Today, the boys and I looked back through some old pictures. I realized that I don't take as many pictures of them as I used to. Some of that is because they don't like their picture taken as much; some of it is because they don't like their pictures and personalities shared. But just like when they were little, I want to capture this moment and remember it when they are older.
I have enjoyed being a mom to middle-school boys, usually. Sure they drive me crazy; they are sometimes rude; they want more independence; they argue with everything; and they need constant reminders about things they already know. But they are also taking responsibility, helping around the house without complaining, developing fantastic stories, music, and pictures, and are most often very sweet and kind.
Eamon is 14, and just finished 8th grade. He is still expert dragonologist and loves dinosaurs as well as other other large reptilians both real and fictional. When he is waiting for anything, he delves into a fictional world, which sometimes seem to be more real to him than the one we are in. I am fairly certain he has a soundtrack running in his head most of the time. It his hard for him because when it comes out, like at the dinner table, or in the middle of a conversation, we often ask him to use words, not music to communicate. He plays the piano in between times, the organ after church every Sunday, and his cello every day during practice time. He is learning Bach Suite 1 aka the Cello Song, and is loving the challenge and success that comes with that.
In the visual arts, his drawings are getting more detailed and realistic. He illustrates the stories in his head, and the ones Malcolm and he develop. He is also getting better at photography. When the 8th grade class when to NYC, he took the camera. He seemed to enjoy being able to both hide behind it, as well as capture moments. He took more photos of things than people, and some of his shots were stunning.
Because he has to write for school, he doesn't write much for fun, but the stories that the boys both come up with are hilariously fun. They are usually played with Legos, Playmobiles, or swords/capes, but sometimes they draw comic books. Malcolm often comes up with the premises for these stories. He is not confident in his story development, but he brings clever twists and turns for Eamon to resolve.
Malcolm is 12, two months away from being a teenager, and just finished 6th grade. One of his gifts to the world is laughter. I don't know how he does it, but he is so good at seeing how to make people smile. Whether by being kind or by saying something funny or by being a gentle pest. Although he doubts his gifts and abilities, he is smart and creative and funny. Besides coming up with stories, his drawings captures emotion and action rather than being realistic. A good story has fighting and no romance, but also inspiring characters who do what is right no matter what. A good person is also one who overcomes the struggles and does what is right. That means his harshest critic is himself.
He plays the violin, but doesn't usually enjoy it. His Celtic Fiddle tunes are his favorite things to practice, but he suffers through technique and classical music. His teacher thinks there is a violist just waiting to come out, so he has offered to let Malcolm borrow a student viola for the summer. When he picked it up, he played a few lines of his violin music with it. The pitches were clearer, the timing and bowing smoother. It felt right. We'll see where this leads us, but we might be buying more instruments this year.
I got to teach both of them this past school year. They told me that I didn't treat them specially, unless it was to hold them to a higher standard, but they felt that I was fair. Most of their fellow students did as well. They all knew that I was going to reward them for good work and help them when they would let me and love them no matter what, just like I did for my boys. And as a teacher, Eamon and Malcolm were very fun to teach. They liked to learn about things, they made connections, understood my jokes, and turned in their work on time. Both of them also think that the a perfect score is the lowest expectation. If they can go above and beyond, they will, even if it won't give them a higher score. They just enjoy knowing that they have done it.
Being a mom of these two boys is one of the best things about my life. I love getting to know these amazing individuals as they are growing and developing.
No comments:
Post a Comment