All About Pablo

At my kids' middle school, every year I am asked to write a paper about my child for the teachers to better know them. This is the one I wrote for Pablo this year. (Mind you these are always written last minute because my homework skills are the same as they were when I was in school.)

Pablo is a quiet kid, was quiet even in the womb before he was born. I used to worry about him, but it soon became apparent that he is quiet because he is thinking of amazing things. His brain doesn’t work like most kids. His brain functions much like a computer. If he hasn’t been programmed for the information beforehand it won’t stick, but if you can figure out a way to make it make sense to him, he will never forget it and will understand it in ways most adults never will. Pablo is also a very visual learner/thinker. When I wouldn’t let him play video games he wouldn’t get upset, he just drew his own “video” games on paper. I can’t really explain Pablo to you because I’m still trying to figure him out myself. I know that he tries to do his best. He constantly sets goals for himself and works hard to achieve them. He practices when he feels he can’t do something good enough, and he keeps practicing till he gets it right. Pablo has a special knack for cheering up little children and being friends with mentally handicapped children, because he loves nothing better than to be able to make someone else smile. He sometimes gets teased because he has a hard time understanding senseless cruelty and he doesn’t want to fight back. He tends to see things in black and white and has to have subtleties explained to him in any unfamiliar situation. One could see this as a handicap, but I see it as the trait of a marvelous mind that has the ability to see things others can’t, and I think it could help take him farther in life than most people will be able to, if it is nurtured in the right way.

Pablo has a gift for art, and enjoys drawing anytime he can. He is trying his best to only draw when he isn’t working, and has gotten better at that. He has written several comic books and the depth of his thought process in creating them never ceases to amaze me.

My hope for Pablo is that he will continue to gain confidence in his own decision making skills and for others to see his true potential and appreciate it. I know that he will contribute many new and wonderful ideas to the world in his lifetime, and I hope he will always see himself the way I see him.