Jameel, Jr.

Jameel...

Jameel is the oldest son of Jameel, Sr. and Lajarlyn.  He's five years old.  Since he's now a big boy, he doesn't come to grandma's house when his mom goes to work.  He goes to school.

It's amazing to see him in his "big boy" mode.  He walks, talks and acts like a big boy.  He loves his big boy role too.  When I leave the room, he asks, "Am I in charge?"  And when I give him permission to be in charge, he authoratively explains his rules:  "Now Jackson and Mykah, you have to do what I tell you to do, or you'll get in trouble.  You have to be good kids now!"

Jameel LOVES sports--any kind of sports!  He's played on a basketball team since he was three years old.  He's a good little basketball player.  His Dad spends lots of time with him, teaching him basketball tricks.  He uses a part of his living room as as a two-goal basketball court; and Jameel spends hours playing basketball everyday. 

Watching him play basketball is so reminiscent of his dad when he was his age!  He would spend practically all of his time in our back yard, playing basketball!  Since he didn't have the luxury of having an inside basketball court, he had a court in our back yard...and he had literally run and played and stumped all the grass down.  There was nothing but smooth,hard dirt in our back yard--hard enough for him to dribble the ball as if he were on a real basketball court.  All his friends would come over to play basketball on his basketball court.  They actually thought they were little basketball players.  They'd play until they were exhausted.  Then they'd come inside for refreshments.  I always had their favorite snacks--pizza, hot dogs, chips...whatever was available...and something to drink , usually water or juice.  Sweet drinks were treats around my house.

...But this is about Jameel, Jr.--a little basketball champ in his own right!  He can dribble the ball and shoot as well as a much older child, because he spends most of his waking hours on the basketball court--when his mom's not working with his academic skills, that is.

And Jameel likes to pretend that he's having a real basketball game.  He knows all the college and professional teams and players...and all the details about their records.  So when he pretends, he playes one team against another.  Their games are really lengthy too.  He divides the games into quarters and even has half time when the players go into their locker rooms and prepare for the last half.  He's the coach, so he gives them lots of good advice.

It's really funny to see him similating his games.  He has the same music that professional teams use at half time and at other points in the game.  He even sounds the buzzer, has an announcer, etc.  Amazingly, all of this is going on as he is running up and down the court playing basketball.  Sometimes, he similates these games several hours before he is totally exhausted.  He takes occassional breaks for gatorade or water.  But when the game is over, he's really tired...sometimes, ready to take a nap.

Jameel also likes to similate football games.  He knows the college and professional football teams and players too.  He uses a different approach for his football games though.  He uses pencils, crayons, or pens as his players; and somehow he determines who is winning by how the players knock each other over.  It's hilarious to see him totally absorbed in his game, calling all the plays and concluding with winners.  Sometimes he even has tornaments and playoff games.  What an imagination!

Soccer is another of Jameel's favorite sports.  He started playing on a little soccer team this year.  He always wants Grandpa and Grandma to be there.  He absolutely loves to play really hard and score.  I always yell and let him know how proud I am of him.

My favorite sport to watch him play though is basketball.  He is so advanced to the other little boys his age; because not only does he LOVE the game, his dad LOVES the game.  Both of them are totally absorbed in basketball, so it doesn't surprise me that he is such a good player.  I'm sooooo Proud of him!

Academics...

Although I've been emphasizing Jameel's love and involvement in sports, he's just as excited about learning.  He has always liked to learn!  We started teaching him his alphabets and numbers as soon as he was able to talk, and he absorbed everything we were able to teach him.  Now , he's the smartest child in his kindergarten class. 

He's already reading at least a grade level above his grade and is instantly mastering every concept the teacher presents to him.  He LOVES his teacher, Miss Platt; and she has taken a really positive interest in him.  She is amazed at his enthusiasm for learning, so she tries to teach him as much as he is willing to learn.

Lajarlyn, his mom, spends lots of time at his school, helping with whatever needs to be done; so Miss Plat really appreciates her.  This also encourages her to work really hard with Jameel and to be extraordinarily involved with him.

Artistically...

Jameel is a fantastic artist--loves to draw and create things.  His dad's a church pastor; so his family spends lots of time in church.  Although he has learned to listen and be exceptionally attentive in church, his mom lets him take his journal to church, and he writes and draws pictures.  Usually, he draws pictures of either a football or basketball court, complete with players, audience, coaches, etc.

It's amazing to see the detail of his pictures.  He draws a really precise court with the players in their positions and even the names of the competing teams on each end of the court.  In the background, he draws seemingly thousands of spectators.  The overall picture is so lifelike.  When he explains the details of his pictures, he points out the specific players, coaches, etc.

Then beside the picture, he often writes a story about the game.  It's amazing how well he writes at five years old.  He spells the words as he pronounces them, so some of the spelling is a little off, but he does an exceptional job with his little creative mind!

As you can see, I'm really proud of my little guy!  There's so much I could write about him, but I must stop here.  Other duties call me.