#ualr

Dear Gus & Magnus,

Mom and Nene took Magnus to a free symphony concert at UAMS -- we've been looking for opportunities to foster his love of music -- but Gus would not have liked that, so I took him to UA-Little Rock for Nerd Night at the College of STEM. I had no idea what we were walking into, but Gus was in his element.

He had been shy around adults after Mom dropped him at my office, but when we surrounded ourselves with these STEM nerds, he immediately came out of his shell. We walked up to the Geology table and he told the woman (who was a geology professor, I think), "I can name like half of these rocks, I bet." She told him to go for it. And, while he didn't name half, I was impressed that he could name more than I could.

On the far end of the table, there's a little jar with a white lid. Inside were a bunch of shark teeth. "How many teeth do you think are in that jar," she asked him. He asked if he could pick it up. He felt the weight of it, then closed his eyes and said, "233."

Mom, Nene, and Mags joined us after the concert and we looked into microscopes, controlled robotic cars, went into a planetarium, played virtual reality games, and so on. Gus loved it all. When we went outside to watch some kind of chemistry experiment, I got a call from an unknown number. I sent it to voicemail and they called right back. I answered. "Is this Gus Choate's dad?"

Turns out, there were 236 shark teeth in that jar and he got the closest, so he won that dinosaur on the end of the table. We were all so proud of him and he was so proud of himself. Everyone clapped as he got his dinosaur. I overheard some college students say, "Awwww...that kid won it!"

We've been looking for opportunities to foster Magnus's love of music, but tonight probably showed us we should be looking for more opportunities to foster Gus's love of science as well. He was an all-star -- totally engaged and brimming with curiosity and intelligence.

We can't wait to come to Nerd Night next year.

Dad.

Dear Gus & Baby #2,

Aunt Laura messaged to ask if Gus could go to the Painted Pig to paint with Caroline & Cate, so I dropped him off with them for a couple of hours. They also got some gelato. I picked him up, we went home for a snack, then we went to the Trojan basketball game. They were playing Arkansas State and even though we lost, it was a good game. A crazy amount of uncalled fouls. It was weird. And it made the game intense. Gus and I got onto the big screen for our dance moves.

Dad.

Dear Gus,

Mom’s studying today, so you and I spent part of the afternoon cheering for the Trojans. You were much more focused than last time. You spent the first ten minutes of the game clock in my lap, completely into watching the players run up and down the court. 

Dad

Dear child(ren),

The Lady Trojans had an awesome come-from-behind win tonight against a solid Louisiana-Lafayette team. 

Dad

Little Rock, Arkansas. 12.29.2016.