It's been a while since I've had the chance to record events, but will try to summarize a bit here.
The beginning of the school year in September returned us to the familiar structured schedule. The boys show incredible promise and thrill us to no end. All three are in Loudoun Music Instruction; Chris with bass and in a band, the Epics; Patrick on piano and in The Court of Soul and Nathan now takes drum lessons there.
Christopher, while not a stellar student, is a solid "B" and has demonstrated the discipline to focus and work. His grades have been good and he's lately amazed us with his discretionary reading, including several Ann Rand tomes! He's working two jobs; at Endless Summer Harvest and Pump It Up and saving most of his money, which I find very encouraging -- because it demonstrates the ability to think longer term and to defer gratification. Since the summer he's been learning to drive which will be a godsend to us eventually. Furthermore, his choice of friends has been encouraging. They are all decent kids who want to do well. After all the issues we've had with Jamie, we're feeling much more confident about Chris.
Patrick became a teenager in October and while he showing some signs of going into that "dark tunnel" of adolescence, he still maintains that happy, exuberant, sparkling personality. He's really stuck with piano and has come a long way. During the fall he played baseball - the Orioles -- and played relatively well; though I don't think he'll likely play again. He's just getting to an age where he has other interests. And one of those is drama. He shocked us be getting one of the lead roles in "Seussical" as 'Horton'. We've never heard him sing; so this should be interesting. He's been forced to attend cotillion, which he hates. He's also expanding his social circle, going to the Teen Center on Friday nights. And we have no doubt the girls will be circling soon.
Nathan -- mr.sports -- took the fall off, but is now happily back into basketball, playing with the Trojans. He and I went to a Wizards-Bulls game downtown, which was a big thrill. He's been getting quite good at the drums and I just bought him some cymbals for his set. And I just took him and his friend, Noah, to the Air & Space Museum.
Martha celebrated a landmark birthday in October, but we weren't able to get away at the time. So over the Thanksgiving break with my mother-in-law, Cathy, here, we went overnight to a wonderful spot in western Maryland - Savage River Lodge.
TO BE CONTINUED
