Project 19 to 19: Day #3

Style By Mom

I have never been confused with a fasion plate. When it comes to personal grooming, I like to keep it simple. So I never intended to take on the task of taming WonderBoy's hair. But in his early years, he was overly wary of letting a barber or stylist get near him with scissors or clippers, so a few simple cuts at home seemed to be the best option.

About a week before this photo was taken, I strapped the Boy into his high chair, gave him some snacks to busy his hands, put on his favorite cartoon of the day and grabbed my scissors to clean up his side burns and get the hair out of his eyes. I had hardly gotten started when he very suddenly decided to turn his head and show me how many cheerios he could fit into one hand. As you can guess, this did not end well. In fact, I missed his hair all together and lopped off the top of his left ear instead.


I was devistated! Wonder Dad was a 20 minute drive away at work and couldn't get home to us, but a neighbor came to the rescue and whisked us off to the doctor's office. Thankfully the Boy didn't need any stitches, but Momma's heart was permanently scarred, so this would be the last time I got near him with scissors.

However, Daddy came to the rescue with a set of hair clippers. Neither of us had much in the way of skill with them though, so the end result was the buzz cut you see above. The Boy didn't mind. It was a super hot summer, and we told him the cut made him more aerodynamic and therefore faster on the soccer pitch. He was small enough to buy into it, so all was well.

These days, the boy has a good relationship with the family stylist - she's been cutting Wonder Dad's hair since long before Wonder Boy came along and these days she keeps all of us looking our best. However, pandemic living has ended our visits to the salon. So once again we are relying on the clippers Wonder Dad brought home all those years ago. Thankfully, we are much more skilled with the clippers these days and do not have to resort to a full on buzz cut.


All things considered, I think Wonder Boy looks rather handsome! I know he will be glad to get back to the Salon, but until then, at least we can keep his sideburns under control and keep the hair out of his eyes. I guess some things never change!

Project 18 to 18: Day 3

La Bendición

I like to say that I've always been a "hands on" mom, but it's probably more accurate to call me a Helicopter. And while I may hover about more than he would like, I hope that I've done so with enough space for Wonder Boy to grow and flourish.

Seeing him behind the wheel of a car is one of those moments where, even if I wanted to embrace my Helicopter title, there is little that can be done, but let go and let God, as they say.

So, every day when the Boy pulls out of the driveway without me, I say some variation of the following prayer:

May God bless and keep you.
May He guide your steps and guard your heart.
May He deliver you to school and return you home again safely at the end of the day.
May He open your mind to help you take advantages of the learning opportunities of the day and to perform to your fullest potential in every situation.
May He shroud you in His peace, love, and understanding in order to make you a good friend, a good classmate, and a good student.
May He help you to make good decisions and to show respect for those that are there to teach and support you.
May He reassure you that you are loved beyond measure.
In Christ's name,
Amen.

Looking back to 2003 and the Boy's first set of wheels, I'll admit that I felt obligated to hover near by to handle any technical difficulties he might encounter. Like today, he didn't really want me to hang around so much, but at that age he had little to no say in the matter.

Wonder Boy, then and now, is confident behind the wheel but not terribly adventurous. And I'm OK with that. He can get where he needs to go and when called for, he is more than capable of traveling outside of his comfort zone.

Back then, like today, whenever he ventured beyond my sphere of immediate influence, all I could do was say a prayer and hope for the best. His track record so far is pretty good. And I'll just keep praying that it stays that way!

Project 17 to 17: Day 3

The theme for Day 3 of this little project is: BUSTED!

I'm certain we'll be talking about one instrument or another and the Boy's love of music as this project progresses, but for today I have to share a funny note ...

I *love* that Wonder Boy loves music so much, but it's actually become a running joke around the house. You see, we know that EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. we ask him to do something that takes him into his bedroom, especially if he has to go into his closet (for example, to put away clean laundry), we have to build in extra time if there is something else on the schedule.

Clear as mud?

You see ... if we ask the boy to go his room (to get dressed for school, to bring out his dirty laundry, to find a pen ...) we know he will slip quietly into his closet, pick up his guitar, and steel a "few" minutes of practice time!

I really love that he loves his guitar so much! He has truly become adept in only a few short months (he started lessons in February after playing around on his own for about 8 months before that). He has a flair for all things music and right now, the guitar seems to get most of his attention. He has orchestra at school, so his viola is not gathering dust, but right now he only rarely plays piano. And while I sometimes miss the sound of the piano, I am soaking up his guitar time (when we are not on a schedule to get out of the door in the morning, at least). I have always loved Spanish guitar/classical guitar. Maybe it is genetic, because Wonder Boy seems to have found "voice" for his inner music as well. A true blessing for the whole household.


In our look back to 2003, we see an even more mischievous little man, caught in the act of obliterating a box of facial tissue. Just look at that little face, he feels not one ounce of guilt for his deep dive into the Kleenex!

After we were done "instructing" him on proper tissue box protocol, we all had a pretty good laugh about this little escapade.

This is another example though, of one of those photos I had completely let slip from memory. I remember glimpses from this age, of course, but the further away we get from those early years, the more they tend to blend together. I am thankful for this little project to bring some of these moments back into sharp focus.

