Another season...

Connor's soccer team used to be terrible. Some shuffling of players, combining of various squads, and general improvement seem to be paying off. Last fall, they made it to the play-offs and were third. But the team typically struggles in spring because most of the boys choose to play baseball instead. Only a few of the boys play both. Connor is one of those boys. It likely stems from Ed and I loving baseball, but Connor really enjoys soccer.

I missed most of today's game. I had attended an impromptu baseball practice in the morning in lieu of a canceled game. Then I went to Helen's first softball game (more on that, next). After lunch, I went on a 6 mile run to take down signs I had posted for a sale that took place earlier in the day. By the time I got to soccer, there wasn't a ton of time left.

But timing is everything, because as soon as I was in view of the field, Connor got right in the middle of the action and launched the ball away from the goal his team was defending, toward another member of his team. "Bravo! I shouted." And several of the moms applauded my very timely entrance.

And then the moms went on to tell me that Connor had actually been good that day. Now, none of these women would ever say anything negative about Connor's play, but there's no doubt he is not the star of the team. What he lacks in talent, he makes up for in enthusiasm though, and this is a pretty important characteristic for Connor - since typically he doesn't get that excited about anything that's not in a Minecraft video game.

I have often said what I love about soccer is that there are enough levels of play - that everyone should end up where they belong. The very best boys go play on travel soccer teams. They are truly awesome. We had a boy bound for travel soccer on our team once, and it seemed as if any time his foot touched the ball it went into the goal. It was amazing. He was singlehandedly (or signlefootedly, as the case may be) beating other teams. The coach had to implement rules like "no scoring - just passing" for this guy. By the time you get to rec league, you basically have a team of school friends that just want to play.

Today, though, it seems that Connor wasn't just the captain of cheer for the team. Instead, he chased down another player who was heading for a goal, stole the ball, and got it turned around. I saw several clean passes he made. One of the moms came and asked Connor if he had drunk "soccer juice" for breakfast.

It was really fun to watch. The coaches each made a point of telling Connor about some nice play he had made.

The best moment of the game was when a boy on our team managed to in-bounds a ball, get it straight to the open player, who kicked the ball hard - and right into the goal. A last-second goal which tied the game. No, Connor was not either of those players, but the whole game was filled with boys kicking the ball to their teammates in a timely manner and really playing with joy.

I hope it's the start of a really fun season.

Elaine

April Fool's Day

I think Helen was the April Fool's victor yesterday. She started on March 31 by taping the light in the refrigerator so it stayed turned off. I casually mentioned to Ed that the light was broken and it was making Helen nuts. By the time Helen and I got home from Connor's soccer practice, Ed and both bulbs out of the refrigerator and was preparing to replace them.

The next morning, on April Fool's Day, Helen told the parent who was taking her to school that they were going to the park (which they do on Wednesday), not school - hadn't he gotten the message? She's reliable enough that he probably did believe her, though maybe he was just playing along.

Then, according to Helen, she told her classmates at school "your shoe is untied" followed by "April Fool's".

Not bad for a 6 year old.

Connor got a couple of jokes in, Ed got one in on Connor, and our au pair had paper fish hidden in all sorts of crazy places, which made for a lot of laughs as Connor and Helen discovered them. I have a feeling we'll be finding them for a few days!

I sent Ed into a panic at work, which I thought was pretty good since I had told him earlier in the day I had a trick planned.

All in all, a good start to SPRING! May it officially be here. (It snowed on Sunday. A part of me started sobbing when I saw it. But since Monday it has been SUNNY!)

Elaine

Promises...promises

Tonight, I showed Connor a video that was a tribute to runners training for Boston. It reminded me that while I don't always love running (I am seriously sore from 7 sub 9:00 miles at the track this morning), I do always love runners.

I love runners because - at least the ones I hang out with - are collectively cheering on every other runner they see. I appreciate that kind of energy. Runners also put their whole self where their mouth is. If they encourage you to run? They will run with you. It is so much easier to run with someone than to run by yourself.

They also don't care about anyone's time but their own. I suspect, still, this is a product of not being an elite runner who has a chance to win things. Those people might care how other people run. But at my speed? We pull someone along who's having a difficult run and we draft (figuratively) off someone when we're having our own troubles. In the end, we celebrate each step.

As we watched the video, Connor and I each made a promise to each other.

My promise to Connor? Should you ever be in a wheelchair, I will take you on the ride of your life as I push it. This, because Connor was so impressed by Dick Hoyt pushing his quadriplegic son in a wheelchair.

Connor's promise to me? He's going to make a sign that says "go Mommy" if I ever run a marathon. He'll include "and Daddy" on the sign if Ed runs it as well.

I'm hoping one of those promises gets kept.

