He started school at Jackman Road Elementary this month, and all I've heard has been positive: the kids aren't as mean, the tech is better (using ChromeBooks in class), the teacher is awesome (Nick's only direct feedback for me on his teacher is, "Miss Sheridan is cute." I've advised him to lay low until he's making the grade.) Riding the bus is not as simple as you'd expect. On the first day, the bus pulled away from the stop on our street and Nick waved to his mother from the bus... never exited. After an hour ride and a call to the school, he didn't get off the bus because his past drivers would call his name or call out the stop; this driver doesn't talk. On day two, he tried to exit the bus three stops too early, but by then, the driver knew him well. Now we've got it down.
We went to Sidecut Metro Park for an afternoon. The river water level is way down, we were able to walk across the river on dry rocks. Along with being a dry summer, it was a cool summer, as we only swam for one week in June. So in late September, Nick and I took a very cold swim, where we did our annual re-enactment of the final freezing scene from Titanic ("Never let go, Jack!") Then, the weather got unexpectedly warm and we were the last pool still open in the neighborhood in the end of September, and we swam for an entire week. It's on to Fall activities now, and his mother has enrolled him in something every day: piano (two classes), karate, swimming may return, trying out Scouts... we'll see what sticks.
He seems like he still wanders from topic to topic in conversation, and can't merge into casual chat. Brandi was explaining that his orthodontist, Dr. Haerian, had moved to a new office. Nick injects a story about fish, some useless facts, that riled me up. So I cut him off and scolded him. Then I asked why he thought it was OK to change the subject. He says, "You were talking about herring, and I thought of fish." "Haerian, not herring! You know the guy!" Nick's mind is a mystery.
One of the photos here is him shoveling in a Chipotle burrito loaded with Tabasco. He's into the spicy thing now, three glasses of soda to get down his hot food. He'll probably have no taste buds left by his mid-twenties. And, first time out mowing the lawn this month, as we started mowing for Grandpa towards the end of the season. Along with helping me trim hedges, Nick's a good worker now, stays on task.
Photos here (in spite of the awful Shutterfly interface... time for a new photo site!) And I've finally uploaded some new videos in the Video Archive.
Jason
