Happy Father's Day!

Mr. Ahmed Turns Nine!

Today is Moody's 9th birthday. Happy returns, buddy! Every year the kids seem more "aware" or cognizant of their birthdays. I don't think it is just the gifts, though gifts and parties are a part of what heightens the awareness. Ahmed is thrilled this year. He started planning at least a month ago. He made his list of invitees, figured out what cake he wanted and where we should order it from, and then kept reminding Mom to reserve a slot at the party place. This whole business of initiative and self reliance comes naturally to kids, in the right educational environment, you just have to make sure to get the hell out of the way- lol lol. Seriously, I see it also in the way Ahmed and Tala use the internet. They're like pros--naturally, organically. The other day, they were coming home from school and having a conversation with the nanny about her plans to move to Westerville, our town. She said, as soon as they got home, Moody jumped on the computer and started searching for apartments in the area. He took a notebook and started writing down names of places and his own little notes about them. I laughed my head off at the notes, things like: "nice pool," and also "kind of creepy." lol lol. I recently noticed on my browser, on the little search-engine drop-down menu (top-right corner on Firefox), I now have a Yu-Gi-OH! (en) search engine added. Thanks, Moody, of course we need that. Oh, the (en) there is for English. He also watches that show in Japanese and swears he misses nothing of what's going on. Sometimes I hear him blurting some Japanese sounding words, which is good. He's always ready when told he's had too much of it. "It teaches me addition and another language," he says. Yeah, sure, buddy.

So what are 9-year old boys really interested in? Muscles and gossip about their peers having crushes on girls. That's the main thing. Of course there is the other stuff like trading cards, cub scouts, baseball, etc., but nothing new there.

Last week, we received a letter from the school district board saying Moody was found to be gifted in the area of Reading and he is eligible for the gifted student program which begins in 4th grade. We haven't yet heard about the other areas. In a separate set of tests this year, they actually placed his reading skills at the 5th grade level. He's doing well and enjoying himself. I have a lunch date with him and Tala at their school today. Maybe I'll take some pics...

Summer is around the corner. The school year is winding down with only one more week to go. Their dance school finished up a couple of weeks ago, and baseball will be done in a few weeks. Then we will ease into summer with no plans other than being together and maybe even getting bored and going fishing... I don't mind it, not one little bit!