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I took the morning off work to watch my son graduate from his first ice skating class. He was great at standing, walking on skates, and falling (which is an important skill!). The best part was getting to see him learn: he was fully engaged and following instructions and paying attention. I've never gotten to watch him as a student among peers. He's incredible. I mean, not as an ice skater, but as a kid. I normally just get to have power struggles with him about brushing his teeth or eating his food, but this was amazing. He's a real person and a good kid.
I'm tearing up a little. I also just signed the little dude up for the open optional lottery in my school district for starting kindergarten in the fall, and it makes me feel extra paternal.
We're applying to the brainiac program, two fancy optional schools, an IB program, and two language immersion programs. I think he'll get at least one.
The brainiac one is weird. There's a pre-matriculation testing component, and I almost want to pull his name out. My wife went there and she didn't start until 3rd grade, which I think is fine. I'm not gonna cram shapes and reading and math with him to get him into a smart kid program. He should be a kid. They'll test him enough soon.
I'm ambivalent about the language ones. Like, it'd be cool to speak Spanish or Russian and to start early, but I knew people who went to these programs. Could they strike up a conversation in their language? Hell yeah. They were great at it. But the grammar was completely fucked and they weren't ready for APs or college.
Our neighborhood school is pretty fucked. The school-age population here is tanking, so elementary schools in my area are consolidating and shutting down. Ours may not exist in two years, and it's eating a ton of students from nearby schools that have already closed. I want to want my kids to go to their neighborhood school, but this one won't do.
I spoke way too soon. The little monster stayed awake until 11:30 pushing every conceivable button. I don't know what a rage stroke feels like, but I got so close to going outside to scream. 4.5 is really as bad as 3.
@HG
I'm happy for you and him. That's really awesome.
Parenthood is very difficult but also very rewarding.
@jaykass I love that I keep crossing paths with you in HG's timeline cheerleading about how great (and challenging!) it is to be a parent 
@HG Sounds awesome! That's such a great age, although all the ages so far (my kids are 16, 13 and 13) have been really great.
3 was the worst and 4 has been only slightly better. But I can see a turning point on the horizon.
@HG @mariashanle Everyone talks about “terrible 2s” but we went through “terrible 3s” with my son. He & his twin sister are 19 now, doing well in college, and (I’m obviously biased) wonderful people. Glad you can see the turning point.
@pkdmva @HG @mariashanle I have siblings much younger than me, and I always found 3 worse than 2. Now that I have a 3yo of my own I stand by that opinion. Things are getting noticably easier as he approaches 4 though.
My son appears to have gotten the Stubborn Motherfucker gene from my wife's mom. Every other person in that family has it. They're lovely, but *difficult*.
@mariashanle @HG @jrbe Yes, ours have always been very different from each other, although difficulty levels have swapped a few times. I hope it has gotten easier for you overall — it did for us as they became more self-sufficient — and good luck with the teenage years 
@HG yeah, 3 is pretty terrible...I may have partially blocked it out 
@HG but 4 1/2-5 is lovely 
@HG Ok and just to be clear that it's not all sunshine and roses over here, I just managed to piss off two of my teens over breakfast, on the classically important topics of "aren't you going to wear a jacket, it's freezing out there" and "aren't you going to even eat one bite of the breakfast I made you" - OMG, what am I even doing here? 
@HG (to be clear, it is not anywhere close to actually freezing, we live in the Bay Area...but the current temp is 47 and teen was headed for the door in a t-shirt)
Ah, teenagers. You can't kill them.
I also routinely tried to go to school in just a t-shirt, but in Alaska. It should have been more instructive than it was.
@HG I love reading this so much. These are the revelations every father goes through, I think. Welcome to the club. So glad you get to experience that!
@HG the best.
@glasspusher it was a very long night. It ended with a long snuggle and a long description by my son of a biiiiiig hole in the ground that eats fruit and cars and shampoo and buildings... the whole town, really. But getting there was a slog filled with running down the hall to bang on his sleeping sister's door, booping me hard on the nose in the darkness, and screaming "PLEASE" for ten minutes to wake up mom to give him a hug and a kiss. It was a lot.
@HG holy shit. remind me to tell Kid Glass she was a piece of cake to raise- and I know damn well she was way less trouble than I was
It's the Stubborn Motherfucker gene. Every other person in my wife's family has it. It's fine. It's... fine.
@HG @glasspusher Sounds fun. Not.
It does get better… around 10 years old.
@amiserabilist @HG I still wear that outfit whenever I want to look fancy, like at weddings and funerals.
@Alice Or for taking other medal contenders out of the competition.
@amiserabilist @HG
So good of you to really lighten the mood in the places that need it most.
@amiserabilist @cgsines @HG I was 33 when this photo was taken.
For some reason I'm not comfortable calling 33 year old you 'hot.'
