Kickin' and a Chippin'

Last week, both kids finished up with their respective sports camps. Sweet Pea participated in a week long soccer camp. She went every morning from 9 to noon, and it seemed she came home muddier with each day. When I picked her up on Thursday, the entire swarm of six year olds were engaged in a water fight with their teenage coaches. They made it fun for the kids each day. Wednesday was crazy hair day, which SP greatly excels at. She has a superior talent to team up with Lady Di to create hair sculptures. This year the 'Zohans' produced a beautiful lion's mane with a rainbow assortment of pony tail holders. SP was having so much fun this week, I don't think she realized that she was actually learning how to play soccer.

She is also on a soccer league team again this year. Last year her team was the lavender gophers. This year she is on the pink wolves team. Whenever her team scores a goal, they all howl like a pink pack of wolves.

This looks like a pretty good action shot of her, but she was actually just hanging out in the goal with her teammates before the game.

Number One Son completed his golf camp this week also. He would get dropped off at the golf course for an hour in the morning. I really had to force myself to not take his place at the camp, since I am in need of much instruction. For those who know N1S, you know that he is not a natural athlete and struggles with team sports. Individual sports seem to fall more in line with his talents and temperament. This is the case with many kids with Asperger's. We are still involving him in some team activities, like his basketball camp later in the month, but so far he has shown the most success with solo activities. Even though golf is an individual sport, the instructors came up with team competitions for the kids to test themselves. I watched N1S's team win a chipping contest and it was nice to see N1S cheering on his teammates and celebrating with them when he chipped the last ball through the target.

I didn't get any pictures of N1S at his golf camp so here is one of him trying his best to chop a divot out of my beautiful lawn.

The golf camp couldn't have pleased me more. Now I have a real reason to spend some extra time at the golf course. I'm hoping that SP will show the same interest in golf and basketball when she is a bit older. We can then add a few more family activities to enjoy.

You Gotta be a Football Hero.

Number One Son just finished taking a Community Ed. Football class. This class taught the basics of football. No pads, no helmets, no end zone dances. Lady Di and I were very nervous about signing him up for the class. N1S has had trouble with team sports in the past. It takes him awhile to grasp the concept of playing with teammates against another team. He usually is busy concentrating on what he is supposed to do so much that he loses sight of what the team is doing or even whose team he is on. We didn't want him to feel self conscious and we didn't want him to get teased. It's a class after school and I wouldn't be able to watch because of work.
But we took the plunge anyway in the hopes that he would learn more about the sport and maybe fit in better with his peers.

A few days before his first class, I thought it would be a good idea to get the football out and play catch. We tossed the ball back and forth trying see how many times we could catch it without dropping it. I think we got up to twelve or so.

N1S struggles a little with throwing a baseball. He isn't able to coordinate his feet to step forward as he throws. He usually has to think about which foot to step forward each time. Throwing the football is a different matter. He still has to think a little about his feet, but he can throw a tight, accurate spiral almost every time. For some reason his herky-jerky throwing style is very conducive to throwing a football. Score one for N1S.

With this success, I decided to go to the next level. I showed N1S how to run a football play. We got into a huddle. I traced the passing route on my hand for him to run. We lined up. I said 'hut' and off he ran. We ran the 'down and out' play. We ran 'the post'. We ran 'the fly'. I had to tell N1S how many steps to take before looking back for the ball. Otherwise, he would've run all the way to the neighbor's yard before looking back. Playing catch while standing still is hard enough. Now I was asking him to catch a ball while running and looking back over his shoulder. He tried very hard, but catching and running is difficult for anybody. He got a little frustrated and fell down a lot. But ,overall, it was a pretty positive day.

On the day before his football class, N1s was nervous and didn't want to go. I think he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to catch the ball well enough. It about broke my heart. We found out who his coach was going to be and, luckily, it was N1S's old gym teacher from first grade. It made a world of difference for N1S to know someone at the class.
He went to the class and was excited to go to the next one. He found out that there was a former baseball teammate in the class. He is definitely more excited about football now. He said he learned some more pass routes, and he's learned how to pass block. I know a certain 'purple' team who could use some training in that area.

His class then moved on to learning how to play as a team. He said that his team beat the other team, one touchdown to none. I said, "Great, how did you do?" He said he blocked on that play. He also said he almost scored a touchdown, but ran out of bounds. I guess the coach, who is the quarterback, faked a pass and then handed the ball to him. I would have loved to see that.

He is also learning a little football discipline. N1S said that one of the boys in his class didn't listen to the coach. Because of that, everyone had to run an extra lap around the field. "If one is punished, we all get punished.", he stated. Although, running a lap around the field may not really be punishment for a bunch of nine year boys. They are usually running everywhere anyway. I guess it's punishment if you tell them it is.

