Life's not fair--or is it?

I've been thinking lately about a conversation I had with the mom of one of Dallin and Landon's teammates.  She didn't know which player(s) I belonged to but she was lamenting the fact that some of "those big boys get to play the entire game--all the time.  It's not very fair."  Dallin was out with a sprained ankle so I knew she was referring in large part to Landon.

Her comments took me back to my own feelings of sorrow at my children's struggles.

 I remember in second grade Landon and Dallin having to go back to first grade for reading.

 I remember Dallin crying at home because he was put in the out box at recess {again} for tripping over and on top of other kids playing soccer.  As he would say--"it's just not fair, I'm just running along and the next thing I know there's a kid under my feet."

I remember spending hours and hours working and explaining why the boys had to go to extra "school" (tutoring) in order to learn to read.  It wasn't fun.

So, now when I see these really big, very focused, hard-working teenagers of mine have loads of success in one area, I am completely happy.  I want to tell the other moms not to worry because working through heart ache makes for hard working and well balanced kids. I know from personal experience.

I want everyone to remember that we can't compare our own kids' weaknesses with other kids' strengths.   Life tends to balance out.  I hope I can always remember not to look at a successful child with jealousy because chances are that there is, or will be an area of struggle.  That's just how life works.   And it would be good for me to remember that that rule continues to apply to adult life as well!

Another word on dyslexia...

I must mention that for anyone who had a child who cannot learn to spell or has greater than usual trouble learning to read--you should check out this web site for Dyslexia. Early intervention can really help solve the problem (as in our case!--see below). Denial doesn't help solve the problem. Treatment does. I think we'd all be surprised if we knew how many people are suffering silently with dyslexia.

One of the best web sites and resources I have found is--HERE.

Check out the links at the top. Especially the web videos. Very interesting and informational even if you don't deal with dyslexia. I really think anyone who is a teacher should check these things out as well!

Voracious...

Who would have ever thought that would be the word we would use to describe Dallin and Landon's reading habits? I mean seriously. I don't think I've ever written about Dal and Lan's reading journey. It is one of tears and triumph.

Four years ago (about) when we moved to Twin Falls we experienced every parents' nightmare. "Your sons are severely delayed in their reading levels," the school reported.

'What are you talking about' we thought--they were just fine three weeks ago in Arizona?' (we didn't realize they were memorizing their books...) We experienced every level of denial--'Just leave them alone and let them play--they are just curious boys!' or 'Why are you so advanced anyway, I mean who reads in first grade?'

Finally when we were a couple of months into second grade we could not ignore the problem. Our boys couldn't even read the tiniest basic words--is, a, the, of--and they REALLY couldn't spell them. In fact our sweet teacher finally brought to our attention that neither Dallin or Landon could even recognize their own names in a sentence. After much testing, the diagnosis---DYSLEXIA.

We literally had months of crying, bed-wetting, tantrums, anxiety and other learning difficulty induced problems. And when second grade finished they still couldn't read. That was when we made the tearful but inevitable decision that we had to repeat second grade.

Thankfully it was the best thing we could have done. We had a really outstanding teacher who increased their sense of self-esteem. They learned to read and finished second grade at grade level. (We also went to a year of tutoring at a special tutoring center.)

Third grade brought a new challenge for Dallin. We saw his reading levels again take a nose dive (like, all the way back to a beginning first grade level...) and we knew there was a problem. (some serious hyperventilating and anxiety on my part!!) Thanks again to a great teacher we realized that Dallin has ADD. Medication has literally changed his and our lives. He loves and really succeeds well in school. He takes his medicine on his own because he says it makes "everything just so much easier." Landon does really really great in school also. I actually can't remember the last time I did spelling words with the boys. They do fine on their spelling tests but that doesn't do anything at all for their ability to spell correctly in regular written work. I'm not sure we will ever really get that down.

Anyway, last night I finally caught on to why the boys are so hard to wake up in the morning lately. Yes--as their father's children--they had their flashlights in their beds are were reading until the wee hours of the morning. Can you believe it? THEY ARE READING ALL NIGHT! Who would have guessed three years ago that I wouldn't be able to get them to stop reading! I had to impound their books at lights out though...

In part we have Percy and the Olympians to thank for this great phenomena. We also have some divine intervention to acknowledge.

Years ago, in desperation, I started reading the Little house on the Prairie books to the boys at bedtime (I could not stand one more repetition of Dr. Seuss--). From there we went to The Hobbit (which my five year olds listened to attentively!) and the rest is history. Harry Potter, Narnia, Eragon, and a bazillion other series... We have literally read and reread more than 100 books. We need to make a list sometime. At least an hour a night. I had no idea that reading out loud to the boys was probably the single best thing that I could have done to help with their dyslexia. What a blessing. We all really love it.

I guess this is the proof that the Lord wasn't kidding when he said He could make "weak things become strong" unto us. I'm very grateful.