Project 18 to 18: Day 18

Menor Mentality

Once again I find myself facing another "last" moment as I wrap up this project for the year. I've decided not to think about this possibly being the last year to do this project. Maybe I'll convince the Boy to help me continue it next year? So ...

As I think about all of the things I STILL haven't gotten around to sharing, one in particular comes to the forefront of my mind ... the Boy is a natural mentor or teacher. We first started noticing it as he worked his way through the ranks in his judo class. He didn't care to go to competitions and while he liked earning new belts, what he enjoyed the most was teaching techniques to new students. His instructor made a habit of pairing experienced students with new ones and this gave the Boy his first taste of teaching.

Since then he has put himself in a position to tutor his friends at school and he loves to try and teach his Dad and I whatever new concept he is researching.

But by far, his biggest role as a mentor has been with the UIL Computer Science Team. He lucked out and was introduced to the team by a couple of really influential student mentors that encouraged him to take an active role in mentoring as they both graduated and went on to new challenges. He took up their charge with complete abandon! He spends his summers developing training materials that he uses for weekly lessons and then tweaks those materials or develops new stuff depending on the need of his students.


His hard work has had an immediate effect as well! Last year, even with the Boy being the only returning upper class-man on the team, he led them to a 3rd place finish in district competition and qualified for region! They only narrowly missed a bid for the state level competition. He has spent his summer again preparing materials and done even more recruiting in the hopes of taking the team to state for his senior year!

As we look ahead to things to come, I could very easily see him gravitating to a field in which he can continue to develop his mentor mentality. There are so many variations in which that could come to pass that I do not want to speculate on anything specific, but I am certain, in one way or another, the Boy will find a way to continue helping others to develop shared passions.

Project 18 to 18: Day 17

A Creative Spirit

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” – Steve Jobs

From an early age I have marveled at the Boy's creativity. And as he does with most things, he tends to jump into the deep end of the pool with little regard for the steps that most folks take when picking up something new.

After months of watching YouTube videos on Spray Paint Art, the spring break pictured below was spent trying his hand at this art form. He didn't start small, he picked up his paints, set up a table on the back porch, donned his mask and gloves and got to work! It was a fun experiment! I was impressed with even his earliest of attempts, but ever the perfectionist, the Boy would never claim any skill with a spray can.


I simply cannot explain how much it pleases me when the Boy gets creative at the piano! You just haven't lived until you've heard his ragtime rendition of Ronda a la Turca!

Whether is it altering a piece from one key to another or, like in the previous example, changing up the rhythms in sometimes not so subtle ways to mimic another style all together than what was conceived by the original composer, the Boy has always had a knack for improvising at the keys!

I suspect he would never claim this as a creative expression but rather some form of problem solving or at least just changing the landscape of a particular puzzle. However, I can see it for what it is - his creative juices spilling out into everything he touches!

Project 18 to 18: Day 16

Mr. Thrifty & Nifty

It's Day 16 and today I want to mention something I don't believe I have ever mentioned before... our Wonder Boy is innately thrifty!

He was never the type of kiddo to ask for everything under the sun as we strolled the isles of the Toy Store at Christmas or reach for a special treat at the grocery check out. In fact, we have to cajole and coerce just to get him to give us ideas for Christmas and birthday gifts! It is seriously rare when he asks for something specific at the grocery store or wants to go out to eat. He just doesn't put a lot of thought into those kinds of things.

We have had to be very careful to not let him know how much something costs - if he perceives it as being excessive, then he will start making excuses for why the funds should not be spent. Summer camps come to mind. We were blessed to be able to send him to a couple of really great camps over the years. He especially enjoyed STEM camp and Mathematical Problem Solving camp. But we were very careful for him to not know the full cost of attendance because, regardless of the educational value, he would have been most uncomfortable with the price tag. And since we wanted him to focus on the educational side of things, we never disclosed the financial side.

The end result of this behavior is that when he DOES make some kind of request, we almost never answer in the negative. Case in point today - this little gadget has a hefty price tag by most standards, but the Boy had a need for class and researched the most reliable version of this thing and then you could see him physically tense up as he made the request. It is a LITTLE hard to justify this particular model, but .... it DOES have an educational value and, again, he so rarely requests anything that it is just hard to say 'no', so we didn't!


In our look back to 2016, we get to see a fun side of the Boy! This was just a particularly good day, a little family time tossing around a frisbee in the hours just before sunset. Wonder Boy was keeping Wonder Dad and I in stitches with his antics as he would chase down the frisbee. He caught it between his legs and behind his back. He acted like a punch-drunk clown when he missed or when his return toss went sailing over Wonder Dad's head. I carry the ring of our laughter to carry me through my darkest days. It was THAT good. Not some big event or major milestone. Just the perfect way to pass the time with my two favorite people on the planet!

Project 18 to 18: Day 15

Transitions

This current season in which we find ourselves seems to be all about the transitions, just like those firsts and lasts I mentioned on Day 1 of this little project. As I have been digging through the countless albums of old photos, I have discovered that this is just one more in a long line of transitional periods in our lives together.

Of course, life was almost a constant state of transitions when Wonder Boy was small; every day seemed to highlight some new milestone. But as the Boy completed elementary school and then intermediate school, those moments seemed to be a bit fewer and farther between. However, I noticed in the waning days of the Boy's 7th grade year and the summer to follow, he experienced another one of those quiet transitions.

