THE END.

Dear Sam,
       I am so sorry for playing as your second mom, and for being a hypocrite and an instigator. I have realized more problems in what I do and say to you rather than what I felt were random outbursts of anger from you. In my first post on this blog ("Introduction.") I mentioned that our relationship was a "jumble of knots" and now I understand that my original analogy was incorrect; we love each other, but my own blind need to cause problems is what made our relationship weak. 
      My second post ("THE ZOMBIE GEN"), I wrote about my irritation that you were so enveloped in your games on electronics that you refused to give me any new information to use in my research. Reading back on it, I remembered how many times I had done that to you; for example, when you were 4, our parents were out and I was playing on my new Ipod. You kept yelling at me about something, but it wasn't until I pulled out the corn dog you had stuffed into the toaster that was on fire (and I swore nearly burnt the house down), that I realized you were asking me to make you lunch. 
      Third post (PART 1), in my interview with you I was rude and yelled at you, and without realizing it, posted my self actually giving you a reason to get upset and then blamed it on your "anger issues". To make it all worse, the next post ("PART 2") I called you out for being a hypocrite and then went on about "practice what you preach", and "do to others what you would want done to yourself" when all the while I should have been writing to myself- telling myself all those things. I talk about not forcing a kid into wrong simply 'cause you're too lazy to extend them love; I'm lazy; I'm a hypocrite; I am sorry. 
      The last post ("A Different Perspective"), perhaps the only honest data on the entire blog, mom and dad point out that you have to fight for attention and that none of us older siblings really like to take time out of our days to play cars or imagination with you like an ordinary eight year old. Once more I find myself apologizing for my blind neglect towards you. We all use the excuse of "anger issues" to cover up what no one wants to confess: we have stolen a year of your childhood for our own lazy gain, and when you failed to meet our standards we blamed you and that is unacceptable. Apologies don't cover what we have done, but change can definitely heal what we have broken. 

I love you,
      ~Your big sis

Source:
Brewer, Isabelle. The Observed. Google Blogger, sept. 2014. (web). 12, dec., 2014
Samuel, Brewer. Personal interview. 20, oct. 2014.
Brewer, Michael. Personal interview. 11, oct. 2014.

A Different Perspective

I asked a few family members how Sam behaves when with them; most said very good:
Grandma:
"I make sure to tell him, 'Sam I don't want to see even a hint of a frown on your face while you're here!' Then when he misbehaves I give him the look; The grandma look. After that we have a lot of fun."
Father:
"Sam is a boy. He has too many older sisters and instead of playing with tools and cars he wants to paint nails and play dress-up. When we hang out I make sure we do boy things; he usually enjoys that more. Also, when it's just the two of us, he doesn't have to compete with any of you for attention. This helps a LOT!"
Aunt:
"Ya, Sam's great whenever he comes to play with McKenna, but if Addie's here, the two girls run off and it's difficult for Sam to be included. That's, sometimes, when he gets mad, yells, or storms off in his temper."

Then I asked my mom how Sam behaved just the two of them:
Mother:
"He's good, but it's rarely ever just Sam and I. I don't know why, but he doesn't ask to ever do anything with me: play board games, go to a park, etc. I know he likes it when you guys play nicely with him, but that doesn't happen often either. I don't know though, I prefer him with someone else because we don't seem to get along much."

Though I hate to admit it, I believe my mother could be partially correct; Sam is so much younger than us three oldest children that he only has Addison (our 9 year old and youngest girl) to play with and she doesn't like being around him all the time especially when her friends are over. It will be weird at first but maybe including Samuel more will help him feel like he doesn't have to compete as much for attention.

Source:
Brewer, Michael. Personal interview. 3 Dec. 2014
Brewer, Shontell. Personal interview. 2 Dec. 2014
Dahir, Cristine. Personal interview. 2 Dec. 2014
Dahir, Roni. Personal interview. 4 Dec. 2014

PART 2

     Last discussed, Sam was having difficulty with his friends. He had called them annoying and followers so I wanted to follow up on that and find out why. I asked him a few questions and included a small interview into that day's field notes.

     Notes: Nov. 11, Thursday

"He had a great day. Played with new friends (a 3 year old boy and 5 year old girl I was babysitting). Saw 'Big Hero Six' at the theatre. 

'Sam, what did you do today?'

'(Along with the events posted above) I got to be apart of this lovely conversation. Are you going to be sharing this?' 

'Yup. Now last we talked you called your friends annoying 'lil people, why?'

'I said that?? Well because my friends wont stop copying my life. When I do something they copy me.'

'Were they like that yesterday?'

'No. Just Dillon because I hate him.'

'Sam! One, please don't say you hate people, it's mean and two, why do you hate him?'

'Because he copies me and at tag he takes forever to chase us and instead plays like he's an airplane.'

'So you mean he's just like you when we play basketball and you wait 'til I'm irritated with you when you finally shoot the ball? Funny.'

