all dressed up

Justin and I got a babysitter last weekend and went to my school's fall formal with a bunch of my classmates. We forgot to take our own pictures, but my friends snapped a few.

Juma's new hobbies

I'm amazed at how Juma is now a big kid. No more toddler, no more little boy. He's big now. He reads music and plays the recorder; he can bounce a tennis ball off a wall and catch it; he can balance on a skateboard. I can remember being able to do all that stuff when I was in 3rd grade, too, but it just seems unbelievable that Juma has reached that age.

All his friends at school introduced Juma to skateboarding. So we had to get him a (used) skateboard, and a couple skater shirts to go with it, of course. Skating is a complete package, after all. Still holding out on the Vans shoes, though.




He conducted a science experiment all by himself at the Maryland Science Center. Out of four mystery powders, he figured out which one was sugar by using iodine and vinegar.



And he experienced what it takes to survive an Antarctic winter.



Justin's also been taking him rock climbing. Juma's steadily and quickly progressed from climbing using any old holds to following specific tracks, marked with their difficulty levels. He's up to 5.5 now!

halloween