Kids. Step Kids. Grand Kids. What have you. Here’s the place to just plain gush. Let it out !! Share it all.
I’m having a hell of a lovely week kids-wise.
My son is now Airman Son of Toons. Graduated from Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base. Off he went to Job Training for a few months. Amazing complex weekend.
Just got a text this afternoon. My daughter has been informed that she is graduating with Honors for all three degrees she is taking at the end of this month when she completes Undergrad school. She also has been awarded the annual Finance Department Award as Outstanding Student.
–Beaming-- Good kids. Complex highly imperfect sometimes maddening delightful loving good kids. I’m not a great Dad in a lot of ways but apparently I didn’t completely screw 'em up !
So? Brag !!! ( And please, don’t limit it to the big event items like these that I’ve listed. Brag about your kids. )
About a year ago my then 17yo talked me into cosigning an aprtment for him. Now, my son is a pretty responsible guy, but I’ve watched enough Judge Judy to know that somewhere down the line this coasigning is going to cost me a butt load of cash.
Not only has he able to keep up with his rent payments but he has also been able to graduate HS this year! And when his lease is due this summer, he wont need me to cosign any more.
My youngest son is also a freak when it comes to saving cash.
Where the hell did these kids get this from? It sure the hell wasn’t me. I used to spend cash quicker than I could get it at that age.
My oldest daughter is in her second year at Otago University studying English and will probably be a teacher. She’s been asked to consider the Honours stream. She’s also a former national level gymnast, a coach, and a judge. From the nice friends she has I believe life will treat her well although she’s a bit sharp on the sarcasm at times. Quick witted and a Monty Python fan.
My 18yr son is very laid back but fit as a buck rat and a gymnastics coach too. He’s a lovely guy who should make a fulfilling life because he is so calm and likeable. Probably going to be a Physical Education instructor/teacher. Girls admire him (which he knows) but he doesn’t take advantage and is happy to go training with his friends.
My youngest 15yr daughter is one out of the box. An original thinker which has been evident since she was aged 4. She wants to work with endangered species viz. tigers and I have no doubt she will do that. The only problem is she’s becoming dismissive of her peers who can’t keep up with her and a bit arrogant. She knows it all at 15.
My youngest is graduating college next month, and wrangled a full ride to pursue her PhD in Molecular Biology at UC-Irvine.
Man, it feels good to have a 3d successful launch!
Eldest is married and talking about starting a family next year. Can’t wait to be a grandaddy. Loving working as a children’s librarian.
Middle son is a rocket scientist, pursuing his Master’s, and trying to get a transfer to his firm’s HQ in Denver. Seems as tho he is doing all the right things networking and such - I suspect it will just be a matter of time. But he is impatient, as his GF could not get a job in his current job location. I assume wedding bells will soon follow a job transfer.
I’ve only got a four-year-old but she’s determined to read everything in sight and is fearsomely smart (at age 3 she was baffling her pre-school teachers by prattling on about the planets of the solar system and how Christmas trees are “conifers” and states of matter), beautiful (to the point of strangers stopping us in the street to say so), strong (climbs everything), funny and creative. Also unbelievably exhausting; it’s hard to keep up with her.
But I guess every parent of a four-year-old thinks theirs is a wunderkind.
My daughter turned two in March and she is so much fun. She talks in full sentences, has a crazy imagination, and suddenly loves to hug and kiss on me. I’m so excited for this summer–swimming, picnicking, playgrounding, zoo-going and ice cream runs are finally within reach. This is when all the babyhood sleepless nights start to pay off.
My 9yo told me she was dreading End of Grade testing. I asked if she was nervous, and she said no, she hates it because she finishes the test way early, then has to sit and be bored until the end of the test period. Ah, the perils of being gifted!
My 5yo is champing at the bit to start kindergarten, and her preschool teachers tell me not only is she more than ready, but she’s also “a little ray of sunshine.” She always amazes me with her full-throttle approach to life. She’ll be one to leap onto that school bus on the first day, without a backwards look!
She has always loved to draw and paint and make any kind of picture she can.
The first time she won anything was a couple of years back. The local newspaper had a contest to draw something for a regional celebration. My daughter came in second for her age range.
This year? Well, first of all, her school had a contest to create an anti-bullying poster. They picked a winner for each class and she won hers. Then there was a regional art showing. All the art teachers for all the schools in the area were asked to pick 12 pieces of art from all their students and they would display them for a weekend to the public. Needless to say, my daughter got in.
