Teenager

November 27, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam officially turned thirteen today.  I asked him if he wanted to borrow a razor and have a beer.  Both were politely turned down.

His festivities began yesterday, getting a song and batch of sticky buns while at my mom's for Thanksgiving.  This morning he got his breakfast of choice (cheesy eggs on challa bread), and opened up all his presents.  Jamie showed up to bring him goodies and take him to lunch.  By afternoon, he was rolling in birthday cash and presents.

He was surprisingly generous in his wealthy state.  Steam was having a bunch of game deals, and he bought two 4-packs of games and gave them out to myself, Matt, and Josh.  We were all immensely appreciative.

I'm about to head to la Perla's to pick up his pizza of choice.  We will be eating that and watching Mythbusters.  I think the day has gone exactly as Sam wanted.

Project RPG

October 12, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam and I have been working on a new game.  There's not much too it, but it's fairly professional looking.  You can see more here.

Robot

September 05, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam and I spent a couple hours assembling a Mindstorms robot today.  Joanna remarked that she hasn't seen Sam this excited for a long while.  He's now writing programs for his robot, getting it to dance and respond to sensors.  It's been loads of fun.

Our Fine Legal System

August 02, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam announced at the dinner table last night that he got sued.

He's been uploading his Let's Plays, taking video of his playthrough of various games.  It has a long tradition, and you can find endless LPs on the Internet.  He got an e-mail from some UK-based legal group, claiming copyright damages.  Sam, being the savvy person that he is, Googled it and discovered that it was a scam to get ad revenue from his videos.  He filed a counter-claim and hopefully that will be that.

There are aspects of parenting that they don't talk about much in the Internet age.  I think he did just fine.

Choir

June 03, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam had his last choir performance last night.

Early to Rise

May 10, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam was up at 5 a.m. this morning to play Brink, a game he's been waiting for with great anticipation.  I think it's somewhat my fault, as I sent him to bed early, pointing out he could sleep now and play more in the morning.

He's been catching up with his school work and read ahead in his Cultural Connections book.  It evidently has some "interesting" parts and his teacher was censoring it when read out loud in class.  He got it from the school library, and has been reading away.  I skimmed a bit and found it pretty funny and not that racy.  I think Sam appreciates the humor, which is rampant.

It's been great seeing him in a cheerful mood these days after being sick for so long.

Machismo

May 05, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam ripped his own tooth out last night and handed it to me.  Admittedly, it was very loose, but that's still hardcore in my book.

I'm looking forward to writing him a letter from the Tooth Fairy tonight.  They're worth the $1 I have to give away to make Sam read it.

He was under the weather when I sent him to school this morning, but I sent him with some pain killers and a permission slip to use them.  I haven't had a call yet today, so hopefully he made it to the end.  He has some reading to do, but hopefully it's not too daunting.  Tomorrow he has his first class of planning his summer vacation, which was his choice instead of bicycling.

Grades

March 31, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam got his grades yesterday. All A's and B's, with generally positive comments from his teachers.

We ended up having to buy a math workbook for $50, since the last one vanished mysteriously. I'm taking him to school today in order to get his bike there for his biking class.

Last Trimester

March 30, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam got his classes yesterday: math, Cultural Connections, Life Science, Ancient Civ, choir, Healthy Choices, Bicycling, and Fitness. Having two exercise classes was a bit of a surprise, and he thought he'd want to change one initially. During dinner, he then reported that his cycling class was the most fun, so he's going to give it a try. I got out all his bike gear and we'll haul it to school tomorrow.

Growth

March 18, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam is now 5' 6" tall, and wears pants with a 30 waist and 32 length.  He tried on one of my pants and other than the length, it fit him just fine.

It's been interesting watching him grow so big, so quickly lately.  And it's not just physically - I've noticed quite a bit of intellectual development since he started Roosevelt.

And the other thing - after nearly a decade of having it be a primary ingredient in all his snacks and meals, he no longer loves peanut butter.

Mostly Better

March 10, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam seemed to make a recovery last night, and was cheerfully laughing and watching Glee with us.  We managed to find his binder and get his homework collected, which he's hopefully picking up this morning. 

Unfortunately he didn't sleep very well last night and was pretty groggy this morning.  Hopefully he'll be awake enough to find his way to school.  It's mostly downhill.

Choir

March 04, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam performed his songs from choir last night at Roosevelt.  I somehow got assigned the job to open the door for late kids, and then wandered into the gym to watch the full performance. 

It's been fun watching Sam get into his new classes.  Yesterday he and some others put on a play they made up, and he was disappointed they didn't get to finish.  This is the one where he got to play the big, dumb older brother.

He's also making good friends.  This morning I reminded him to take in his Magic deck to play against Jordan.  I've yet to get Sam to invite Jordan over for a visit.  I think the two of them would have a good time hanging out over the Summer.

Midweek Class Change

February 10, 2011 by Adam in Sam

Sam wasn't very interested in his band class, not feeling very capable with the trumpet.  He expressed an interest in choir, as that's something he'd done at Crest for many years.  I put out feelers to see if it were possible, and when Sam arrived Tuesday to his band class, he discovered he'd already been switched.

He seems pretty enthusiastic so far, humming tunes and asking about what certain Spanish words mean.  Evidently one of the songs is entirely in Spanish.

He's also still catching up on missing assignments.  He has four art assignments he needs to finish, and we may need to go get him a block of clay to work on this weekend.