Holiday Weekend

Happy Big Boy, a photo by here we wander on Flickr.

Nothing says pure joy quite like our big boy on the front of the boat. He LOVES the lake. Being on the water. Seeing Grandma and Grandpa. Getting to swim and tube and play.

With this face, in this moment, he is very much his mother's son. The lake is more home than anywhere else.

Last weekend was a nice break from the chaos that has been our lives the last few months. Between work and school and therapy and baseball, we've been busy. Very, very busy.

But we took a few days to unplug and unwind. We got to see family and celebrate some overdue birthdays. Cousins played together. Warm days on the water. S'mores by the fire. Bike rides in the neighborhood.

Good times.

Little Moments

Moments ... life is a series of moments. I keep thinking I'm going to have time to get back to this blog. And then another work project comes up ... and the moments just keep slipping by. My new goal is to at least offer up a few little moments each week. Starting now.

Not Well, But Still Himself

Today, Xander was sick. Well, actually last night. About midnight. And then again a few hours later. And again. It was a long, rough night. Baths. Multiple sheet changes. Loads, yes plural, of laundry running in the middle of the night. Carpet cleanings. It wasn't pretty. It appears to have been one of those twenty-four hour things. He was a little pitiful this morning, but got better as the day went on. And this photo was just classic Xander. Tired, confused about having to take his brothers to school and not getting to stay, and then coming back home to this. It's May, you see. And even if you have been throwing up all night, not sleeping well, you still have to change your calendar in your room. I actually feel bad for him. He's usually the calendar police at school, helping all of the teachers update their monthly calendars if they have forgotten to do so (or even if they normally don't do that segment with their class until the afternoons). Maybe one or two teachers will have forgotten tomorrow. Xander will help them remember.

Finding His Way

Independence. It comes slowly in our house sometimes. It also comes when you least expect it. Tonight we had spaghetti for dinner. It's one of the few things Sawyer truly loves even though we've switched him over to the gluten-free-casein-free kind. He was so excited. And when he gets excited about food, he tends to rush. Which means he tends to ignore the silverware. So he ends up with spaghetti sauce all over his shirt (his version of a napkin). When I pack for spaghetti in his lunch box, I usually make sure I've dressed him in a red shirt. It's that bad. So tonight was no different. Three plates of spaghetti later, his blue shirt was covered in red sauce. I took it off and sprayed Shout on it. And then I went back to cleaning up dishes from dinner. Apparently Sawyer isn't like most little boys. He doesn't like to run around without a shirt. He wanted a new one, even though we were just a half an hour away from bath and bed time. So he goes into his room, opens his closet and decides to take matters into his own hands. Unfortunately, all the short sleeve shirts are still on the top shelf (we haven't rotated the closets around yet). He doesn't want a long sleeve shirt, so he improvises. He pulls a pair of shorts off the shelf. And puts an arm through each leg hole. And comes into the kitchen with a big smile on his face signing "help" to me. It was pretty adorable. Love the initiative and the independence. Apparently I will have to work on getting those closets rotated around for him tomorrow.

Consequences

One of the things I struggle to instill in Connor is that there are always consequences to our actions. We all have our faults, of course. But some things we can control. Connor has trouble keeping up with his things. He routinely leaves his jacket at school. Sometimes in his locker. Sometimes outside on the playground. He also routinely forgets his snack container, which means he only periodically gets a snack at school. You would think that would be enough. Eight year old boys are pretty hungry all the time. But no, it's not. He forgets it at least once a week. Usually twice. He also tends to scatter his things all over the house once he gets here. Homework usually starts at the dining room table. As he whines and stalls for an hour (or more) every night, it usually ends up partly in his room, partly on our desk in the living room and usually at the table and on the kitchen island. It's everywhere. And this week, it cost him. We have three boys in school. Two in first grade, one in second. Both classes uses the "Everyday Math" curriculum. Their homework has the exact same format, just different levels of concepts. All three boys are working on unit nine, just on two different grade levels. Do you see where this is going? Connor mixed his homework up with his brothers. He did one of his math worksheets. And he knew there were two math worksheets, so he picked up another one. That wasn't his. So he ended up doing three worksheets, his two plus one from Xander. And in an odd quirk of fate, Xander's teacher is Connor's teacher from last year. So when I sent it in to Xander's teacher with a note explaining what had happened and asking for another blank worksheet for Xander to finish the next night, she went ahead and graded Connor's work and sent it back to him. Good times.

