Monkey
Animal Tessellations
Caterpillar
Mr Kaleidoscope.
Showing posts with label joel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label joel. Show all posts
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Joel is 10 today!
We gave him a watch, a Hobbit graphic novel, 2 calculators (one to pull apart and the other to replace his last school one that he pulled apart), a banana (yes, a real one), a box of fruit loops and a new Percy Jackson book.
A whole decade with Joel. Wow.
Joel was born at RPA at 9.30am, after a 7 hour labour (during which time I had so much gas that I couldn't quite work out if it was me experiencing the pain or someone else.) He has always been a very determined child. For the first 6 months, he was absolutely determined to sleep. He hated anything that took him out of his bassinet. He would feed quickly and aggressively (5 minutes, 5 times a day. Right from the start.) then pout until he was put back to bed. We made sure he was bathed every Sunday morning before church. If ever I had to take him out for a walk or to the shops, I made sure there was a dark coloured blanket covering the pram. In spite of this, people would still try to look in at the baby. Joel would let them know exactly what he thought of their presumption, glaring at them till they retreated. Shocked, they'd quickly make some comment about how cute Nathan was.
Joel got his first teeth at 16 weeks and wasn't afraid to use them. At 5 and a half months he learnt to crawl and was determined to do as much damage to himself and his environment as possible. Big brother Nathan's ordered environment was turned upside down and has never quite been righted. At around 9 months, Joel started smiling and at 11 months he learnt to walk.
At around 15 months Joel got cute. Really cute.
He also decided it was time to say goodbye to nappies. 'Too tight.' Despite the packing tape we'd strap them on with, he'd just take them off. But it didn't matter. There was a whole big world out there needing to be watered...
Joel has always been beautifully affectionate. He loves to touch and be touched. He notices things - a haircut, a new shirt, a particular fabric, soft washed hair, nice bed sheets, a flowing skirt on a lady at church... and quietly acknowledges them.
He's always been creative. I remember the extraordinary collages at kindy.
He's always been a little bit perfectionistic. The grief over the sticky tape that just isn't strong enough to stick what it needs to stick.
He's always been a boy of fewer than average words. Why communicate in words when you can do charades or draw a diagram, or just snuggle in behind me? (Or scream. And scream some more. And yell. At age 4 Joel told us that he throws tantrums because he enjoys it.)
It's always been clear that his mind works differently to most. Why could he identify 100 dinosaurs, but only 3 letters? Why were pink and white still confused at age 5? Why doesn't the year begin in December? Why had 3 year old Joel asked all the apologetic questions and yet at age 5 still have no idea which day followed which? Why could he listen to book after book read to him (and understand really advanced concepts) and yet still not recite the alphabet?
Joel has always been interesting. He loves poetry and music. Gets an adrenaline rush from an art gallery. Still holds my hand whenever he can. Kids gather around him at school because he has cool ideas. He could be with a friend every day of the week if I didn't set limits.
Joel has been the child I've lost the most sleep over and the one I most closely identify with. He has been with us for a decade - and yet, in a way for so much longer than that. I look at him and see my father, my mother, my sister, myself... he is so much my kin that I feel he's always been here.
Joel is 10 today. Thank you God for keeping him safe so far. Please guide us as we guide him through the next stages. In your mercy to him and to us, keep him close to you now and forever.
A whole decade with Joel. Wow.
Joel was born at RPA at 9.30am, after a 7 hour labour (during which time I had so much gas that I couldn't quite work out if it was me experiencing the pain or someone else.) He has always been a very determined child. For the first 6 months, he was absolutely determined to sleep. He hated anything that took him out of his bassinet. He would feed quickly and aggressively (5 minutes, 5 times a day. Right from the start.) then pout until he was put back to bed. We made sure he was bathed every Sunday morning before church. If ever I had to take him out for a walk or to the shops, I made sure there was a dark coloured blanket covering the pram. In spite of this, people would still try to look in at the baby. Joel would let them know exactly what he thought of their presumption, glaring at them till they retreated. Shocked, they'd quickly make some comment about how cute Nathan was.
Joel got his first teeth at 16 weeks and wasn't afraid to use them. At 5 and a half months he learnt to crawl and was determined to do as much damage to himself and his environment as possible. Big brother Nathan's ordered environment was turned upside down and has never quite been righted. At around 9 months, Joel started smiling and at 11 months he learnt to walk.
At around 15 months Joel got cute. Really cute.
