A little funny story about Derek. The other day we were driving to church and Curtis and I were talking about how there are so many vacant spaces in shopping centers and even half-built projects with no end in sight because of how bad the economy is. I didn't even know the kids were listening and Derek pipes in and says " I thought the Jonas Brothers were the economy" laugh out loud, I don't know how he linked those two things together, but what makes it even funnier is a few weeks back I was watching the news and of course, they were talking about the economy and somehow they started saying how right now Teenage Girls are ruling the economy because what they buy effects so many other things. Derek is right, the Jonas brothers are the economy right now.
Dax of course is doing well in school as always. He still has the problem of reading too much. In 4th grade, it was a problem as well. A problem is that he is reading his book and not listening in class, or doing math or what he should be doing. Miss Roe even told me that she told the kids around him to take his book away from him if they catch him reading when he shouldn't be. She told me one time they even found him laying on the floor under a table reading. The teacher made it out like he was hiding, when I asked Dax he just said he was trying to get comfortable, and didn't know he wasn't supposed to be reading. I guess of all the problems to have, reading too much isn't so bad.
5th grade seems to start offering activities that the younger grades don't get.
Soon after the school year started they had elections for class senators. Dax decided he fit the description of a candidate so he decided to run. I was proud of him for that, he wrote his speech all by himself and he actually did a great job. Even political Junkie/marketing genius Dad approved and made no improvements. I think he said 8 kids ran, but there were only 2 spots. I knew his speech was good, and he always does a great job of speaking in public, but this is an elementary school and they don't necessarily vote for a person for the right reasons. Dax learned early how dirty politics can be. He lost to the kids who brought in candy for the class. Two brought in candy, and those two won. I'm proud of him for trying.
This year the schools start offering Band or Orchestra instead of regular music classes. At the end of 4th grade when Dax brought the info home on it he told me he wanted to do Viola. I initially tried to discourage him from this. 1)- I didn't know if he was serious about this, or if it just seemed the thing to do because other kids wanted to 2) I know this is a commitment, they have to commit for the entire school year, I didn't know if he would really stick to it that long. Not excited about investing in something like this if he isn't committed, but I guess he would have to once he signs up. 3) I didn't know if he would be responsible enough to carry his instrument to a from school. All these things make it seem like these are all the reasons I should sign him up, but this is Dax. Brainiac in the class, scatterbrained when it comes to anything else.
The school year starts up and Dax is still saying he wants to play the viola. I asked him why he decided on that instrument and talked about it etc. I talked to the orchestra teacher and he is now playing the viola. There is a side story to this...
Way back when I was pregnant with Dax, we took birthing classes like all first-time parents do. Our instructor was into natural healing, crystals yada yada (all birthing instructors seem to come from the same mold) After Dax was born, I called her and told her, etc. She asked if we would mind if she could do an astrological report for our baby. Yeah, sure whatever. She asked very detailed questions down to the minute, he was born, his zip code, etc. A few weeks later we get a Book, a full 8 1/2x11 page size book. Probably over 100 pages of his astrological report. The book talked about how the planets lined up at his time of birth etc. We look at it with a grain of salt, not taking any of this too seriously. When you have your first baby and they are brand new, they are just this blob, they don't smile, or show any type of personality. So reading about what his personality was, yeah whatever. We didn't buy it. Especially since We know the parent's personality we didn't buy into too much of what this was saying. With Curtis being so athletic and loving sports, of course, this baby would love sports as much as his dad. I specifically remember reading this one part on his personality with my Mom and it was saying how he would be musical and enjoy the arts etc. Laugh out loud, that is so not either of us. My mom jokingly and trying to get a rise out of Curtis said "oh this baby is going to grow up and play the violin" That didn't go over well.
Fast forward 10 years, Dax is wanting to play viola he honestly has no interest in sports (he will watch occasionally with Dad). I'm laughing thinking back about his astrological report and my mom's comment. I have not looked at the thing since then. I pulled it out and it is actually pretty accurate to his personality. Kind of interesting. I don't think he should base his life on what this report says, but it is a nice little compliment to the other tools we have to make decisions in life. He is doing the Viola and actually likes it.
Both his orchestra teacher, Ms. Kellis, and Miss Roe brought up the fact that Dax is so charismatic and has a great sense of humor. He makes them laugh, and they both enjoy him so much in class. So happy to hear that. Dax also graduated from speech therapy. He started that in 1st grade because he had trouble pronouncing his R's and a few other sounds. Now he is finally done. Hooray