Smart, Yet Sneaky

There was a note in Sawyer's folder today. Apparently he's been trying to sneak back into his old kindergarten teacher's classroom. I think we all know how his kindergarten year went (see here and here). This is the last place I would expect him to want to go. He was never really a part of the classroom, and he didn't really show that much interest in it when he was supposed to be there. Today they let him go in, just to see what he would do. Apparently he was really, really hungry. Because he went straight for where the snack table is and tried to help himself. Food, it definitely trumps almost everything for my boys. He wasn't interested in the actual classroom or the actual teacher, though I also have no doubt he would have offered a hug if he thought it would get him closer to those snacks. He was just out of snacks in his classroom, so he remembered another place he might find some. Smart, smart little boy. Maybe just a little bit sneaky, but smart just the same.

And there you go ... a few moments from our week. I'm sure there are many more that I have missed. But it's a start. And hopefully we can find a moment or two each week to add a few more ...

Soccer Sundays

For the next few weeks, you can find us at the indoor soccer field on Sunday afternoons. We signed the boys up for TOPS soccer, which involves buddy support and soccer fundamentals in an hour-long practice for about eight weeks each season (Spring and Fall).

Today was our first day. Getting the gear on at home was a bit of a challenge, which was to be expected. Shin guards, with somewhat annoying velcro straps, and big socks were the worst. I resorted to bribery to get them to leave it on - computer for Xander and a favorite television show for Sawyer. I was trying to avoid the iPads until after practice. Once they had them in their hands, it would have caused a major meltdown to release them. Leaving the computer and the television at home, not as hard.

So off we went to our first soccer practice at the indoor arena.

If I had any expectations going in, it was that Xander would probably enjoy it more than Sawyer. Clearly, I was mistaken. The first day was a little rough on both of them, which I kind of expected. But Sawyer handled it pretty well. Both boys wanted to use their hands a lot at first, but eventually caught on that it was mostly a kicking sport.

The session was a little free time at the beginning to let the kids get used to it. And then there were some coach-led drills - stretching, following directions, dribbling the ball (which both boys struggled with, because their instinct was always to kick it as hard as you possibly could), then taking turns doing kicks into the net, then more dribbling, and ending with some parachute time (listening and following directions).

Like I said, Sawyer handled it pretty well. There were some tears and a few angry outbursts, but all in all, he participated. He kicked, followed along (with some redirection) and participated in all the activities. He did, however, expect a drink break after every single act of movement or skill. If you wanted him to work, he expected a reward.

Xander, on the other hand, was having none of it. He was angry from the time we left the house until well after it ended. We heard a lot of "No soccer!" and "Shoes off!" for most of practice. The kid is a natural athlete, so the running and kicking were all fine. I imagine he was impressing many of the coaches and spectators with his strong kicks and pretty accurate kicks. They were probably less impressed with the screaming and the tears and the total meltdowns (though since they volunteer with the league, I am sure they are used to it and have even seen much worse).

But we made it. We may have resorted to accepting Xander's bribe, but we made it. For some reason he was obsessing over Arby's, which the boys have not had in a really long time. The curly fries are made with flour, so they have gluten in them. This was our first "cheat" - meaning we intentionally allowed it - in a really long time (since the beginning of the school year). But, like I said, it was a rough practice. He needed some motivation, and quite honestly, it can be exhausting to constantly deny the twins things they both love. I hear about Arby's french fries every single time we pass an Arby's restaurant (and trust me, we drive past at least one if not two nearly every single day).

Next week, we'll have to figure out our rest of the season routine (meaning pick a restaurant that will be our go-to after soccer stop). It can't be Arby's, but it will be something that helps get Xander through it. Maybe Chick-fil-a or even Orange Leaf. I think he'll like soccer, once he gets used to it. We just have to find that motivation to help get him into a new routine.

And Sawyer surprised us all. He wasn't thrilled, but he also wasn't throwing himself on the ground the way Xander was most of the time. He made it through, and he's less picky about his motivation. The Gatorade was doing just fine, he says. Though he also wouldn't turn down some french fries or ice cream, either.

A few more photos are here ...

And special thanks to Pappy, who's volunteered to "buddy" with the boys all season and to Aunt Kelly who came out to watch us play and joined us for lunch after. We had a great day with everyone!

Back to Baseball

Spring season has started. First game was on Friday, second game on Saturday. Two wins, no losses. A lot of good batting, some pretty good fielding, and still a work in progress. Connor plays most of the game at catcher, which he loves (involved in every single pitch, of course). He also plays center field and third base part of the game. Mostly he bats, in the middle of the lineup, and so far has been sailing it over the outfielders heads on most of his hits.

The twins are less thrilled about the start of baseball season. But we pack our camp chairs, our cooler of snacks and our iPads. They survive.

A few other photos from Saturday's game are here.

Easter Pics

It was the first time I had the camera out in a long, long time. So there might be a LOT of pictures from Easter.

Photos from our Saturday adventure in the western part of the state are here.

Photos from Sunday morning at home are here.

Photos from Sunday afternoon at Grammy's house are here.

Spring Break just started on Friday afternoon, but with the Easter holiday, it's been a busy one so far.