What about Alder

Last Friday afternoon, I picked up Heath from school, we got in the car, and I asked him, in a casual, tongue in cheek voice, anticipating his response, if he might like to um, maybe go get some ice cream?

"Yaaayyyyyyyy", he squealed.  And, then immediately, "But what about Alder?"
I knew Lesley had already gotten Alder off the bus and that they had gone to get ice cream.  And before Heath would return to excitedness, I had to assure him of this.

Lesley and I have so many mixed emotions when he shows such sincere love, flat out loyalty, to his brother.  Sadly, Alder would certainly not ask 'What about Heath?' if he were offered ice cream.  We know this is just the oldest versus youngest mentality, and then their personalities to some extent, though we do try to encourage them to always think of each other and others.  Its tough though.  And moreover, that Heath is missing Alder at his school so terribly these days.  To be sure Alder misses having his brother in that big strange place, and particularly on the playground where they were used to reuniting twice a day, but Alder is just not the type to vocalize that he misses Heath.  Heath on the other hand, daily, tells Alder and/or us how much he misses his brother now.  Its pretty heartbreaking.  There have been some tears shed on the way in, in the past couple of weeks.

We know they may never be in a school together again where they get to be together as when at Central Montessori.  What a wonderful aspect of that small school - though in different classes, twice a day, they got to the playground and played together with and without other friends.  I know Alder was missing this the first few days on the playground at his new school, when he shyly sat and watched.  Anyway... so, we are trying to make the most of it as a way to teach them both some important lessons about change, what we can and cannot control, and how we can and should make the most of what we are doing and where we are now.  But we are constantly reminded of how hard this is, for little boys and us.

Heath has also started taking gymnastics classes at this huge gym near the house.  I had no idea this was even there, and I CERtainly didnt realize what went on in there - a warehouse full of bouncing springy, lightning fast pre-teens, who obviously spend alot of time there.  

I was in awe to watch how they teach these kids from an early age to gradually become gravity-defying daredevils.  Who knows if Heath with stick with it.  He is essentially doing random sequences of things (only his second class) that leave us scratching our heads, but they are assessing strength, coordination, motivation, I guess so they can group them and start actually doing more gymnastics.  So fun to see Heath's little group, in the beginning of something, then 7-year-olds climbing ropes to the 30' ceiling, and then pre-teens all ablurr in twirls and flips before landing on their feet.

I do love watching him go through the excericises.  Its interesting to compare (yes, ok) how Alder can be so into Tae Kwon Do though aloof all the while, versus Heath, so attentive, eager and serious, though enjoying his thing just the same.