One about Wyatt

One of my friends was asking what my hobbies are this week.  I was at a loss.  I didn't know what to say.  Maybe one of my hobbies is teaching kids to drive on a stick shift--you know, just to make it more fun.  Wyatt started driver's education this week.  He had two full days of classroom instruction, and we have stepped up our time together in the car.  I let him go on the road instead of just a parking lot for the first time this week because he was doing so well.  He drove to the church where he will attend early morning seminary this fall and did a great job, only stalling the car once.  He is my quickest to get smooth on shifting.  I was feeling so confident in him that I told him he could pull into the garage--which, mind you, is at the top of a hill, not a straight shot, and has a narrow, one-car entrance.  He stalled once but then let out the clutch smooth as silk and started going up a fairly steep incline.  As we approached the garage more quickly than I was comfortable with, the trouble began.   He entered and immediately headed for the (much too close) garbage cans, ladder and wall. My panic escalated in a nanosecond and I started screaming, "Stop!  Stop!  STOP!!!".  He stopped the car, before any permanent damage was done and looked over at me and said, "Mom, screaming really doesn't help."

That's Wyatt. He is much more collected and put together than most fourteen and a half year old boys you know.  He showed me his standardized test scores tonight, which are higher than his middle school principal has ever seen before.  He has his scouting tasks for his next advancement well under control.  And he is still screening films with a voracious appetite.  He has 12 checked out from the library and I think he intends to watch them all before we leave for vacation on Saturday.  This week I watched a few minutes of the 1977 classic "Pumping Iron" with him.  It was amazing to see a young Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Farrigno competing for the Mr. Olympia title in the prime of their young bodybuilding careers.

He teaches me new things all the time.  Today he told me that the term "paparazzi" comes from a film he is watching right now, "La Dolce Vita", made in 1962.  A pushy photographer in that film was named Paparazzo.

He is responsible enough that we are relaxing the "not until high school" phone rule and getting him a phone this week.  (He, like all of our kids, is required to pay half.) He has chosen an iPhone SE, which is the best deal on a reasonably good Apple phone right now.  Completely rational, reasonable and practical.

He is tied in height with his dad right now.  I keep offering to let him use our inversion table to maximize his chances for height while his growth plates are still open, but true to his nature, he has refused and is taking a more measured, conservative and time-honored approach.  Just keep eating snacks.  It has worked for so many.  I'm sure it will turn out to be the right answer.