In the peaks and the valleys of parenthood, we’re on a weird peak right now. Jonah is killing it in cross country without too much effort, which is driving the coach insane. He’s remembering homeworks and all. Nice friends. Trailed by adoring girls whom he ignores. The dramas of puberty have settled down, other than a zit on the bridge of his nose. I have to force him to sit down for a photography session, because he’s totally morphed into a different being since last Christmas.
Ian managed the transition to a regular public middle school. He was stressed out with the size of the school and all the change at first. He chewed through a dozen t-shirts. But that’s all stabilized. In fact, he’s been doing some freaky things. He started composing his own music. His math ability suddenly accelerated. His doing some impressive calculations in his head. We’re trying to keep our heads together on this, but Ian’s uneven skill set is rather remarkable.
Apt. 11d 
Yay!
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Hope your peak lasts. You deserve it
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Hooray!
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I’m particularly thrilled to read about Jonah (and can’t wait to see the photo(s) you capture — hopefully he’ll comply!). It brings me hope for the future because I have been very alarmed at your previous comments about him changing overnight (in a bad way). I’m glad to hear things get better and can even surprise you. YAY! As for Ian, WOW, the music & math skills sound amazing! How does he feel about his skills? I bet he’s pleased.
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Oh, so nice to hear.
About Ian: I come from a country (Hungary) where possibly a larger-than-normal part of the population is weirdly gifted in math, including much of my family. My uncle works in Cern, my father and mother and one sibling are mathematicans (well-known), and growing up I’ve seen my fair share of people who would not have been forgiven for their weirdnesses and social phobias in most communities. (One person does not eat tiny globular things like grapes or baby tomatoes or peas. I remember he was so much fun. And so very, very odd. But in the tiny math-world I grew up in, these folks all connect in the reassuringly certain, yes-or-on-with-controlled-and-definable-emotions realm of math and music, and are friends, and not alone. Obviously, I’m not talking about anyone remotely connected to the current Hungarian government, which is all about social bluster and machismo, as was the Communist Party of that era.) If Ian can find himself his people, he will be fine. Better than fine. And from what I’ve seen growing up, finding his people will be mostly up to his mother. (I hugely admire my mother and grandmothers, incidentally!)
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Thanks, kati. That’s really good to hear.
I’m trying very hard to have Ian find his community. It’s hard, because the public schools are set up for very verbal people who can handle high levels of chaos. Some teachers are patient and sit back and can watch him decode patterns and make connections. Others focus on the deficits and try to jam into a box. They want him to follow steps 1, 2 and 3 to get to the answer. Ian skips steps 2 and 3 and gets the right answer. They don’t understand how he gets the answer and discount his ability, because he doesn’t follow the steps.
In music, he skipped the basics of music. He can read music and play it on the keyboard without knowing the names of the notes or the fingering. He had his first keyboard lesson yesterday, and he totally confused his teacher. I think she’s smart enough to figure him out after another lesson. She needs to backtrack and explain what forte and piano means, and then move on to the intermediate instruction book. His percussion teacher thinks he’s a savant.
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