Project 19 to 19: Day 8

Bubba's Best Girl

We have had dogs in our home since before the Boy was born, so he has never known life without a canine companion. Our dogs, Ruby and Chucho took a while to warm up to the Boy after we introduced him to our little pack. They grew to accept him and even love him, but it was not the same as having a dog of your own.

The Puppy Princess was born to a local breeder in November. We took the Boy with us to make our pick of the litter and all 3 of us agreed she was the one for us! At the tail end (yes, pun intended) of 2008, just before New Years, we were finally able to bring her home!


The Boy fell for his Princes right away, but she was a Mama's girl from day one. He spent years chasing after her, but it really wasn't until the Mutt came into the house that she decided Wonder Boy was worth her time.


I am glad that she found her way to him, especially since he has given so much of himself to her over the years. Our old girl is really getting up there in age to the point where we are not sure how mcuh longer she will be with us. I have struggled to find the silver linings to this Pandemic, but having extra time with the Boy and him having extra time with the Princess is definitely one of those cases.

Project 18 to 18: Day 8

PKS: A public service announcement ...

Most folks probably have never heard of PKS, or Photographer's Kid Syndrome. I'm not really a photographer, but I am a very proud MWAC (Mom With A Camera) - I have a camera and I'm not afraid to SHOOT YOU!

Seriously though, I've had a camera in my hand pretty much since the day Wonder Boy come into this world and I can't imagine doing things any other way. So ... for almost 18 years he has had to endure countless snaps from mom. It started off well enough ... of course, he was too small to protest, but at least 4 days of out each 7 for the first two to three years of his life, I had camera in hand to capture every smile, every grimace, every milestone, and every precious moment I could capture.

I was able to keep up my photo-journalist tendencies through the preschool and even into elementary school. But by the time we hit the mid-way point of preschool, I started having to get creative with my bribes or the Boy would run and hide (or at least refuse to look in my direction) every time I pulled the camera out of my bag. One bribe (that didn't involve high quantities of sugar) that often sealed the deal was to allow him a few moments of silly time. Snaps of him sticking out his tongue, crossing his eyes, bending over to look through his legs ... well ... let's just say I have more than my fair share of these images! But it worked! Often he would crack up at his own antics and then I was able to snap away until I was able to capture that perfect natural smile!


There came a point where even silly snaps were not enough and I was lucky if I could get him to agree to let me pull out the camera. But there were two exceptions: (1) I was allowed to take as many pictures as I wanted at events like soccer, orchestra, and judo, but I could not as him to look at me. I was generally only allowed to capture action photos at these events. But at least he didn't mind me and my camera on the sidelines. and (2) pictures with the dogs were allowed on occasion as long as I didn't go overboard and ask for it 4+ days a week.

Again, this fell somewhat to the wayside. Once his judo and soccer days were done, opportunities for action shots evaporated too. And even the suggestion of a snap with one of the dogs was met with eye rolls and protests.

BUT ... every now and then, I am able to catch Wonder Boy in a moment where he is willing to let me grab a quick snap or two. Generally, I have to agree to keep photo taking to a very limited time span - and it still doesn't hurt to involve the dogs and allow a little silly time!

This morning before school, Wonder Boy was cuddling with his Puppy Princess when Wonder Mutt got jealous and tried to worm his way in between them. The Princess was not impressed and went from cuddles to fussing in the blink of an eye and Wonder Boy couldn't resist joining in. I'm just glad he didn't object to me trying to capture the moment so we can all look back and laugh about it in years to come!

Project 17 to 17: Day 8

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I'm not sure where that phrase originates, but some days it seems to ring a bit more true than others.

Wonder Boy only has one academic area in which he does not effortlessly succeed: language arts. I can identify - it was never my strongest subject either. But like so much about my favorite teenager, he seems to be exponentially "more" at any characteristic we might share. And in this case, that is definitely not an advantage.

He doesn't like to write. And it has been like that from the very beginning.


Even in kindergarten, he resisted any writing assignment. You can see it on his face in this flashback photo. His heart is not in the task at hand. And if you could see more of his face in the photo above, you would see the same expression of resignation on his face.

We are very thankful that Wonder Boy keeps at it, when it comes to ELA assignments. We do not have to badger him to get the work done, but it is hard to watch him struggle through each and every every assignment.

We cannot all be wonderful at everything. That is a lesson that is drummed home during the academic year for our Boy. There is no way that we have found to soften the blow. And we are oh so thrilled that Wonder Boy continues to work to improve. He HAS improved, in fact. I just hope that he can enjoy at least SOME academic success along the way to reward his effort.

Project 17 to 17: Day 2

As much as I enjoy showing off the current day version of our dear Wonder Boy, another aspect of this project that I truly enjoy is digging back through old photos and finding those I had forgotten about. Today I got a full dose of both of these!


I almost didn't share this particular photo of Wonder Boy today. Technically speaking, it's not a stellar photo. But the more I looked at it, the more I felt moved to run with it. This is the Boy with HIS boy, Mr. Mutt himself! Watching these two together cannot fail to bring a smile to my face. They play, they cuddle, some times they even fuss at one another, or at least, Wonder Boy will fuss at the Mutt. But regardless of the attitude, the love cannot be contained. And THAT is what I see here. Wonder Boy is Mr. Mutt's absolute favorite in the whole wide world. He pines for him when the Boy is away from home. He cannot hide his glee when the Boy comes in each afternoon. And there is no one with which Mr. Mutt is more contented and relaxed. A boy and his dog. There is a reason that you hear that phrase - there is nothing more natural than a boy and his dog, imho. That certainly is true with these two!

