verbatim: All About Pete

I keep thinking of things to say about Pete lately, so I decided to devote a whole post to him. He's nearly halfway through his first year in middle school, and it's going great. He seems to be handling the increased workload with ease, and got a stellar first-term report card to prove it.

He's still playing sax, and somehow I managed to not get a photo of him in his bowtie for his first band concert in December! He also recently started taking drum lessons (outside of school), thanks to his cousin Al's influence.

He had a great fall soccer season, and now he's playing basketball for the first time (competitively, that is). He loves it. In fact, when the bus arrives at school every morning, he and his buddy run quickly to the gym to shoot hoops for those few precious minutes before the bell rings.

He's been getting involved in everything he can—he volunteered to set up the chairs for the band concert, volunteered to help collect money for Christmas toys for needy kids and then to help wrap all the gifts, participated in a mini-run to raise awareness for autism, and more. Seems that whenever an opportunity comes up to do something extra, he does it—and I'm all for that.

Every few week he and four of his buddies go at lunchtime or during a free period to hang out with their very cool guidance counselor, who sometimes orders Chinese food (and has a drawer full of candy otherwise). I asked Pete if anyone ever talks about their problems with him, and he looked at me like I was nuts. "No, we just hang out." I think this is great—if at any time in the future one of these kids does have a problem, they'll already have established a great relationship with the guidance counselor and will (hopefully) not hesitate to go see him. In my day, the guidance counselors were the last people a kid would want to go to with a personal or social or even academic problem. They were as far from cool as they could be. I love that that's no longer the case. (Steph loves her guidance counselor too.)

This year (and next) in Hebrew school Pete has an additional obligation to do community service work (ma'asim tovim, which translates literally to "good deeds") in preparation for his Bar Mitzvah. Part of becoming an adult in the eyes of the Jewish community is a responsiblity to tikkun olam, or to help "repair the world," so each kid chooses a program that appeals to their particular interests or concerns. Pete chose to help out once a month at a local soup kitchen. Last week I accompanied his group. It was a wonderful experience. The kids didn't hesitate to pour drinks, serve food, sit and chat with the guests, or wipe down tables. I was so impressed. The kids learned that while some of the guests are in fact homeless, others do have a home but for whatever reasons are having a tough time making ends meet, so they are grateful for the hot meal they can get each night at the soup kitchen. It was eye-opening for all of us.