The Blazing Blueberry!

That's Gabriel's 1st Pinewood Derby on the left.

He put LOTS of hours into it, and it paid off...

BY EARNING 1ST PLACE!!

(It is blue with a lightning streak down it...thus the name)

As the races went on he kept winning. It was kind of a funny feeling. We don't have straight A kids or even consistently well-behaved kids. We're focusing their childhoods on things that develop a uniquely 'them' identity rather than push them so hard at being the best at something and making their self worth dependent upon whether they're at the top of their "thing" or not. They're smart, funny, cute, and fun. Rarely do we find ourselves with the "my kid's the best" issue to deal with. Issue, you ask? Yes, issue. Have you met those kids that are always the "best"? If you have, you get it. If you haven't, someday you will. ;-) Fun times...

Anyway, I digress...

He was winning and winning. Garrett was keeping track of how many races Gabriel had been in and how many he'd won. It was cute. Gabriel kept his composure SO WELL!!! For real, he continued to be kind  to other boys. He smiled when he won, but didn't start getting obnoxious in his happy excitement. I felt so proud **not of his car** of his continued good behavior. He didn't do anything that was demeaning to the other kids. He gave compliments to the other racers, and was just plain old nice.

  We value being nice over just about everything else in life.It's SOOO rare now!

After we left we told him how proud of his behavior we were. He said thanks, but I smiled a few times. Poor kid. He then said something that let us know he was feeling kind of awkward too. He was beaming. We talked about how he'd shown good sportsmanship. Smiling and feeling happy about doing well is ok as long as you don't make someone else feel deflated in the process (in age appropriate terms of course). Being a gracious winner is as important as being a gracious loser. The concerted effort it has/does take for him to conquer reading and writing has obviously left an imprint on his little psyche; it was nice seeing him excel at something. 

Later that night we took all of them out for dessert to celebrate the win and the good behavior. Like I said the whole being best thing isn't a frequent issue so celebrating big when it does come up is fun. Taking them all to a restaurant isn't frequent either! 
Think 3 ring circus.

They were seated VERY strategically seated in hopes of encouraging socially acceptable behavior in public. 

 

These two can usually handle themselves together.

We banked on Gabriel being willing to share with his little brother, as opposed to Garrett who doesn't count. Garrett and Lincoln can't be withing 10 feet of each other without fighting.

Success.

Lynneah is just a "baby" which is the only reason we bet Garrett would  be able to stand the idea of sharing with another human being...because sharing is a VERY hard thing for him.

Success.

I wish I'd had a camcorder when they brought the desserts out...THEN put it down IN FRONT OF HER...then we LET HER DIG IN *WITHOUT* HELP.

Her eyes were huge, well huge for her, and the excitement was radiating from her whole little being.

Success.

Loved the chocolate.

Success.

Told ya they were cute!