together a degree plan for the next 3 semesters so he will be ready for a meeting with his advisor on Friday. He schedules his work himself. We know next to nothing of his assignments, test schedules, or degree requirements. We could find it out, of course, but our young man does not need our assistance. He has earned our trust in his organizational skills and we know he has things well in hand.

I hope he knows how proud he makes us!

Project 18 to 18: Day 5

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens - Ecclesiastes 3

Verse one of chapter 3 of the book of Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a "season for every activity under the heavens" including, in verse 7 a time to tear and a time to mend.

This verse strongly reminds me of these first few weeks of school for Wonder Boy. The first month of school, at least since he started high school, has always been this way, but as it has done every year, the workload has yet again increased. And as such, the Boy has found himself with hours of homework every night of the week.

Unexpectedly, this weekend marks a start departure from that pattern! He has a few small assignments, but nothing taxing and so today is a day of rest and renewal - in other words, a time to mend.

For the Boy, that means some alone time surrounded by a few of his favorite things: his guitar, his phone, his PlayStation, and his laptop along with some snacks and a Gatorade for refreshment.


Back in 2005 he was ALL ABOUT play time! In fact, most of his day was play time. Of course, in 2005, play time was also his time to learn and discover. Wonder Boy always gravitated to building toys most often. He liked to create, to tear things down and figure out how best to put them back together and then how to make something entirely new by combining old ideas and materials.

Today is a day of rest. A time to turn off his brain or at the very least to engage it in a completely different manner than what happens with the demands of academic life. And that is A-OK with us! We know that this time of rest is what prepares him for the next onslaught of assignments!

Project 17 to 17: Day 5

These days, it seems like so much of what we do is centered around preparing the boy for the next stage of his life. And one of the most important preparations is making sure he can feed himself.

He can prepare about 4 or 5 of his favorite foods. And there is always sandwiches, waffles, and cereal when that fails. And I am certain that ordering a pizza is always a fair backup plan.

In addition to building his skills in the kitchen, we are having the oh-so-interesting chats about check books, credit cards, annoying roommates, and how often you need to text mom to keep her from losing her sanity. You know, the important stuff.


Looking back, you can see that we started this process at an early age. Even today, Wonder Boy enjoys a good slice of homemade pizza. And he doesn't even mind helping to assemble them before we pop 'em in the oven!

Having him give me a helping hand in the kitchen is something I truly enjoy so I'm going to enjoy it as long as we still have him here!

Project 16 to 16: Day 5

It's Day 5 of our count down to Wonder Boy's big day. And today I am going to again talk about something of which I have mentioned every year, I am sure: the role that music plays in the boy's life!


For the past few months, the boy has started playing around with this classical guitar. He starts official lessons in a few days, but he had made some really incredible gains on his own. And, at present, I enjoy hearing his guitar practice more than any other instrument he plays (& that is saying something because I really love them all)!

Looking back, we see our dear Boy in 2005, conducting the soundtrack to the movie Fantasia. Even at such a young age he was drawn to classical music. As the movie began, he would take center stage in the living room, raise his hands with the conductor, and completely steal the show for all of us present. As the screen faded into the cartoonist's interpretation of the notes, Wonder Boy began to dance and sway around the room. It was a show I truly miss seeing. But more than that, I think it was a glimpse into the importance music will always be to our Boy.

I am glad the Boy has music in his life. I have seen it bring peace when he was troubled. I have seen it echo the joy and glee felt on the best of days. And I have seen it focus his thoughts when he was anxious or having trouble getting settled.

And maybe the best part is that music is a blessing that can be shared!

Project 15 to 15: Day 5

Day 5 is here and so is the start of fall soccer! Whoop!


For a few weeks it looked like we might find ourselves without Saturday soccer for the first time in 10 years as the local rec league was short on players for Wonder Boy's division. The league kept registration open a bit longer and encouraged others to join in and in the end everything worked out. And I am so relieved that it did! I really enjoy watching the Boy play! This game was a tough one. Both teams were pretty evenly matched. The heat and humidity eventually took its toll though and Wonder Boy's team wilted a bit faster (they had fewer players to rotate on and off the field). And in the end, the guys in blue came away with a 4 to 3 loss. I think they show a lot of promise for the season to come. And the weather man is even promising a slight cool front for this week's game!

Our look back to 2005, brings a BIG smile to my face!


The boy and a book! Even today that is a pretty typical sight, I'm pleased to say. Curious George has long been a serious family favorite. We watched George on TV, we saw his movie, we read every book we could find, and we listened to the movie soundtrack in the car. We still have these books stashed away in the hope one day we'll get to share them all over again.

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!

Project 13 to 13: Day 4

It's Day FOUR of Project 13 to 13 and, so far, Wonder Boy is still playing along (not always with a smile on his face, but still playing none the less).

Today we are showing off some new duds:


Last night was the Boy's first soccer practice of the season and with a new season comes a new team, a new coach, and NEW COLORS! Wonder Boy has always been a fan of blue (me too!) and while light blue might not be his favorite shade of blue, at least he didn't end up on the pink team. Wonder Boy was given the option of selecting his jersey number and he quickly called dibs on the No. 10 jersey, the same has his favorite player, Lionel Messi. We're looking forward to a VERY FUN season!

And today we're going to flash back to August of 2005 to one of my all time favorite snaps:


Oh, those eyes. Those chocolate eyes (which look darker in this b&w photo) have always been my down fall. This particular photo was taken at the end of a long day of soccer (for Wonder Dad and I) and a last minute trip to the neighborhood park for the whole family. It was a hot, sweaty August evening, but we had a blast watching Wonder Boy fly down the slide time and again. It's never easy to call a stop to that kind of fun, but at least we will always have this little snap to look back on and remember the day.