Overall, his experience was very positive. He is learning. His coordination is improving. And he is making friends and building confidence. Plus, we actually watched an entire football game together last Sunday. I'm glad that we actually had a good game to watch. He followed the play pretty well and cheered at the right time. He got excited when the Vikings did well and asked a lot of questions. There were a few times he accidentally booed at the Vikings. I think they were accidents anyway. Anyway, it was just nice to interact with him and enjoy something together. Adrian Peterson is now his favorite player.

Anybody Got the Time?

I'm slowly realizing that the older our kids get, the busier we seem to be. I used to think, "I can't wait until they can walk so I won't have to carry them." Then I had to chase them around the store or wait for them to catch up because they wouldn't let me carry them any more. Then I couldn't wait until they were out of diapers. Then I had to spend more time in the bathroom with them.

I thought life would be easier when they started school. I found out that my time is now occupied with class volunteering and after school field trips. Now they are both on athletic teams for the summer. Ethan is playing baseball and Emery is playing soccer. Last week, Emery had a soccer game at 6pm and Ethan had his end of the year baseball jamboree at 7:30pm. I got home from work at 5:30pm and swallowed a hamburger "Wimpy style" (swallowed whole). Then we drove the half mile trip to the soccer field which took 20 minutes because everyone in town is either coming home from work or going to the soccer field. We got there just in time to set up the chairs and drink a bottle of water in the 91 degree heat before dehydration set in. Emery's game ended at 7pm. At 7:15pm we started to drive the 200 yards across the park to the baseball diamond. The soccer fields are at the bottom of the hill that the baseball diamonds are atop. Since everyone at soccer also had a kid in baseball, this short trip also took 20 minutes. It was a minivan-suv parade up the hill.

The baseball jamboree ended around 8:30pm and the temperature had plummeted to 86 degrees. We were all pretty much wilted by then.

As we walked the dusty path to our van, Lady Di whispered to me, "I kind of promised them we would go out for ice cream." Once again, the kids' supersonic bat ears heard every word and the "Ice Cream!" chant started.

After ice cream we arrived home a little after 9pm. The kids shuffled like zombies to bed, and Lady Di and I collapsed onto our couch.

Does it ever get any easier with kids? I've determined that it doesn't get either easier or harder to raise kids. It only changes as they get older. We trade diapers for help on the toilet. We trade strollers for bikes. We trade baby toys for board games. Each time your child accomplishes a goal you trade the old one for the next one. Each trade also involves a little more independence for your children and a little more worry for the parents. As soon as that first child is born, your time is no longer your own. We help our kids develop and advance in the hopes of getting a little time to ourselves. We are only fooling ourselves though. That extra time is always filled with something new. The only time in our lives when we finally do get extra time to ourselves, is when our children leave home to live their own lives. This is when we wish our kids would never grow up.

So cherish this time as special time with your kids. Accept the fact that your time is not yours but belongs to your family as a whole. We only have a certain number of minutes given to us in this life. Don't waste them by trying to find more time that isn't there.

Kick It!

Our daughter Emery is now old enough to play on a team. And it's about time! She has had to watch her big brother play baseball and basketball. She has had to watch him in concerts and plays for the last 5 years. Every minute she had to sit on the sidelines would kill her. She always wanted to be right in the middle of the action. Now it is her turn to shine.

Emery is playing soccer this summer.

Now, I don't want to put any pressure on her. I just hope she has fun. She doesn't need to score in every game. Just most of them. And if one of her little opponents get a little too aggressive, I've instructed Emery to use a little intimidation when needed. The rules don't say anything about a little accidental tripping, or head-butting. Wait, I guess the rules do clearly prohibit such tactics. So much for cheating.

Emery had her first practice tonight. She is on the lavender Gopher team. Pretty intimidating, huh? Our area has about 30 teams of 8 to 10, five year olds. Tonight's scene resembled a chaotic anthill. Kids running, kicking and squealing everywhere. Emery was excited to say the least. She kept repeating, "I'm so excited!", over and over. On the drive to the soccer fields she instructed us on how to cheer for her. She said we could either say, "Go Emery!, Go Emery Go!, or Go Gophers!" We assured her we would abide by her rules.

When we arrived, Emery received her jersey, socks, and shorts. Her coaches ran the team through some fun drills. The girls didn't even know they were learning soccer. Emery got to run to the sidelines for her water bottle about a half dozen times. She informed us that she was really sweaty and that she was 'getting a workout'.

The coaches then organized a scrimmage with another team. They played a game of four on four which turned into eight little girls chasing the ball back and forth. Each team scored a couple of goals with both teams celebrating for each one. At one point, Emery was taking her turn on the sidelines, drinking her water. She looked back to see her brother, Ethan, entertaining himself with a soccer ball.

"Ethan! You are supposed to be cheering for me!", she scolded.

She didn't say we could cheer, "Sit, Emery, Sit!"

All kidding aside, I know Emery will have a blast playing soccer this summer. I've never played organized soccer before, so I will be learning too. I hope they allow foam fingers at her games.