Neil at 8

Neil turned 8 this month and here's what he's been up to.

Physical Stats
Height: 4'5" (90th percentile). Up to my chin!
Weight: 55 lbs (50th percentile)

Reading - The Magic Treehouse series. This was the series he chose after going through most of Geronimo Stilton. He finishes one book per day on average and keeps a log of what he reads, continued from 2nd grade. We make weekly trips to the library to make sure he does not run out of material. Pickings are getting slimmer on Magic Treehouse so we need to look for another series.

Playing - Rich introduced him to Final Fantasy X this summer. They have been playing this almost everyday for the last couple of weeks. We got generally lax about the screen time because there's no school but he does other things regularly so it's not really a big concern.

Learning - He's still very much into geography. Whenever he's on the iPad or borrows my phone, you can bet he's checking Google Maps. He knows capitals, and other random trivia about places. He likes to be quizzed and most of the time, we run out of questions to ask him. His was delighted at getting a globe for his birthday.

Doing Sports - This summer, he goes to karate 5 times a week and getting so much better. It's almost 2 years since he started and he's shown significant progress. At six months in, we weren't seeing improvement but since he was at least enjoying the classes, we kept going. Good decision to stick with it. He has swimming lessons at YMCA every Saturday, his second run for the summer and did two tennis lessons as well. Our summer schedule has revolved a lot around his activities, but it gets all of us out of the house so all good.

Watching - The Flash! We just finished season 2. This is really more a family activity than just Neil but it's probably the first TV series that he followed and enjoyed watching. We also watch Master Chef and he wishes that I could be on it, too. I've told him I'm not good enough but he says "but I really think you can be a Master Chef, Mom!" Thank you for the vote of confidence, Neil!

Saying - "Is it optional?", "and besides..." and incorporating "kase" and "nga" into his sentences. When he speaks in Filipino, he also calls Richard and me "Nanay" and "Tatay."

Trying - The cool thing about Neil is that he is open to trying many things. He just goes with the flow. He attended VBS (Vacation Bible School) at church for the first time this summer and he enjoyed it. We let him try tennis and he thinks that was awesome, too.

Brother-ing - He loves being a big brother to Ela. He's really sweet towards her -- plays with her, guides her while walking, reads to her, watches over her. Ela might hit him or pulls his hair but he doesn't complain.

Time flies!