Project time

Every year, just about the time we are feeling done with school, after all the standardized testing...comes the dreaded project. Connor's teacher, to her everlasting credit, determined that they would do everything for the project at school, which was fantastic. Jamie had to do his at home. They had to design a three-dimensional house, using at least three geometric shapes. Interestingly, the guidelines for size only gave two dimensions. But Jamie, with a lot of help from Sarah, got pretty into it. I think some of the travels to the classical world have had an effect. I think Jamie's was the only project that involved "Squinches."

Here they are talking about them:

Connor's was a team project, to design and sell "I am..." t-shirts. His team did "I am wacky and cool."

Curve breaker

OK, I try really hard here not to be braggy, so don't take this that way. Really, it's just funny. At the boys' school they have some kind of points system for reading. Every book has a certain point total, based on length and difficulty, and as the kids read they report their books and accrue points for their class. Inevitably, the school has a competition for the class with the most points.

James reads a lot. It is literally impossible to keep him stocked with enough reading. So a couple of weeks ago he came home to report that his numbers were no longer being counted for his class's total. How can this be?, we asked. It seems that James was single-handedly demolishing the other 4th grade classes to the point that the competition had ceased to exist. I think it may have actually discouraged reading among his classmates, because they figured James had it in the bag for them anyway.

In the midst of all this, I joked with him that he should read War and Peace. He looked it up the next day and it would be worth 110 points. He was on about 550 for the year so that should give you a sense of the volume we are talking about.

The problem is that he is also rather picky about what he reads and once he takes a set against something in his mind, he will not relent (at least he's consistent!).

Love, woobie, Miley Cyrus

Connor has an intense relationship with his woobie. Years ago, you may remember he looked at woobie and proclaimed, "Love is full of crazy."

Last night I was getting him into bed and he could find woobie. I gave it to him and he clutched it to his face and said "Woobie! You came in like a wrecking ball!!"

Fun to be found everywhere

One of the things I like so much about the boys, as I've posted about before, is their ability to find amusement anywhere. This clip is from the building where I take guitar lessons. We were at a playground nearby and Jamie needed a bathroom so we came here. He was a little nervous about this unsanctioned usage, so we pretended to be commandoes sneaking in on a mission. That didn't stop him from finding a little baseball to play...

Adventures in Connorland

Connor is very much aware that Connor World is not like the place the rest of us live. Yesterday he produced some extended narrative about Connorland, which is, I think, a nation in Connor World. I'll let the master speak for itself. I didn't have the camera when he started but the crucial information is that in Connorland people can change into animals when they want (Connor would like to do that in this world very much). Enjoy

For the birds

It really seems possible that Connor was an animal, or various animals, in previous lives. This morning on the way to school, not normally a time given to reflection or introspection, but more often an opportunity for grumbling and venting, Connor announced, out of nowhere, "I really wish sometimes I could be a bird. I could live up in the trees in a cozy nest and snuggle the baby blue jays!"

Hard at work

So Jamie was promoted to the advanced cello group this year, which he was very proud of, but which has also meant quite a lot of work. There is a Suzuki workshop coming up in a couple of weeks, which is followed by concert that is sort of the centerpiece of the year. His teacher has chosen a very challenging piece, Breval's Sonata in C Major, for them to perform. She knew this would be a stretch for Jamie, but he has been really dogged in working on it. At his last lesson though she told him very frankly, and without any reproach, that while he's been working hard if he can't improve some technique things he won't be able to perform it. She asked then if he wanted to keep trying, with no guarantee of being able to perform it. He actually thought for a minute and said yes, which impressed me. So here is a progress update, with him playing a couple of sections...

Oh, and yes, shirtless is the preferred state for practicing cello, as for so much else.