Five Reasons My Kid is "Special"

1. He dreams of becoming a bird. Like the cats you see in cartoons, he runs from window to window chasing them. If he's outside he chases them throughout the yard. There's always that look of disappointment on his face when they wisely fly out the grasp of his three year old hands. But he's not detered. He pleads incessantly for us to catch one. I'm not sure where this obsession came from. I think it may have stemmed from when the next door neighbor started keeping homing pigeons in his yard. The other day I caught him opening the sliding door so he could chase the bird inside. That's all I need inside my house. So far, I have yet to meet another bird-obsessed three year old.

2. He doesn't know his colors...but, he does now the name of every Cars car that matches said color. "What color shirt is daddy wearing?" "Lightening McQueen" (red), "What kind of kool-aid should we have for dinner?" "Chick" (green), "What color is the cup?" "Leak Less" (yellow). Where in the movie is Leak Less and how does my three year old know him? I think it's a little bizarre. The doctor thinks it's actually quite smart.

3. He's actually pretty good on Mario Kart for the Wii. He can keep up with the best of them as long as he's not otherwise distracted. I've seen him come in first in a couple of races. Not bad for a kid who can't read.

4. Instead of me reading him a goodnight story, he "reads" me a story. It's the same one every night. I think it might be about a pig and there's some ducks (surprise, surprise) in it. It lasts about 30 seconds and then he kisses me goodnight and tells me to leave his room. Then he proceeds to spend the next 45 minutes reading the same story over and over to himself.

5. We've taught him that he must wear his helmet whenever he rides his bike. He's the only kid in the neighborhood group that wears a helmet consistently. This was, surprisingly, not a difficult thing to teach him. However, once we go outside, say at 11:00 am, he puts on his helmet and wears it until we come back inside, say 5:00 pm. My kid is the one jumping on the tramp, sliding down the slide, swinging on the swings, playing ball, all with his helmet on. I think it kind of makes him look "special". I'm sure the other parents have different terms for it. We'll see who's left laughing when all the other kids have head injuries from falling off the tramp and my kid bounces right back up thanks to his trusty helmet.