Project 16 to 16: Day 3

It's day 3 and today I am reminded of one of the BEST PARTS of this yearly project - when looking for my "flash back" photo, I stumbled on a photo that I had completely forgotten about and it brought a HUGE smile to my face.


Our snap from this morning is our dear Wonder Boy with his puppy princess. Neither of them are what you would call a "morning person" but the Boy has learned that the mornings are probably the best time to get in some cuddles with his best girl. She's really started acting her age as of late and I think we're all trying to soak up whatever cuddles she feels like sharing.

Our flashback to 2003 is my smile for the day though! I had completely forgotten that the Boy went through this phase where he wanted to do everything upside down! I drew the line at letting him eat while upside down, but it wasn't worth the fight to ban him from watching TV or listening to one of us read to him in this manner.

He really was a fun little guy who always kept us on our toes!

Project 15 to 15: Day 3

For Day 3 of this project, I wanted to highlight how much heavier the Boy's load has gotten now that he's started high school:


It has amazed me how much more he seems to have to shoulder (literally) each year. Every day finds him carting around his backpack with notebooks, text books, and lunch box, then he has his viola, his binder (with the rest of his school supplies), and quite often there are extra projects and supplies that have to make their way back and forth between home and school as well. To top it all off, the Boy's school is pretty big (by my standards). It's easily twice as big as the high school I attended, maybe even more. It has 3 stories and a ground floor. And the Boy's schedule is such that he doesn't stay on the same floor for any 2 consecutive classes. Before the year started, I might have worried about him not having a PE class this year. But he spends so much of his day running up and down those stair cases that I don't have to worry about that at all! He doesn't seem to mind the load. And he does have a personal locker and an orchestra locker to help with the load during the school day. But I know a lot of kids skip the locker all together and just carry everything everywhere. I guess that is good practice for when they move on to college.

In looking back to 2003 I'm going to share a big laugh with you all:


WHAT A MESS! I don't recall the specifics of exactly what led up to this massive cereal explosion on the kitchen floor, but for some reason the Boy was left momentarily unattended not long before bed time. And in that short span when no one was looking, he managed to spy his favorite cereal of the day (Kix) on the counter. I'm not sure how he reached it - he must have jumped. But reach the box he did! And after reaching it, he proceeded to empty it out on the floor for easy access. He ate his fill until the shock of it wore off enough for us to pull him out of the middle of it and let the dogs enjoy one HECK of a late night snack! It took us QUITE a while to find every last little kernel of Kix, even with the help of the dogs. I swear they kept rolling out from strange places for days! But as frustrated as I must have felt that night, I can't help but laugh now when I see this snapshot. Just look at his face - he didn't see a thing wrong with what he had done. And I suspect a big part of him was just proud of himself for getting that snack himself. Little bugger!

Project 14 to 14: Day 3

It's day 3 of this project and so far, the Boy has been a pretty willing participant (even if I haven't told him where the pictures are going)!

Today I wanted to highlight a particular fashion statement that is a signature of Wonder Boy and many of his friends: plain black crew socks.


Honestly, this particular looks could pretty much be representative of Wonder Boy on any given day: cargo shorts, plain colored t-shirt (though the color is not terribly important as long as it's not "girly"), black crew socks, and running shoes. That is his chosen uniform.

It doesn't matter if we are going out to dinner, heading out to church, or preparing for a school day - given a choice, THIS is what the Boy will pull out of his closet.

One of the ladies at work (who has a son just a bit older than my Boy) calls these plain black crew socks "old man socks." I'm not sure I would go that far in describing them, but it does strike me a bit funny - you just never know what the "in" fashion thing is going to be at any age. And please note: she's not putting down Wonder Boy (or her own son who often sports the same fashion statement). It's just one of those quirky things that strikes a chord with her - with us both, I guess.

I have no room to talk, of course. I grew up in the days of big hair and neon EVERYTHING (*shudder*). Heck, even our wedding photos look like the colors were pulled right off of an episode of Miami Vice (oops! there I go showing my age again!).

But seeing the Boy pull these on each morning does bring a smile to my face. And it makes me wonder if he will look back on these photos some day and wonder (much as I do when I browse my high school year books) "What was I thinking?!"

For our look back today, we flash back to the fall of 2003, a couple of weeks before the Boy turned 2 years old.


I don't have some great story about this image, but I wanted to share it anyway. Our Boy has always been easy to share a smile (in familiar settings, anyway). And he's always had an abundance of energy. One of the ways in which we siphoned off some of that energy was regular trips to the neighborhood park - that's where this picture was snapped - on the stairs leading up to the twisty slide. You can tell by the look on his face he's ready and rarin' to go!

That's our Boy!

Project 13 to 13: Day 2

Well ... it's one day closer to Wonder Boy's 13th birthday and time for my next installment on this little project:


As you can see, the Boy is totally loaded down each day when we take off for school. Backpack full of goodies (including lunch) on his back, viola case on the right, and big, heavy binder on the left. I believe it is part of the exercise regimen at his school - you know, gotta make sure to tax those muscles if you want them to develop the big guns.

Our flash back shot for today is from September 2003:

Soccer has ALWAYS been Wonder Boy's sport and by the tender age of 23 months he was already working on his ball handling skills. I like the focused look on his face here. Soccer is no laughing matter you know!

This week the Boy will be kicking off a new season, so you can bet there will be more ball-centric photos featured as well. You just gotta check back to see what he lets me post.