My boy

So at Landen's last soccer game of the season on Saturday he tried the Maradonna. His team has been working on tons of drills and foot skills, so this isn't something that he came up with on his own. However, I have certainly not seen any of team mates attempt it. When he used it to get past a guy (it mostly worked) all the parents just laughed. It still makes me smile when I replay it in my head. It's kind of like watching a 8 year old basketball player who thinks he can jump like Michael Jordan attempt some crazy twisting-leaping shot. I wished my brothers and dad could have been there to watch cause it would have tickled them a little I think.

Another interesting note about Landen. I was at his SEP (parent teacher conference) and they were talking about his reading. The teacher looked at me and said, "this seems a little like an obsession." I just smiled and agreed. My dear little boy lives his life for a few basic things, soccer, reading, his dog, and a very few foods and everything else tends to be annoying details. He read the entire Fablehaven series (bk 1-4) in 4 days. His reading level is exceptional and his fluency and comprehension test are awesome-so now we are just working on finding a balance and interest in a few things like math, chores, and sisters.

Speaking of sister, I have to write this one comment we had recently. Landen's superb goalie had a major cut and resulting stitches that required him to miss a couple of games. Landen has been playing with the school kids as goalie lately and was thrilled to volunteer as a sub for a couple of games. However, his league takes their games pretty seriously so we were all a little nervous at what might happen to this tiny inexperienced little goalie. Of course Landen doesn't recognize that he fits any of these categories. Anyway, Talia recognizing the significance of this change of position looked up at me and said, "Well at least I prepared him." In desperation for a friend Talia has spent hours "shooting" on Landen(wearing his snow gloves-turned goalie gloves) against the chainlink fence (goal) while Landen dramatically dives at each slow moving ball like it was a hard driving kick that might determine the World cup results. She is the dearest friend to anyone who will play with her.