4 Eyes

Turns out Superkid has a touch of Myopia.

Superkid had such a good run as Harry Potter, he decided to keep the look!

He was also influenced by his father and his taste in glasses as well.

Looking good, Four Eyes!

Trunk-or-Treat

Time to start picking up a little candy!

Tadpole decided on Optimus Prime

Little chief decided to be a cowboy

Superkid stuck with Harry Potter. Here he is with his buddies!

I hog tied Jaws and wrestled him into this little cowboy outfit

Pretty cute little partner

I jumped on the cowboy bandwagon too...

We carried the Wild West theme over to the van. My little cowboy dutifully sat on his valiant steed and sucked down lollipops while I passed out candy to the goblins.

Abz and her friend painted the cactus and Superkid designed a desert backdrop for the van.

Yeeehaw!

Then back home to count our haul!

I sent out a decree that if I found a single candy wrapper every child in the house would have to surrender a piece of candy (brilliant, right?). Abizella said that she would just give me the candy she didn't like. 

Tadpole wickedly observed, "Superkid likes ALL candy, he has nowhere to run."

Party Time at School

The Big kids had a Halloween party at their school.

Tadpole wanted to be a Blacksmith Villager from Mine Craft. This was a challenge with the "No Masks" rule. How to make a kid's head square? We did our best with a bald cap and make-up... but when the party was over Tad said he didn't ever want to put a bald cap on again.

Abizella was committed to being a black cat.

She made her own tail!

And she played the part well!

Superkid was Harry Potter.

I think he bares a striking resemblance

It's party time!

Costume Season

Nothing gets us in the mood for candy like cracking open the costume buckets. You gotta look good on Halloween and when you are stinking cute, it is hard to narrow it down!

Here is Tadpole as Optimus Prime

Tadpole as Optimus and Little Chief as the Big Bad Wolf

...a tame Big Bad Wolf that likes to get his ears scratched.

Here as Little Chief as the Great Pumpkin

And LC as Spiderman...

And Superman...

And here is the Dream Team Optimus Prime (Tadpole) and Bumble Bee (LC)

And here is Jaws as "Bones". He is not really into dressing up, so these skeleton jams Grandma sent hit the spot. He likes to point to the bones and give us a little commentary.

Bring on the Candy! We're ready.

Survival Skills

This kid is a big enough mischief maker that I don't think he would make it through the day without also being absolutely adorable. Jaws gets away with murder... or something close to it, dumping bowl after bowl of food, scribbling on the couches, dumping books off the bookshelves, emptying all the cupboards - and that is all before 10:00 a.m. But how can you prosecute a child who then goes and grabs his baby, tucks him tenderly in his grocery cart wrapped in his beloved pillow case, and goes for a stroll through the house. 

Doesn't get cuter than this. 

Saves his tale every time.

Happy Birthday Superkid!

Happy Birthday Superkid! 

We had a techinical difficulty when it came time for Superkid to hold up his fingers to demonstrate how old he is... he has run out of fingers! Abizella and Little Chief jumped in the frame to help out. 

That is 9+1+1=11wonderful years with this kiddo!

Abizella presented the first gift before church. She drew him a picture of a Night Fury Dragon and cleverly wrapped it in a gigantic box to throw him off. 

He was thrilled with her gift!

This kid has a mountain of gifts to unwrap!

He thought the night vision goggles that Aunt Jenny sent were particularly timely as he could view his Cold Stone chocolate peanut butter pie when the lights went out to sing "Happy Birthday to You."

I wonder what he'll wish for?

Maybe another piece?!

Then it was back to the hard work of unwrapping!

It was fun for the whole family!

Then on to assembling and testing out some of his models...

This kid!

Oh how I love him! Here are eleven ways...
1. He is the most sensitive tender hearted child alive. He has a sixth sense when it comes to knowing how other's feel. He is always there to give me a timely squeeze when he knows I need it most.
2. He has an amazing memory. He can recall details from years and years ago. And he can repeat verbatim interesting information that he has gleaned from NOVA, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Car Talk, and whatever his latest You Tube interest is. Not to mention knocking his teacher's socks off by getting up and reciting 24 lines of poetry without ever reading it, but over hearing other students practice it at lunch.
3. He hates spiders.
4. He confides his biggest heart aches and challenges to me.
5. He is never bored. His imagination saves him every time.
6. He is super creative. His 4th grade teacher told me that she assigned the students to write an assay about a fictional island that they owned. Every kid's essay read the same. They all had the same formula, just listing details about the island. Superkid's essay read like a spy novel. He left the teacher with a vivid picture of his island and a captivating story as a bonus.
7. I love listening to him play the piano. He won't admit to liking it, but he is sounding really good.
8. He is a candy hound. He is relentless when there is an open bag of treats around here. He won't rest until the bag is cleared.
9. He is independent.
10. He is a history buff. He is a WWII dog fight expert, he loves to watch documentaries with Pops and I.
11. When the other kids are tucked in, he sneaks down and hangs out with us. He is a lot of fun to be with. We love everything about him!

The Toad's Book Club

We've had a miracle around here. After more than 6 years of torture, hand wringing, frustration and perseverance, we had a breakthrough. It wasn't until last year that someone breathed the word dyslexic about Superkid. There was obviously something up. Ever since Superkid was a baby he would sit on your lap forever and listen to you read, even when he was a toddler. He was a sponge. I've never seen a kid who wanted to drink in a book like Superkid. And the irony, the kid can't read. At least he couldn't until a few weeks ago. A friend gave me a book, The Gift of Dyslexia. It changed everything. I felt like the author was walking around inside Superkid's brain and explaining how and why Superkid thinks the way he does. The thing is, he is extraordinarily bright. I never equated this to his dyslexia before, but the book explained how they are linked. AND, it taught me how to help him correct the effects that cause him to flip his words. Here's the good news, it only took 2 hours. I'm serious, just two hours.

Before, when Superkid would get an assignment to read a book over the summer, we would start immediately and agonizingly work our way through it every day. After the correction I gave him a book to read, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and asked him to read. He read for 30 min. with only about 5 errors. We were both holding our breath. When I stopped him he said in disbelief, "Mom, I'm reading. What if I forget how to do it." I was a little worried myself. I told him we would wake up in the morning and try it again. He read the next morning for 45 minutes, with just a few errors again. I wanted him to get as much practice as he could, so I held my breath and challenged him to read the entire book in a week. This was a major challenge and I anticipated sitting on the couch with him for a couple of hours every day to make sure he could achieve the goal. The next day, I went to bed early and he sat up reading. He woke me up a couple of hours later and told me he finished the book! I asked him to pinch me because I thought I was dreaming. Sure enough he read the entire book in about 4 hours!

I'm a believer! He has been reading like a mad man ever since. He is averaging a book a week. He and Abizella have even started their own book club. They are slogging their way through the Harry Potter series. There is nothing more heartwarming to see them curled up on the couches together in the evening, reading, laughing, chatting and just radiating joy.

It is a huge relief to everyone. Superkid has experienced an enormous confidence boost. His reading ability has jumped about 3 grade levels, his true ability has been unmasked. It has been tough going, but I wouldn't trade it. He has worked so hard, even when working hard wasn't making any difference. The kid's not a quitter and the payoff is huge. And now he has the ability to read and keeps his gift to create, decipher, engineer, problem solve and wonder.

Life is a journey. I'm grateful to be traveling with this kid.