Nathan at 13

 Nathan is 13! He is a teenager! 

He is 64.75 inches tall and 124 pounds. He's really been growing quite fast lately. He  has grown 4 inches in the last year.  He is now officially taller than me by .25 inch and just about weighs as much too! He says he is going to try to grow as tall as Jeremy. 

When he grows up, he wants to be a sewer worker. He figures since he doesn't have a sense of smell, he can do jobs no one else wants! This is also what he wanted to be last year. 

His favorite books are Sylo, Pendragon, Harry Potter, and Ranger's Apprentice. 

His favorite shows are The Mandalorian and Star Wars THE Clone Wars.

 His favorite movies are Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings,  and Star Wars. 

His favorite games to play are puzzles and legos. 

At school, his favorite subject is PE.  His least favorite subject is Language Arts due to the poetry which he dislikes. 

There were no big food allergic reactions this year and Nathan didn't develop any new allergies. Nathan has been taking allergy shots for the last year. He now goes in every 3-4 weeks for his maintenance shot. They couldn't get his maintenance dose as high as they wanted it. They tried to bump him up 3 times and he had full body hives. They were very uncomfortable for him and scary for me! So they settled at a lower dose. Even at a lower dose it seems his environmental allergies are a bit better. He doesn't seem to sneeze as much, he doesn't get hives in the grass anymore (he just itches). Also it is currently ragweed season and he's not affected much whereas Elizabeth is sneezing like crazy.  He's still afraid to try foods that bother him due to his Oral Allergy Syndrome. That was the primary reason we started the shots. 

He is still wearing his permanent dental retainer on top. The orthodontist says we can do a phase 2 orthodontic phase anytime to completely straighten out all his teeth. Since we did phase 1, phase 2 won't take long or be difficult. We think we will do that next year when (hopefully) covid is not as prevalent because we have to go to the orthodontist every month. 

Nathan's been working with Jeremy on several of his handyman jobs so he can learn skills and earn some money! He enjoys doing this. He makes some of his own woodworking projects as well. He's made some wooden guns.  He's also a pro at driving now as well. 

Middle school has changed his love of school. For the past 6 years, I was able to write about how much he loved school. Boy, did that change last year. He now hates school and does not ever want to go. He is still a good student. He managed to get all A's for the year except for one B+ in Math a quarter. So he does really well! He just doesn't like any of it. They put him in the advanced classes so they are harder. He doesn't like math anymore and he strongly dislikes LA. Those are 3 of his 6 classes so that really makes him not like school. He also started orchestra this year. He loved his teacher, but did not like playing the cello. So he won't be doing that this year. He likes art and PE and says geography is ok. He rode his bike to school and home except for in the winter when it was cold and dark at 7:30 in the morning. I didn't like him riding in the dark or on slippery roads. I would drive him.

Here are some things he doesn't like: 

1. Clothes Shopping

2. Dressing up nicely

3. Poetry

4. Mean teachers

5. Really hot weather

He still enjoys playing tennis.However, they cancelled that on March 13th and he hasn't played since which is sad for him since he enjoyed it. He also still runs. He runs a mile or a mile and a half most evenings around 8. He runs a mile in 8 minutes and his mile and a half is 12 minutes. Running is one of this favorite things to do outside. He also enjoys biking and target shooting at Gram's. He likes to be outside when it's not too hot.