He also decided it was time to say goodbye to nappies. 'Too tight.' Despite the packing tape we'd strap them on with, he'd just take them off. But it didn't matter. There was a whole big world out there needing to be watered...
Joel has always been beautifully affectionate. He loves to touch and be touched. He notices things - a haircut, a new shirt, a particular fabric, soft washed hair, nice bed sheets, a flowing skirt on a lady at church... and quietly acknowledges them.
He's always been creative. I remember the extraordinary collages at kindy.
He's always been a little bit perfectionistic. The grief over the sticky tape that just isn't strong enough to stick what it needs to stick.
He's always been a boy of fewer than average words. Why communicate in words when you can do charades or draw a diagram, or just snuggle in behind me? (Or scream. And scream some more. And yell. At age 4 Joel told us that he throws tantrums because he enjoys it.)
It's always been clear that his mind works differently to most. Why could he identify 100 dinosaurs, but only 3 letters? Why were pink and white still confused at age 5? Why doesn't the year begin in December? Why had 3 year old Joel asked all the apologetic questions and yet at age 5 still have no idea which day followed which? Why could he listen to book after book read to him (and understand really advanced concepts) and yet still not recite the alphabet?
Joel has always been interesting. He loves poetry and music. Gets an adrenaline rush from an art gallery. Still holds my hand whenever he can. Kids gather around him at school because he has cool ideas. He could be with a friend every day of the week if I didn't set limits.
Joel has been the child I've lost the most sleep over and the one I most closely identify with. He has been with us for a decade - and yet, in a way for so much longer than that. I look at him and see my father, my mother, my sister, myself... he is so much my kin that I feel he's always been here.
Joel is 10 today. Thank you God for keeping him safe so far. Please guide us as we guide him through the next stages. In your mercy to him and to us, keep him close to you now and forever.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
concert flyer
Don't you hate it when you spend ages working on something, then not really like what you came up with?
Has been one of those days.
Joel did the pics. He drew me a series of ukulele men.
Has been one of those days.
Joel did the pics. He drew me a series of ukulele men.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
keep your lambs trimmed and burning
Thursday, March 10, 2011
sick bay art comp
The brief was to draw something that makes you happy. Psycho robotic ponies make Joel happy, but he thought that they may not make everyone happy. So he drew a bird instead. This is a big step forward. Two years ago he'd have submitted the pony and wondered why he didn't win.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Phillip Dawson
Tomorrow, Joel has to give his talk on Philip Dawson (an obscure soldier who fought in WW1). He is pretty good at it now.
He did this picture this afternoon. It's not really Phillip Dawson. We've got no idea what PD looked like (except that he was 22 years old, 5 foot 7 and 148 pounds). We traced this guy and coloured him in with charcoals. I did one too. Never used charcoals before. They are scratchy. I think I prefer soft creamy pastels.
This time tomorrow, Joel will have no more talks to do until August. We will all breathe a sigh of relief!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
jaundiced jackal on a jukebox in jeopardy
This is part two of Joel's term 1 talk trilogy (talk 1 here). He has to find some interesting words starting with J and explain their meaning to his class. Of course, he couldn't just stand up and tell the class about his five words...
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
homework acrostic
At last the rain is
Unleashed. It
Tells of the
Unusual occasion when
Melted rock is frozen.
Nobody wants winter.
by Joel R. (age 8)
Andrew says that this must be a real poem because he doesn't understand it. I don't either, but don't care because the words sound so nice together. Should I suggest he re-write the 5th line and try to stay on topic or just leave it as is?
Unleashed. It
Tells of the
Unusual occasion when
Melted rock is frozen.
Nobody wants winter.
by Joel R. (age 8)
Andrew says that this must be a real poem because he doesn't understand it. I don't either, but don't care because the words sound so nice together. Should I suggest he re-write the 5th line and try to stay on topic or just leave it as is?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Joel on the Trampoline
Joel has to give a talk at school tomorrow. He has to tell the class 8 things about himself.
Instead of writing the talk and practising it as we should have done, we've spent the last couple of days making a movie. If you watch carefully and think really really hard, you can find out 8 things about Joel. To me, the clearest one is that he has a pretty sick sense of humour.
Enjoy.
(Joel has printed out a copy of his poem on the gravestone for everyone in his class.)
Instead of writing the talk and practising it as we should have done, we've spent the last couple of days making a movie. If you watch carefully and think really really hard, you can find out 8 things about Joel. To me, the clearest one is that he has a pretty sick sense of humour.
Enjoy.
(Joel has printed out a copy of his poem on the gravestone for everyone in his class.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)