Meet the Campers - He's a Cracker Jack!

This is the third week of my "Meet the Campers" series and this week you'll be meeting Elder Cracker Jack! He's 11.5 years old right now and in sixth grade. Sometimes serious but most of the time he's a big goof, ECJ keeps us all on our toes. He's just getting to that pre-teen stage of wanting a lot of independence but not a lot of responsibility unless it's something that he's going to get something out of. Pretty much a typical kid actually.

ECJ has many hobbies and curiosities that he pursues. He loves working around the house with his Dad and learning new things, like how to hang doors and install light switches. He is curious about all sorts of critters and tries to incorporate them in most of his sketches, not satisfied until he "get's it right". Most of the time he likes to sketch trucks or cars and is actually pretty darned good at it.

ECJ has been an avid reader since sometime in the first grade. He absolutely loves to devour books, sometimes finishing one in less than a couple hours. Currently he's being a little more challenged by The Lord of The Rings Trilogy. That book looks big in my hands and positively giant in his! Don't let this fool you however, he'll tell us he's read to x page but when quizzed on it chances are he's skipped several important things to try to finish the book. He has yet to "get it" that some books are just better enjoyed than devoured.

Sometimes he can be a huge help with his sisters, especially when I'm a little distracted by housework, phone calls, or Peanut. He's quick to jump in and attempt to explain something when I've exhausted every way of explaining it that I can think of and they're still not understanding the concept. This does not make him an angel by any stretch of the imagination, even if in this picture it looks like he has wings.

Because ECJ was diagnosed with ADHD when he was five years old and we took him off of his medication when he was around eight years old we don't follow a "you have to sit still" type of approach with him. He can sit, stand, lay, or dance so long as he's getting his work done and doing it well. He has a rather large desk in his room where he can work if he is distracting the girls or if they're distracting him. Daddy also takes any opportunity that he can to get ECJ hands on with anything.


Today that meant that ECJ took apart an old non-working riding lawnmower almost completely by himself. Daddy supervised but did not do the work for him.

This was ECJ's big project for today. He picked out the tools he would need, he did 99% of the work, and he was sure proud when he was finished! Don't let his age fool you however because he was super excited to be allowed to keep the steering wheel when he was all finished. His father and he will be building a "stand" for it so that ECJ can pretend to drive.

ECJ has been around a lot since he was born in Boise Idaho almost twelve years ago ... when he was less than a week old he traveled from Idaho home with me to Michigan. He loves camping, his bike, bugs, snakes ... in all he's pretty much a BOY.

If you missed my previous posts in "Meet the Campers" here ya go!
Daddy and Moragon
Mamma

If you haven't found us on Facebook yet you can do so here.
Later this week (only on our Facebook page) I'll be sharing what's "going on" nationwide and perhaps wider for November.

Other posts for this week include:
This Monday's Menu Plan
List It {Tuesday} - Five reasons to "relax"
Weekly Wrap-UP - Friday and we're two months in!
... and ... 
sometime this week - another progress report on our Fall Bucket List