It's a messy, convoluted, chaotic, and beautiful place. Far more complex than you might think based on mere casual inspection.
By this age, the human mind is able to perform some pretty complex social calculations. And, more importantly, make it appear like it can't, in order to take full advantage of adult perception. In other words, he's ahead of where I think he is, and he knows it. I wonder if he knows that I know he knows? My brain hurts.
Here's a rundown on some of Zach's favorite things right now, at this very instant. This will all change soon, some of it by tomorrow. But these are the vibrant bubbling streams running near the edge of Zach's wilderness. There are many more, deep in the woods, that I cannot see.
Music. He loves music. He sings, dances, plays the recorder, and listens to his electric blue iPod Shuffle, engraved on the back with the name "General Grievous".
He particularly likes the German industrial-metal band Rammstein (Spiel mit Mir, Du Hast, Sehnsucht). He's hooked on the "scooped mids" sound and driving beat that sort of swims through his head as he plays.
He also likes some various radio songs like "Rockstar" and "Paralyzer". He's not really into anything quiet (or as he says, "peaceful") anymore, I think it would slow him down too much.
He's a great artist, his drawings contain worlds of detail, and are brimming with imagination.
He has taken to disassembling old electronics to see what is inside of them. He's fascinated by integrated circuits.
His physical activity level has been rising. He's fast and lean, and has grown into a more competitive person. I see him running around spontaneously and pushing himself harder. He gets restless when cooped up for too long.
He's all into riding his bike now too, and often requests we go places on bicycle, which I am very happy for because we can all use more of that.
He likes his video games, of course. The DS (Zelda: Phantom Hourglass), The GameCube (Zelda: Wind Waker), and the Wii. He loves the Wii Fit and does yoga, free running, and the various games on there. He also likes Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart.
He gets really frustrated sometimes and he's still learning how to cope with that.
Homework, like any boy his age, is something to be despised, avoided, and procrastinated into oblivion. He's really good at it though, especially math, but getting him started is like giving a highly caffeinated wolverine a bath.
He's starting to take showers instead of baths now, mostly because showering is faster and leaves more time for playing.
He's doing his chores really well lately, and helping me out with heavier things like shoveling wood chips and fixing stone walls. He likes to lift heavy things and show me how strong he is.
He's very excited about our upcoming trip to Cedar Point, because he got to ride some roller coasters at Disney and he loved them. He meets the minimum height (54") for all the rides too. He weighs about 70 lbs, which is evident when he unexpectedly jumps onto my back.
He's hyped on Go Kart racing. He often asks when our next outing will be. He reminds me how good he is at it, frequently. I love that. He's proud of himself and I am too.
He's also excited about starting his train setup. I told him when we get into a new house, we'll build him a big diorama and train in the basement, with mountains and hills and buildings and people, sky and clouds painted on the walls. We've started sketching it out.
As for food, he just said to me "Dad, you know those big mushrooms you make on the grill? Let's have those at EVERY dinner, ok?". And California Rolls are still his hands-down favorite thing to eat. He's just started helping me cook, I hope he does more of that because it's fun to teach him.
But more than all this, I feel like we are getting to know each other and he's really changing into someone I can talk like an adult to. In some ways he understands how the world works much better than he used to. In other ways, he's still learning. But he's like a fine sponge, soaking up more and more subtle things about life.
These are just a few current tidbits, a pulse taken right now. Ever changing, like Zach himself.
3 comments:
I had totally forgotten about that album! (Rammstein) Takes me back to the red Mustang. I dug out my copy, turned up my "stereo" as high as it'd go and did my Saturday morning chores to "Du...Du hast...Du hast mich...Du hast mich gefragt" The windows are all open. I can only wonder what the neighbors are thinking.
And I thought I was a terrible mother for letting Erik have that Rammstein CD.
ps Z is so much like you and that's a good thing. usually. :)
There's one thing I don't understand.
Howcome Zach is shocked by an artificial eye but he can look at this CD cover. It gave me nightmares when Erik bought it.
Post a Comment