My Boy

Nathan is my first born. He's my oldest child, and yet remains an enigma to me much of the time. He and I are very alike in some ways and complete opposites in others.
Which makes us butt heads more often than I would like.
But more and more I find myself being pleasantly surprised by his attitudes, opinions, and ideas.
And I like it.
He is growing up and we are finding interests we can enjoy together.
We spent the weekend up at my parents' cabin. Nathan inserted himself into an adult game of Pictionary.
I am sorry to stay he surprised me, but he did very well.
He was so proud and so am I.
It is nice to be able to associate with him in that way.

I think I am ready for the teen-dom. The good and the bad. Because the good is going to be a lot of fun, and the bad can't be too much worse than we have already endured, can it?

He keeps me hopping, that is for sure. Like yesterday when he brought home a progress report from school that had all A's. Except for vocabulary. Where he said he ran out of time (4 days) to look up definitions for his assignment in the dictionary, so he made them up. **Sigh**
Looking at the positive, trying to work with the negative; we congratulated him on his good grades and offered to help him learn how to use a dictionary more effectively. He took us up on the offer.

He started his first "job" this summer as well. He is mowing the lawn at our bishop's business with the bishop's son. The first time they went, it took them 4 hours. The second time was three. Mowing time has been speeding up for them and they finally did it in under two hours the last time. And were rewarded with a sundae.
He is saving his job money for an electric scooter. Not just the namby pamby kind. He wants the one with the most power (hear the manly grunting?).
He has been very diligent about saving, tithing, and putting some money in a long term savings account.
He is hoping to have enough money by the end of the mowing season. It should be enough, perhaps with a few household job ideas from mom and dad.
I am looking forward to seeing more goal setting from him.
He has told me he would like to run a 5k with me next year.
I told him to get his running shoes. His teacher gave his class an assignment to write what is called a Bio-Poem. I have never heard of one, but this was Nathan's:

Nathan
Small, nice, gamer, and smart
Brother of Kade, Annika, and Adrienne
Lover of candy, fun, and science
Who feels happy, entertained, and weird
Who needs fun, games, and candy
Who gives laughs, smiles, and winks
Who fears homework, death, and fire
Who would like to invent something, go to space, and get a job