Most recently there was a state-wide poster contest to create an anti-tobacco poster. We got a letter this past Friday saying that of all 3,400 entries, my kid was one of the 12 winners. There’s going to be a ceremony at the state house and everything! Holy cow!
My 13 month old son climbed right up to the top of the playground last night, then fearlessly flung himself down the slide… no hesitation, laughing the entire way.
So I have to be the first creeper to come into the thread, without any kids of his own to share a story of, and just say, I AM SO JEALOUS OF YOU ALL, I CAN’T WAIT TO HAVE KIDS!?
Ok, I’ll do that.
“I am so jealous of you all and I can’t wait to have kids!!!”
My oldest just severed ties with what used to be one of her “best” friends (they’re both 14). The friend used to make good grades in middle school and the beginning of this year in high school, and seemed to have her priorities straight, but has decided that her need for acceptance with The Cool Kids is more important than her grades. My understanding from talking to my daughter is that she’s starting to become a bit promiscuous, started experimenting with some drugs/drinking, started smoking, etc.
Apparently she’s been asking my daughter to sit with her and The Cool Kids during lunch, but my daughter would rather sit with what she calls her nerd friends. This friend has also been trying to get my daughter to go to parties during the weekends, but since she knows there’s probably going to be drinking and drugs there, she said she “doesn’t want to be around that stuff.” Of course, this results in her being called a nerd, or a geek, etc.
I found about all of this a couple of weekends ago while we were out running errands. I always talk to my kids like adults, ask them what’s going with school, their friends, etc. When I asked about this particular friend, my daughter says, “I don’t think I’m going to be hanging out with X anymore.” When I asked her why, she told me the stuff I mentioned above and then finished with, “I think she’s just bad for me, Dad.”
I’m so proud of her for making what I consider to be a very tough, very adult decision. And I told her so.
When the daycare center called up last year to say my daughter had had an accident and I showed up to find her with a bloody headwound from falling onto the corner of a chest, my reaction was “Frankly I’m surprised it’s taken us this long to have an ER visit.”
17 year old boy, sports and fitness type, but getting all As in AP classes, sees the trailer for Great Gatsby and the first thing out of his mouth, “Wow, that looks great, I have to read that, do we have the book?” Sigh…
It wasn’t quite a year ago… I remember because I was in labor when I posted in that thread.
My son is almost ten months old, and he’s so friendly and sweet and adorable and perfect. He learned how to wave recently, and he waves at everyone (and everything - bushes, cars, the microwave). And he’s so smart, and so determined to figure out the world. He’s the best!
My son has Asperger’s Syndrome, diagnosed at age 3. He’s almost 19. He graduated high school - which a doctor told us was pretty darned unlikely 15 years prior. He earned his Eagle Scout rank last year. While in Scouting his fellow Scouts elected him to be Senior Patrol Leader - the highest Scout position in the Troop! He’s about to finish his first year of college, away from home. No issues with his behavior at school. <- big proud daddy grin
My daughter is 16, and scary smart. I was helping her with math a few months ago, and she was absorbing concepts like a dry sponge. I learned a thing or two about math and math tutoring while getting my doctorate in physics, so I think I know what I’m talking about here.
A more specific thing with her - I was finishing lunch at the cafeteria in a Smithsonian museum during spring break. My daughter was already done, and noticed that the crowds had left their trays all over the place, because the tray drop was full. On her own accord without being asked, she started cleaning up the tray, and helping the cleanup lady with sorting dishes, dumping trash, etc. <- big proud daddy grin
I told her how proud I was of her, and then said "oooh - wait’ll I tell Mom what you did!!! "
My 15 year old son, who had been a solid student and an exceptional athlete in middle school, is now a freshman in high school. As I shared in another thread, he was diagnosed last summer with a heart condition ending his athletic career in football, basketball, and track which he was so looking forward to participating in during high school. Although he was greatly disappointed, he did not pause to feel sorry for himself but threw himself into making his impact in other ways. He signed up for drama where he was the only freshman to get a role in all of this year’s productions and played on the golf team where he literally knocked 30 points of his score from the beginning of the year. He did all this while maintaining his grades (although he’s being challenged in biology).
I have always been proud of him but seeing him overcome this challenge makes me prouder than I thought possible.
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