'Yes. Quite humorous.'"

     He didn't much appreciate me calling him out on being a hypocrite but I've always been a strong believer of "practice what you preach," and "do to others what you would want done to you." Also, by now, hopefully you are aware of my family's dire need for sarcasm; it's our food, energy, life support. Some families revolve around money or television; my family revolves around sarcasm. Next, I will try getting Samuel to replace hypocrisy with sarcasm; that's definitely a healthy substitution.

PART 1

     Honestly this past week has been the same as any: Sam gets home from school; Sam eats food; Sam gets into trouble with my mom; Sam throws a fit; Sam feels better, apologizes, then does his chores and goes to bed. Although he did share that he has a "lover" but as he is only 8 I will assume he does not actually know what this means and is just referring to his crush at school. I did, however, manage to get a decent conversation from him, but all it solves is that he is finally catching on that I may or may not be studying him, and that he doesn't have the most enjoyable friends. Anyway this was our conversation one late Monday night:

"Sam. How was your day?"
"Didn't we already do this?"
"No. Be quiet and answer my questions. How was your day?"
"Fine- NO wait! It was good."
"Did you play with your friends?"
"Yes."
"Did you miss them?"
"Kinda but not really."
"Why's that?"
"Because they're just annoying 'lil people that follow me around all day and I call them my friends. Haha, weird right?"
"Uh ya Sam that's quite sad and... harsh."

     After he said this I felt sad for him and that this was how he saw his friends. It made me question how I would describe my friends but only momentarily because our conversation didn't end there (I tried changing the subject because I didn't want the interview to get all sappy).

"Did you wear clothes today?"
"Um yes I suppose."
"You Suppose??"
"Ya well I wore a navy shirt and pants and shoes and somes navies underwear..."
"Did you- HEY STOP!"
"What??"
"You're stabbing holes in the table!"
"So it makes me... nothing."
"What Samuel?"
"I HAVE TO PEE, OKAY? ARE GOING TO WRITE THAT DOWN TOO? But hey since you're writing things down you might as well say that tomorrow I'll be giving my lover a piece of gum and she will love that so therefore she will love me. There d'you get all that?"
"Yes. Goodnight, Samuel."

     I knew before this assignment that my brother had some anger issues which was partially my reasoning for choosing him, but when he overreacts to the dumbest things it makes me laugh. I can imagine that this happens in class as well which makes me curious if Sam's description of his friends is true. Do only the annoying kids hang around Sam because everyone else finds him annoying and difficult to be around?  I hate the thought because I love my brother, want the best for him and I know what a great kid he actually is, but with these weird outbursts there's really only so much I can do to help. Maybe next weeks data will bring better solutions.

THE ZOMBIE GEN

     Most students attending public schools in the Washoe County School District get ONE week off for Fall Break but apparently if you attend Honors Academy of Literature you get TWO weeks off; my four younger siblings attend this "Academy". I know I really shouldn't complain because at least I got a week off but for all seven days of this extra week I had to come home to jokes like "Yawn! I'm exhausted. This was such a tiring day for me, Izzy. Playing on the computer, eating, sleeping, oh and growing- that sucked!" and "Gee, I should really get to my homew- oh nope wait, I don't have any... EVER!" a-w-e-s-o-m-e. It's okay though because they will be returning to school tomorrow.

      Continuing with my research, Sam decided to spend his extra week with his eyes glued to electronics. It was difficult getting any data other than "day 4. Sam still playing video games". A conversation was out of the question: "Sam how was your day?" "Fine." "What did you do?" "...this." See what I mean? My family isn't one that revolves around electronics. If the phone rings at dinner, we don't answer because we are spending time together; we don't text or play on our phones in the car; the television is rarely ever on unless we are watching a movie as a family; etc. so this behavior was odd. Hopefully this week will be better for both of us though; he'll be out of the house and with his friends again, but I suppose we will see.

Introduction

     The relationship between a sister and brother can be related best to a jumble of knots; we will love each other always despite the amount of fights and arguments. Each happy moment is another knot or bond in our relationship, but every brawl loosens our knot; this is, at least for me, the perfect description of the relationship between me and my little brother Samuel.

     Putting aside my serious distrust that this assignment will benefit for anything besides a grade, let me introduce to you The Observation Project. My wonderful English teacher put together this semester long assignment where we find something to observe on a daily basis and record our findings of, in my case, behavioral differences, change in appearance, mood swings, etc. As you probably have guessed I chose to observe my little brother, but keep it on the down low because he doesn't actually know. Him being younger than 10 and not having the ability to put together the hints that he's being observed gives me very real, raw, and HILARIOUS data.  Everyday after school on the car ride home, I take note of Sam's day, where he went, how much food he ate for lunch (hunger really does change a person), how well he interacts with the other siblings in the car, and more. So far my information has led to some very interesting hypotheses but those are for another day. Au revoir dear reader and I will see you next Sunday.