Stockton started middle school a couple of months ago which seemed a little crazy-he definitely doesn't seem old enough. But he also seems too old for elementary school these days-I know, that doesn't make sense. He has made the transition well. He was super nervous the night before and had a hard time sleeping. He probably wouldn't want anyone to know but he was so distraught and, after tucking him in three times, he ended up sleeping on my floor right next to me. After that first day, he was great and has loved it. It is end of term right now (October 9th) and that has overwhelmed him a little but he has kept up and has good grades. He has at least one friend in all of his classes and several at lunch.
Stockton has a creative side and it's a different kind a creative than Molly. He will find random things around the house and turn them into something else. Recently he made a drum and percussion set for him and Brynn and Ivy. I had to be sneaky about watching or taking videos but I walked in the door once last week, and they had some music on the TV and were rocking out with their drums. It was cute. One of his favorites "tools" is duct tape and I have to always make sure he is in stock. He makes a lot of Star Wars things and different kinds of weapons.
Stockton is the king of random facts. I don't know where he gets all of them, but it seems like he has one ready for almost every occasion.
Stockton is not a huge reader. I wish he was. He has always liked the Hazardous Tales books. He has enjoyed some Gordan Korman books. I started getting Calvin and Hobbes books from the library for him and those have been a hit. My mom has been getting them for him for his book of the month. Mostly, he looks at a book and decides that it's going to be boring or that it's too long before he even gives it a chance. He loves his Sports Illustrated Kids magazine.
Stockton will still "play" a lot and, since they are usually his only options, he plays a lot with Brynn and Ivy. They, fortunately, are game for anything he comes up with and the three of them can pass large amounts of time playing their made-up games. This is usually accompanied by messes but I try to enjoy the stage and take it all in stride-sometimes I am more successful at this than other times.
Stockton still loves baseball. His team hasn't been playing games this fall but they have been practicing twice a week and he's always excited to go. He especially loves his coach (Justin) and playing short stop.
Stockton has been working really hard on learning skateboarding tricks lately. Each day I put on the kids' chore list to work on a "goal" for the Children and Youth Church program and he almost always works on skateboarding tricks. He is still using the small one he got years ago for Christmas and is thinking that it is about time for a trade-up. (Update: just last week he used his own money to buy himself a new board. I tried to get him to wait for Christmas but he wanted to be able to use it before it got too cold. I guess that makes sense.)
When Stockton likes a meal, you can tell. He will shovel food into his mouth as fast as he can. He especially likes meatballs and big salads. He has a glass of milk every morning and often another one after school. He almost always has a bowl of cereal when he gets home from school. He's not really a picky eater but he still refuses to eat beans and won't eat most fruits. He loves raw veggies though.
Stockton doesn't love piano. I have made him keep doing it all these years, but it wasn't without arguing and tears. I had told him that he could quit if he played an instrument in middle school thinking that he would choose the cello, like he has always said he wanted to. Well, he changed his mind, and I was so sad. He decided on percussion and so I told him he had to keep learning piano songs as well. We compromised and agreed that he could choose a song each month out of my many books and teach it to himself. The first song was Hedwig's Theme and he has done fine with it, even if he's moved a little slower than I would have liked. I guess this is falling under "picking my battles" and I neither want to fight him over it or pay to have him take lessons from someone else.
Stockton opted for mallet percussion as his art elective rather than playing the cello in the orchestra as he's talked about for so long, as mentioned. I missed the window to get him started on that instrument. Bummer. But he has really liked percussion. I think he had a bit of a learning curve but he is catching on and enjoying it. He has a few friends in his class-and Molly!-so that is really fun. He mostly plays on the xylophone, I think, and is always bringing his music home and plucking it out on the piano.
A couple of other classes that he has really liked is Intro to Tech and Intro to Graphics. The tech class is basically wood shop and graphics teaches him how to use Photoshop. He is always playing around and creating things on Photoshop at home on his iPad. It has been fun to watch him try new things. Next semester he gets to take Archery.
Stockton takes after Molly in his interest in making movies. He can usually recruit Brynn and Ivy to join him or his friend, Kelton Webb. The two boys talk often about making a YouTube channel but I don't think they have actually finished a video start to finish yet so we really haven't visited that option yet. When Molly makes videos, Stockton is usually the star and he is good. You wouldn't think that he would have so much charisma in front of a camera-but he does! It's a side of him that not many people see and it delights me every time they come up with something new!
He doesn't like getting his picture taken, which is funny considering how much he opens up when he acts in Molly's movies.
He eats school lunch every day. This might be because, once the kids are in middle school, I stop making them lunches. He's good with eating school lunch though.
Stockton is not much of a talker. He is definitely not one to talk about his feelings and I have a hard time drawing things out of him...about his day or what not. If I can get him on his own, especially if we are doing something active, like a hike, that is when he will really start to open up.
Stockton likes his hair long on top and short on the sides. I keep trying to bribe him to let me french braid the top (it's so long) but he has yet to take the bait.
Stockton is my pumpkin boy. He loves everything pumpkin flavored and we try to make as much as we can during the fall. I pretty much have individually wrapped slices of pumpkin chocolate chip bread in the freezer all the time.
Stockton lists Clone Wars as his favorite show in his birthday interview, but he doesn't really watch shows. He mostly has his favorite YouTube channels. I am not a fan of YouTube but I keep it restricted and monitor everything he is watching. His favorite channels are Mark Rober (pretty cool science-the guy went to BYU and worked for NASA), Dude Perfect (trick shots-annoyingly loud but he loves it), and That's Amazing (more trick shots but from a family of siblings). All three of these are kid-approved and sometimes when we have time at night, we'll put one of these videos on for the whole family. The Mark Rober squirrel obstacle course had Justin laughing so hard. He has also more recently been watching how-to skateboarding videos.
Does not like heights. Actually hates them. And he's not a big lover of animals and prefers to keep his distance.
Stockton's birthday interview (taken Oct. 11):
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