Almost Seven

It's July and Neil's birth month. He's almost 7, a milestone age. It feels very different when I say he's 6 vs. 7. Like he's turning from young child into an older kid in one day. I have been remiss in posting updates about the boy, which means I would have little to look back to in the future. Not good given that I don't have the best memory. So here I am writing stuff down.

It's summer and school's out. He's been taking swim lessons at the YMCA. He's on his third course (each course runs for 45 minutes per day, Monday to Thursday for 2 weeks). He's fearless in the water and is now better skilled at swimming than me. He's still taking karate lessons at most 4 times per week. We made his skip 2 belt promotion tests because we felt he still needed to improve his form but he might be ready for the next one. I'm impressed at his enthusiasm for these two sports, and any physical activity for that matter. Biking is still a favorite. Whenever we go out, I have to constantly remind him to just walk, not run. He likes to jump on the bed/sofa and constantly gets up to do something else when eating.

He has energy for sure but he's also able to sit still as needed. When we're at home, he's usually doing one of three things - working on his Enopi Math and English workbooks, playing with the iPad (Minecraft, Smurfs, Frozen Free Fall) and reading. His recent obsession is poems which started with Shel Silverstein's book 'A Light in the Attic.' He read it in school and he would recite these poems back to us when he gets home. So we borrowed a copy from the library and he read all 167 pages more than once. He has committed many of the poems to memory (very impressive to me). He also copied the words and drawings in his sketchbook. We had to return the library copy eventually so I searched for a website that has poems for kids and he's into that as well. He is reading so much more than Rich and I ever did at his age. All the time spent at bookstores (and now library), buying books that he liked, and asking for books as presents has created in Neil a love for reading which I hope he will nurture throughout his life.

At this point, the areas that we are working on are fine motor skills, focus and attention especially in group settings, and being more interactive and responsive to adults.

Seven, here we come!