Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Whoa, whoa, whoa it's magic!

Just about every afternoon in the backyard is eventful. Sometimes, it's just flat magical. This evening in the fabulous cool weather Parker taught Henry how to ride a bicycle. Just amazing to see the pride they both had. What a moment when Parker realized Henry was pedaling on his own and what a moment for Henry to realize he was riding alone. And Neil, cheering them both on with "yeah." And, I must add that Neil did some pedaling of his own on his tricycle!

Last week Russian musicians came to the Rise school, a flautist and a trumpeter, both were energetic young men that absolutely captivated their audience of children, teachers, and parents. "Flight of the Bumblebee" was played by the flutist with bumblebee hand puppets (on both hands!). A couple of hours later, I was the lucky caller to Alabama Public Radio and won two free tickets for the "Celebrity Series" at UA featuring these two musicians. Henry had asked to see them again and the next night he and I attended together. He was just so excited and dressed up--complete with a black bow tie and his "nice tennis shoes." I was a bit worried when I realized our seats were way up at the front on the third row. What a perfect little sweetie pie he was--listening, taking it all in. Four college boys were behind us and Henry was amused when he turned around and one was snoozing midway through the concert. We left at intermission, mostly because I wanted to stop while we were ahead and keep the experience good. We came home to find Neil amusing Dad and Parker with "knock, knock" jokes. He can come up with some doozies! His favorite this week is: Knock, knock, who's there? Night, night. Night night who? Night, night babies. Maybe I should say this is his favorite one at bedtime.

Parker has survived the first six weeks of high school (maybe I'm projecting here, ok, I have survived it). Math (geometry) began with a jolt--a 65 question test the first day-yes, right after Summer, that COUNTED on material that they had not covered! But, he has steadily hung in and it looks darn good to his non-math minded parents. He's really grasping it and has even mentioned to Richard that he is beginning to make connections between math and life. In Biology he is working on a genetics project about Progeria (a rare genetic disorder in which one ages at an extraordinary rate). On a trip to Boston with Neil in June 2008, Parker met and got to know someone his age with this disease. Powerful to have had such an experience.

Friday night Parker will attend his first high school homecoming football game. He's going to the game with a sweet 11th grade girl named Sara.

Richard has set us up in the den with a 55 gallon aquarium that we have really enjoyed. We call it "FTV" (Fish TV). No more blood pressure medicine around here.