13 Pictures of Scud and 13 Things About Scud

Scud is the "Star Scholar" in his Kindergarten class this week. So, I thought I'd make him the star of my blog today with a double Thirteen.

Thirteen Pictures of Scud

Some of my favorite pictures of Scud through the years.

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Thirteen things about Scud.

1. Scud's favorite foods are Stroganoff and Tacos.

2. His favorite colors are Orange, Red, Yellow, Green and Black.

3. Hi favorite sports are Wrestling and Soccer.

4. His favorite song is "Life of a Salesman" by Yellowcard. It talks about growing up to be a better man like your Daddy. Very tender.

5. Scud loves to read and learn. He is incredibly bright. He taught himself to read with VERY little help from me. I taught him a bit about phonics and worked a bit with him on blending. But, basically he's figured it out for himself. He's still a beginning reader, but constantly amazes us during scripture reading time when we turn him loose on a verse and he reads words like "behold" and "remember" and "which" without skipping a beat. He's really figuring it out. He's doing the same thing with math and frequently sits on my lap to tell me "Mom, guess what I figured out. 7 plus 7 is 14. So, 7 plus 7 plus 6 equals 20." And I'm just flabbergasted. I don't know how he does it. He just does it. And I'm certainly not boasting. Just blown away by him. He amazes me every day.

6. Right now one of his favorite things to do is "read" chapter books. Yesterday he read all the way through Jekyll and Hyde while he waited for me to help with carpool at school. In the last week he's read about 15 chapter books. Does he really read them? No. He very intently stares at the pages, picking out any words he can and turns pages at the rate of about one page every 5 seconds. It's so funny to see him so intently "reading".

7. Scud loves to tell stories. I am constantly amazed at the depth of his imagination and his ability to weave a plot together. Sometimes his stories are complete nonsense and not really coherent. But I am frequently surprised at the complex and coherent stories he puts together, complete with a beginning, middle and end, believable characters, interesting climax. It's fun. He's just started a blog and has a couple of stories posted.

8. Scud LOVES legos in a big way. He will sit for hours building all sorts of things. Sometimes he'll follow the directions. Sometimes he'll just build whatever he wants.

9. Scud loves to play computer games and watch movies. I have to remind him to go outside and jump on the trampoline or ride his scooter. He'd just stay inside all day with a computer, a book or a TV if I let him.

10. Scud has one of the most infectious smiles and laughs that I've ever known. He's especially fun when something funny surprises him. Laughter just bursts out of him all at once. It's one of my favorite sounds in the whole world.

11. Scud is incredibly sensitive. He is, by far, my most sensitive child. His feelings get hurt very easily and he is very tender and loving. He is also very sensitive to sound, touch, sights and is easily overstimulated. He's not one to enjoy a big crowd for very long. Just too much sensory overload. He's also very introverted and can be uncomfortable in social situations. When he was a toddler, he used to hit others and act out a lot. I had the hardest time figuring out why he'd do it. I'd tell him what was expected of him and out the blue he'd just hit another child on the playground. Finally, when he was almost four, I asked him why he'd hit another little boy. He was finally able to articulate the problem for me. "Because I was nervous," he said. And little lightbulbs started going off everywhere in my head. Of course! Social situations with lots of children and taking turns and figuring out what to do with everything going on was just too overwhelming for him. So, I hugged and held him and was careful not to put him in situations that were too overwhelming for him. The problem disappeared immediately. Now, he's social and functions just fine on a playground. But he still prefers to relate to other children one-on-one or in small groups.

12. Scud could not talk intelligibly until he was almost four years old. When he was two, he spoke only a few syllables. He said "ma" for mom, "da" for dad, "oof" for food, "t" for thank you... After a while he began to string long sentences of syllables together "I ah to ah da deh beh moo." meant "I want to watch the Care Bear Movie." I was the only one who could understand him really and I only understood him about 50-60% of the time. It was very frustrating for him, because he knew EXACTLY what he was trying to say. He had a great vocabulary, but was simply unable to articulate. After a couple of years of speech therapy, he finally began to be intelligible. There are still traces of problems. But, other people understand him perfectly. What a relief.

13. Scud is so sweet and eager to please. :) He is such a darling. He loves to hug me and always has to hug my tummy and say hello to Coco in the morning.