Look at this!

Ta da! This is Rayan's new thing - its called carving. So far I just have the one decent pic, but we have plans to go back to the skatepark in another couple days, so I should be able to try for more.

We've been working on getting to the skatepark 1-2 times a week, weather and gas money permitting. A little more than a month ago he could barely stay upright on the board going down a ramp, so its been really exciting to watch his progress. He's really learned alot. A couple weeks ago we spent a day making stencils so he could spray-paint his board, and not so incidentally his pants. Working with the spray paint gave him and George a chance to hang out and work together (hooray for male bonding), and the whole idea of making stencils was so new to him - you could almost see the lightbulbs going off. It was pretty cool. He also did a bunch of freehand spray-painting on a big box we've been saving for Morgan to make a playhouse and discovered his handwriting is way better in paint. We had a good laugh over that.

More than learning about skateboarding and spray-paint, Rayan's having a chance to learn about his own learning process. That's a good thing. School has made teaching and learning things to be avoided, but in the last weeks he's learned from other people and taught other people, without sullen begrudgement (is that a word?). He's learned that teaching isn't necessarily some kind of weird control game, but a way people share interests and help each other.

He has also been learning to think critically and make his own decisions. Yesterday, on the way home from the skatepark he talked a lot about safety gear. He decided, pretty much on his own, to start wear knee pads and wrist guards. A few good falls convinced him and a neighbor showing him how to put the knee pads on under his jeans helped - less "dorky looking". Now he's talking about needing to wear elbow pads. Not from falling but from watching other skaters fall. If we were making him wear the pads he'd probably take them off the moment we turned our backs, regardless of how much he hurt. You can still see the rebellion just under the surface, waiting for a chance to bubble up. We're trying not to give it a reason to surface.

I think we're off to a good start.