Recently, while April was out at her twice-weekly paddling practices, the kids and I made our way through the trilogy of X-Men films. I know some will frown on the fact that I would let my children watch such overstimulating fare, but luckily these films fall in the shadow of that magical point where the maturity level of the childen and the blatant irresponsibility of the parent meet and happily shake hands. They loved all three films, but Chloe was especially taken with X3 and the abundance of strange and different mutants on display. Sam liked the explosions and what-not well enough, but Chloe is at that age where the idea of being different and not being accepted for who you are is a very real, and very scary, creature lurking just over the horizon. I think she identified with the mutants and their struggle and really took the injustice of it to heart. About 2/3 of the way through the movie, she ran upstairs and grabbed her sketchbook as she had decided to create a mutant persona for herself. She decided that she would be called Shiftter™ and she would have the ability to assume any shape of her choosing. A picture of her appropriately X-themed costume accompanies this entry (and if you click on it, it gets bigger!)

Personally, I think her mutant ability is to make me a little more proud of her every day...

From nothing to poignant. Slow down there buddy. Don't use it all up at once. We will need something between now and Christmas.