Look, up in the sky

Today Archer completed Super Kids camp, a science and math day camp for first through third graders. One year ago when he finished his first weeklong stint there, we attended the closing ceremony and watched him stand with about 50 other kids and sing (or not sing, more often) five songs. I wrote about it here.

During this year's closing ceremony, Archer sang the same five songs -- and sang a lot more of them. His attention was much better, although it wandered during the last couple of songs, when he was unsure of the words. (I was prepared for this because when he sang me all the songs yesterday, after writing each song's total time on his magnadoodle, he mumbled his way through the later ones.)

But as the kids sang the last song, "You've Got A Friend In Me," you could see him gathering himself for a big moment. He kept glancing at the children on either side of him. Then it happened: the students put their arms around each other's shoulders and swayed. Last year Archer also clearly enjoyed that moment, although he could not bring himself to actually touch those kids; he held his arms straight out to the sides and swayed along. This year he enthusiastically threw his arms around the girls on either side, a huge smile on his face. This was the moment he'd been waiting for.

Most charmingly, he failed to read the social cues of the group when Dr. Cooper, the Super Kids director, asked them all whether he would stop being a super kid if he did something wrong or had a problem. "Noooooooooo," answered all the kids in unison. But Archer didn't stop there. Pointing emphatically, he continued after everyone else had fallen quiet. "You will still be a super kid," he assured Dr. Cooper.