No longer does he look like a little boy. I mean, he didn't really before, but it became such a stark contrast to the "little kid" phase of the earlier years. That summer marked his first extended period away from home when he spent more than half of his summer break at various camps including a three week stay out of town. And when I look at our flashback photo from 2015, I see a "big kid" - the kind who was ready to start the next phase of his life, the one in which he would start to prepare for a life away from home.


Looking at today's photo, I see we have reached another threshold. Maybe it's the addition of the glasses, I'm not sure. But whatever it is, you can see it shining in his eyes, he is done with the preparations (or at least, he THINKS he is done) and he is ready to move on to independent living.

As his parents, we are scrambling to make sure that we have covered all of the bases with him that he will truly need before he flies the coop. We've done what we can and we will continue that endeavor right up until he sets out on his own and beyond. Our most sincere hope, though, is that he knows we will never close that door. We are here to help as much as is possible and we are never beyond showing him the ropes as best as we know them.

Project 18 to 18: Day 14

Two Boys and a Blanket

We've always had dogs in our home. Many years before the Boy came along, we had pups in the house. So the Boy has never known home without the influence of some mutt or another by his side.

But even with that said, I don't think the Boy knew what having a dog was truly like until Wonder Mutt joined our family! Wonder Mutt is Wonder Boy's dog through and through. He will allow behavior from the Boy (mostly in the form of the Boy picking up the Mutt and carting him to wherever the Boy feels is appropriate) that he would never tolerate from the rest of us.

When the Boy is home, they are together. That is just a given and it has been that way from Day One.


The other element of the equation is the blanket! These two just LOVE to snuggle up under a soft blanket. There doesn't have to be a chill in the air like our flashback photo. We're experiencing way above average temperatures this summer/fall-so-far and still, you will find these two wrapped up like burritos each and every morning!

Their favorite is the grey blankie you will see in today's snap, but any blanket will do in a pinch!

Project 18 to 18: Day 13

Voilà!

OK. It's VIOLA, not voilà, but the Boy likes to play around with his pronunciation when he talks about his instruments and his viola is no different - so we have come to accept that any word that starts with a V and likely ends in an A probably translates to viola.

This is the instrument that really started it all for the Boy. We had tried to tempt him with an electric key board several years prior to his start in the 5th Grade orchestra, but nothing truly took hold until he got his hands on his first viola. I will always remember how after getting in his viola practice minutes one afternoon, he came downstairs and pronounced that he thought he could play his viola music on his keyboard if he knew which notes were which on the piano.

So the viola was the stepping stone to learning the piano. In addition, his time at the piano eventually led him to the guitar. And who knows if the guitar will be just one more link in a chain of musical studies the Boy entertains?

But it STARTED with the viola and I am truly thankful that it did as our house has been full of music ever since and I treasure it beyond measure!


Our picture for today is the Boy's bright and shiny viola. For many years we rented a viola each school year for him. I didn't realize this when he joined the orchestra, but string instruments vary in size based on YOUR size - it's like finding a pair of shoes that fits. And the instruments grow along with the child, up to a point, of course. And that is why for many years it made more sense to rent rather than to buy.

But as the boy started to reach his adult size and remained committed to orchestra and his viola studies, we knew it was time for him to have an instrument that was truly his own. So one Christmas he opened a very small box left under the tree with a coupon for a trip to a string shop near Houston before he was to return to school for the spring semester.

He was very excited and the whole family packed up and made the drive to check out Lisle String Shop. When we left home, Wonder Dad and I were every bit as excited as the Boy. But as we neared the shop, Wonder Boy grew progressively quieter. And by the time we stepped through the doors of the shop, he had retreated completely into some self-conscious shell.

The shop attendant brought out several instruments for the Boy to sample and get a feel for which he liked best, but the more we tried to get him to play, the quieter he became and the more frustrated Wonder Dad and I became. A drive like this is not something we do on a whim. We have to arrange care for the dogs. We have to fight traffic and in this case, had to struggle with directions to an unfamiliar place in a construction area to boot. *sigh*

Tensions rose higher and higher until at last we were able to cajole the Boy to play enough to make an informed decision on which instrument would accompany him home.

The drive home was almost as strained as the time we had spent in the shop, but eventually, everyone relaxed and the concert that we enjoyed in the days remaining in the Christmas holidays almost made the struggle worth it all.

Seriously though, this instrument has a truly wonderful sound at the hands of our favorite musician. It is smooth and warm and inviting and once we were all able to put bruised feelings aside, we have all agreed that we are glad the Boy was able to upgrade his instrument!

Project 18 to 18: Day 12

Bubba's Best Girl

It's been a stressful Saturday here in Wonderlandia. Wonder Boy came home with assignments from six of his seven classes. Granted, some assignments have a distant deadline, but the Boy is not one to procrastinate. So instead of enjoying some decompression time on Friday as is his habit, he put his head down and made a dent in the work. And then, as soon as his guitar lesson was over this morning, he went right back to knocking out some more before Sunday's commitments sneak up on him.

This evening once he felt he was ready for a break, I found him snuggled on the loveseat with his Puppy Princess. In her advancing age, she doesn't tolerate a lot of the play time like the Boy enjoys with Wonder Mutt, but she is almost always ready for a snuggle session and I love to see them finding comfort in one another.


In our look back to 2012, we see the two of them together before the days of Wonder Mutt wiggling his way in between them. Back then, she was the one with the excess energy that rarely stood still long enough for more than a quick hug. She's been a constant in his life for more than half of his days on this planet though. And I have always enjoyed watching them together!