For our look back to 2002, we see the sweet baby version of Wonder Boy. And there that little cherub sits, surrounded by toys of all shapes and colors and WHAT is garnering all of his attention? The big plastic spoon that came with our rice cooker! Now, you might argue that it is obvious the little man is teething and thus objects that help to sooth the gums will always win out over something soft and squishy. BUT .... number one ... if you look close, you will see all manner of teething toys at his feet ... AND .... this spoon continued to be a favorite play thing long after those teeth burst forth! We dubbed this utensil "Spoony" so that it would sound more like a toy. And it always made us giggle just a little that he preferred it to the many diversions we tried to use to catch his attention. He carried dear old Spoony around for several years! It made a great drum stick. Sometimes he would wave it around like a baton of some sort. But mostly, he just carted it around with him. I guess he never knew exactly what need would arise that old Spoony could fill, but he kept it close .. just in case. Today poor old Spoony is back to its original function, dishing rice out of the steamer, but at least it is still part of the family. All of those other toys have long since found another home.

Project 16 to 16: Day 8

Wow! It's hard to believe that we're already more than a week into this project. And even more unbelievable is that there is barely more than a week to go until our countdown comes to a close. That's not helping my denial any.

For today, I wanted to show off another form of the Boy's creative side.


As I have shown in years past, the Boy likes to paint, he likes to draw, he likes to build ... he just plain likes to CREATE! And that is something I truly admire!

It may be hard to tell, but in this snapshot, Wonder Boy is playing around with his Wacom tablet. He's been playing around with this toy for a number of years, but in recent weeks, he's really started trying to learn how to use it properly. I love watching him create. He gets in a zone, focused on the end result. And when he's done, he gets down right giddy until he can show off his latest work. There are not many things that bring out that kind of enthusiasm in our Boy, but creating is always a good bet!

In our look back to 2008, we get the chance to see that giddy smile on his face! This time it was due to being recognized by his first grade teacher (Mrs. Good) for being the first student in class to read 100 chapters for the school year! She gifted him with this little monkey which he dubbed "Friendly, the Monkey." He kept that monkey in his room, in a place of honor among his pillows throughout elementary school.

Mrs. Good has retired now, but she lives in our neighborhood so we get the chance to run into her from time to time when she's out walking her dogs. She will always hold a special place in our hearts for igniting a special spark in our Boy. She showed him that, not only was it OK, it was ADMIRABLE to be an academic all star! The Boy is not ultra competitive in most areas of his life, but when it comes to his grades, he takes great pride in working hard to achieve his academic goals. And THAT makes us all smile that giddy smile!

Project 15 to 15: Day 8

It's Day 8 of this project now and I am kind of hoping that today's picture and post will help the Boy and I do better about one adjustment he's been having with the start of high school - remembering to wear his student ID on Mondays!


It seems like such a simple thing. And Tuesday through Friday he does a GREAT job of remembering to wear it. But there is just something about the rush of Monday mornings that lends itself to him forgetting his ID. Thankfully, he can get a temporary ID name tag printed without penalty once he gets to school, but it is something we are both trying to be better at remembering!

In looking back to 2008, we see the Boy at his elementary school's fall festival working on his cowpoke skills:


This photo makes me laugh because, while the Boy doesn't consider himself "country" by any means, he is most CERTAINLY a very proud son of Texas! For many years he swore he would never, ever, ever leave Texas. Of course, we killed that plan by taking him out of the state to Colorado (with a stop or two in New Mexico) on vacation. And I'm happy to say that he has come around in his thinking when it comes to venturing out of state from time to time, but he will tell you openly and often that Texas is home. I'm glad the Boy loves his home state so fiercely, but I am also very relieved that he is learning to appreciate other places as well. Now, I hope that when the day comes that he willingly leaves home that he doesn't go so far that we fail to see him regularly. But I also hope that he gets to see as much of this world as possible.

Project 14 to 14: Day 8

If you haven't noticed it already, there are a lot of sides to my favorite nearly-14 year old! He is a young man of many talents. And he demonstrates one particular skill that always leaves me in awe:


He's a Rubick's cube-style puzzle MASTER!

He started with a pyramid-shaped puzzle, just a little marketing freebie Wonder Dad brought home from a conference. From there he moved on to the classic 3x3 puzzle. And by the time he had that mastered, there was no stopping him. He has a 4x4 cube, a 5x5 cube, a 6x6 cube, a 7x7 cube, another pyramid-shaped puzzle called a "professor pyraminx." And some other odd-shaped, twisty puzzles as well. I can't name them all (I can't recall the names, truth be told). But I LOVE to watch the Boy whiz through them. He can do elaborate patterns and likes to time his efforts to solve even the most mixed-up jumble his Dad or I can produce.

In our look back today, we see what is probably the last of the Super roles the Boy assumed in his youth: Iron Man!


I'll bet you didn't even know Iron Man was a soccer star, did you? I loved that the boy didn't care what he was wearing - if there was a chance for a bit of soccer practice, he was ON IT. He's still that way when it comes to his favorite sport.

Project 13 to 13: Day 7

For Day 7 in this project, we see Wonder Boy in his most natural state:


This snap was taken up in his "man cave" (i.e. the bonus room at the top of the stairs where he has his stash of legos, his keyboard, his video games, and all things boy). With his PlayStation controller in hand and his Nerf rifle at his side, all is right with his world.

Looking back to 2008, a few days before his 7th birthday, we see a much more animated Wonder Boy!


This snap was taken after school as we discussed plans for his upcoming birthday celebration. Just look at that hole in his smile - that will never fail to bring a grin to MY face. He's also sporting his Ecuador soccer jersey, which he wore proudly to soccer practice that night.

Big or small, Wonder Boy has always been a lot of fun. Some days, that means energy oozing out of his every pore. Other days, it means cuddling on the couch with a good book. But regardless, it's always fun!