Two People

Baxter and I were reading together when he began asking how many people live on earth. "Are there more than a hundred?" (100 is the be-all, end-all of numbers to him.)

"Yes! There are 6 billion people", Matt told him from the other room. (Yes, this is because I had no idea of the answer, I'll admit this. Well, wait, I knew there were more than 100, but once we get into the billions, that's about all I feel I need to know.)

He was silent and looked somewhat perplexed.

"It's a huge number, isn't it? Bigger than we can even imagine, really," I said.

After a minute he said, "I can only imagine two people, actually."

"Oh, really?" I was not sure what he meant by that.

"Yeah. Me and Ella."

Shadow Boy Emerges

Many of you have asked, "Does Lyle have a superhero name?" Why, yes, so glad you asked!

Although originally known as "Cheetah Baby", Lyle has been dubbed "Shadow Boy" due to his impressive ability to scare away the ever-petrifying dark shadows that exist for him under every damn piece of furniture, tree, and doorway. When the whimpering begins, we merely say, "Use your super powers, Shadow Boy!" and he squats down so he's face to face with the enemy, puts out his dimply little hands, and says "Pshew pshew!" He then gets up and toddles away to new adventures.

Damn! That Cheetah Boy Can Read!

We were chatting with Baxter on Friday night about his day. We knew his class gets together with their 3rd grade "reading buddies" on Fridays. The point of this is to give the big kids a chance to practice their reading and for the younger kids to be inspired to start reading themselves. Baxter happens to have two buddies because a child in his class moved so there was a "left over" 3rd grader. It's clear that he really likes these two big boys. I've been curious about how this has been going lately, because he himself is actually reading 3rd grade level books.

So Baxter told me what they had read to him that day, and I asked him, "Do they know that you can read, too?" "I don't know," he mused. Then I asked, "Well, do you ever read to them, or do they just read to you?" He said, "They read to me. I never read to them."

Then he paused and said, "But if they have trouble with a word, I help them out."

Enter Cheetah Boy

The world's newest superhero is born.

And he's packing an impressive array of powers:

• fastest land animal (50% as fast as Superman)
• turns things invisible with lightning bolts that shoot from his hands
• shoots fire from his hands
• raises defensive shields against others' attacks
• fires lasers from his eyes (effect unknown)

I took Baxter to Free Comic Book day a few Saturdays ago, and the rest, as they say, is history. He swallowed the Justice League whole and used it as a launching pad for his science-fueled imagination. He even asked a friend of ours, a Biology professor, to settle our dispute about whether Superman counts as a mammal or not.

We're rolling with the whole thing pretty well. The only limit we've put on it so far is that there's to be no destructive shooting in the house. He can make all the noise and go through all the motions, but he can't pretend to be killing us. He seems okay with that. Lyle even uses his own "superpowers" to banish the shadows that lurk under the doors and couches.

We've even adopted our own Super alter egos: Jordan is Inhaler Girl and I'm Sleepatron.

Credit

I can give Matt some credit here. In fact, I am the best credit-giver in my class. No one can give credit like I can (when it is due).

This morning, in a pre-emptive strike against a hissy fit about putting down his book to take an inhaler, Matt brilliantly suggested, "Why don't you come over here and show me how you can take your inhaler better and faster than anyone else in room 104?" Never have we seen such speed in the approach to take some medicine. Nice.

This post brought to you by the word endings -er and -est

Matt here. I am a better blogger than Jordan. I am a better blogger than those fools over at BoingBoing. I am a better blogger than the guy who invented blogs.

I am the best blogger in the world.

Sorry, this competitive streak that Baxter's picked up must be contagious. He can't stop comparing himself — always favorably and often superlatively — to his friends. "I can run faster than Rebecca!" "I can beat you on the way to school, Daddy." "I'm the fastest runner in our class."

And all delivered in that snotty kindergarten sing-song that makes you (or me, anyway) just want to take him out to the sidewalk and make him prove it. You and me, Bax, fifty yards to the end of the block. Winner takes all.

I'm sure it's normal, and I'm sure that we can help him figure out how to be proud of himself without putting down his friends. But it sure is annoying.

Winding Down

At times it feels as if this kindergarten year has flown by. The first day of school was yesterday. And yet I am grateful for this blog, because the other night I went back and read some old posts from the beginning of the year and it felt like a million years ago. It's helping me appreciate the passing of time.

Our routine is second nature. Homework is no longer a novelty. New friends are now familiar playmates. I mentioned to Baxter that I saw his former preschool teacher at a workshop I gave on Monday and he didn't recognize the name any longer. Tonight, as I was folding laundry, it registered that more than half of those nice new pants I bought him for school now have enormous holes in the knees and will neither be worn in 1st grade nor saved for Lyle.

The school year is starting to wind down. And yet Baxter loves it as much (or more) than ever. He wakes up excited and enthusiastic about going to school as if it were the first day. On weekends he groans about having to stay home. Every afternoon we stay at school and play for half an hour on the playground because he has no interest in leaving.

I cannot keep track of his friends at all. I took the kids to a playground near the school this afternoon and about 20 kids who go to after-school care at Jefferson showed up there to play. "Baxter! Baxter! Baxter!" - one by one, nearly all 20 of these Asian kindergartners screamed out his name, so happy for this extra play time with him. I actually felt like I was witnessing a rock star on tour (maybe a white rock star arriving in China?!) and it was delightful.

There is still a month left of school, but I am afraid it will go by quickly. Baxter is confused about what the point of a summer vacation is - after all, what could be better than school? - but I'm genuinely excited for my summer at home with the kids and he is getting there, too. Although I know he will be sad to leave Jefferson and say good-bye to his friends next month, he frequently says with Baxteresque zeal, "I can't WAIT to move to Chicago!" and "I can't WAIT to go to Burley School", so I think he'll do just fine.