In house texting, I got Skillz, The All-Nighter and Aunt Jemima is the clear winner

The Coolness of Texting "In-House"

After the pancake debacle and football practice he went up to Skype with his dad back in Germany.  I took up his dinner so he could eat and catch up with his pops.  This is about 6:15, and he has a research paper due the next day, 4-5 pages long.  He is quite stressed about it because the dog had kept him in bed until 10:30 that morning.  The boy has never had to write a research paper, let alone in MLA style.  fail.

It is now 7:30, he is still upstairs chatting with his dad, and I know this has disaster written all over it. I text him, suggesting that maybe NOW would be a good time to start that pesky research paper.  I get texted back, " Yes, ill be down in a second....its so cool to text you knowing you are downstairs :D" 

Mad Skillz For the Host Mom

I had a bunch of work work I had to finish last night at home.  I was working on a Powerpoint presentation and he came around to see what I was doing.  It has some bells and whistles, but usable ones, not WordArt or crap like that.  He says, "Wow, that's cool, you have some usable skills. My dad doesn't even know what powerpoint is."  His parents and I are the same age, they are doctors, but I have mad skillz cuz I can powerpoint....BOOYAH!

The Paper Begins

In a past life, I had to complete a Master's thesis, so helping a Russian kid write a research paper should be a piece of cake, right?  Eh, no.  When you write a thesis, part of the skill set does not including catching gnats.  I get his structure set up and tell him to have at it.  We mindmap out his concepts and he has his organization ready to go. It is 10:30 by this point, I am whooped so I tell him to text me upstairs if he needs help.  He never texts, but I am up most of the night listening for him anyway.......

Pancakes

So, he was up til 3:40am writing this paper and he looks like death.  He is exhausted, but the kid got it done, and he did a really amazing job for never writing a research paper .  I had been up at 5 to proofread, but I had yet to eat breakfast and we needed to run out the door.  I stole part of his Bisquick pancake.  I had never actually eaten any of the 346 pancakes I have made him over the past 7 weeks.  Bisquick sucks.  I ask him which he prefers and he said definitely Aunt JAMIMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAA.  So, we are going back to the red box.  He said that during the night a few times he was going to text me that he had given up on life and this paper. He also said he bounced back nicely when he had some oreos and pop tarts, that he actually toasted the pop-tarts.   NICE......the gnat perservered and wrote an exceptional paper.  I just got a text from him now that says, "Im so tired......"  I wrote back, "I have no doubt, you will survive, you are strong like big Russian Ox."

Tonight = Sleep