My Little Groucho

Joseph just had a birthday.  He turned eight.  Seven to eight is a big year.  Babies turn into kids.  First grade to second grade there are so many changes.  It is fun to watch the evolution into a more independent child.  It is also a little bit heartbreaking when it is the last one.  No more little ones. 

Joseph has never been shy, but in kindergarten he was pretty quiet.  He had always travelled as a unit with his brothers, and while he had gone to preschool, this was his first real taste of independence.  By first grade I learned that he was a conscientious and hard-working student.   He is generally gregarious and a jokester, but at school, he got down to business.   I always have them do homework right after school, and if we have to go somewhere first, he feels a lot of stress if we can't do homework before we go. 

This year Joseph has evolved into his own little person even more.  He gets his work done, and is very businesslike, but he has more friends and he always gets the joke.  He finds the humor in everyday things.  The other day he was quiet in the car, and then he said, "You know what?  My friend at soccer always talks with his chin cocked to the side, but aiming straight ahead.  It's funny."  I know the boy, and he does!  My little observationist.

My kids are allowed to have a birthday party only every other year.  It gets too expensive and too exhausting to have three parties every year.  So this year was a party year.  The best gift he got was from my mother...an ipod touch.  I debated whether at 8 this was a good idea.  It was a good idea.  He has played more with that thing than I could have imagined.  He has downloaded the Beatles and Cake.  He takes pictures constantly.  He loves it.

He also has 14 games of Words with Friends (like Scrabble) going.    The other night when he went to bed, I got a notification on my iphone that it was my turn to play.  Did he not get it that I would know he was playing in bed?  It has been a great learning tool for spelling and for seeing words in relation to other words. 
He is obsessed, but he comes by it naturally.  I have almost as many games going myself.  Alas, I just got a notification...I must go play a word!