Elaine

Tulip Babies

The Spring Dance at Helen's school is coming up. It's another one of those bittersweet milestones. Helen will most definitely remember many of the dances that are repeated each year, and she'll run around with her friends like she owns the place for the day. And even though we'd be welcomed back next year - this will likely be our last year attending the dance. Connor will be attending a birthday party instead, which he will be thrilled about. He still knows a few children at his old school, but he's not a huge fan of square dancing. He'll love the party more.

The handwork group leader has come up with lots of fun projects for the handwork group which will be for sale at the dance. She pinned some "tulip babies" on our group pinterest board, and I was thrilled that she reverse engineered the project and gave me a pattern. In exchange, I'm giving her the four tulips on the left to sell at the dance. The one on the right goes to Helen.

Elaine

Third Grade

There's a natural tension between parents, teachers, and school administrators. Parents need to worry about their own child(ren), teachers need to worry about their class, and school administrators must worry about the whole enchilada. When all of these interests align, I imagine things are fantastic on all fronts. But I'm also guessing that for a fair number of people, the interests of these three groups aren't perfectly aligned, and the natural tension becomes more obvious. Ultimately, of course, the administrator wins. And you hope she wins in a way that isn't too costly for your particular child.

Back in first grade, I remember an off-handed comment that was made to me about third grade. I kept that in the back of my head, and did my very best to head the concern off during the first week of school. Now, many emails, appointments, and frustrations later - I am tired. I feel like there are simple solutions but the will to implement them is lacking.

I have, for all intents and purposes, an easy child to have in a classroom. Why? Because he knows how to sit still, pay attention, be quiet, and completes standardized tests with ease. The downside of this is that when there's someone in the class who demands attention, it's easy for my bookworm to settle into his desk, pull out a book, and read. I sense that he's allowed to do this because the teacher has more urgent issues to address. I don't want to contemplate the number of hours that child reads in class each week - but I will say that he finishes at least two, and sometimes three, books each week. Typical fare includes Hardy Boys, C.S. Lewis books, and Lemony Snickets. Is this normal? Is this appropriate?

It's the end of March. We have three more months of school. THREE. MONTHS. When people talk about "no child left behind", they often do so in the context of making sure everyone performs at or above grade level. But there's another group of children being left behind. And I'm pretty sure we can do better.

Elaine

Living 40: Rock and Roll Recap - First Half Marathon

I want to remember this one for a while. Goal time? Two hours. My friend Rob paced me and told me on Thursday night we would cross the line at 1:57. Not a bad guess, eh?

Thank you Rob. You were steady the whole way through. You knew I had lost 10 seconds on the hill at mile 5 but stayed calm. (Thank you, Moms Run This Town ladies who were at the bottom of that hill cheering! You made that hill seem a lot smaller.) Rob, you did not freak out around mile 8 when I threw a cup of water on myself. I was wearing a t-shirt and warm leggings - and I was dressed way too warmly. I should've worn shorts or capris. At mile 10, you told me I had two minutes to spare, so I needed to turn it up if I wanted a little more cushion, but I'd be fine if I kept my pace. It was a subtle way to tell me that now was not the time to slow down. If you hadn't been there, I would've walked for a minute because I was tired, at that point. But because you were there, I sped up, and told myself I was sticking to your shoulder. I clocked my fastest mile at the end - 7:56 - the only timed sub-8 minute mile I have ever run - and you knew I was going super fast for me, and again, you just kept up and stayed calm. Knowing you were there meant a lot. And finally, when I misestimated how far away the finish line was, and realized it was a lot closer to 0.3 miles than 0.1 miles away, you just laughed as I grumbled something that rhymes with "go duck".

Loved my negative splits.

Loved my run.

Loved it when a woman who runs by / with me at the track on Thursday mornings drove by my house on Sunday to issue congratulations.

Considering a half marathon trail race this fall and a marathon next year.

On pace to hit 1,000 miles by December 31.

I love you, 40.
Elaine

That Stinkin' Leprechaun!

It happened again.

Connor and Helen set traps to catch the leprechaun, but rather than foiling it, they were led on a roundabout hunt for gold. He's getting pretty tricky!

This year's hunt started with the Leprechaun swiping the golden / chocolate coins from each of the traps. He left these notes.

Thanks for the candy

Don't you know about leprechaun luck?

We're much too clever

To ever get stuck!

Followed by:

A second trap?

Think you can catch me?

I'll just eat this candy



Go in the bathroom and _____.

 I was just thankful he chose the children's bathroom instead of mine. I don't like green pee!

When they got to the bathroom, they found this note:

It's nice to be back

The year went by so quick

To start your quest

Look on the porch under a ______.

There was some debate about whether it was the front or back porch, but eventually they made it to the back porch, and with a little help from Ed, uncovered another note.

Not even close -

You're not as smart as you think.

If you want to keep trying

Look in the basement under the ______.

Down the stairs our intrepid searchers went, only to find this:

You'll never get me

Haven't you learned?

The next clue is where

Your dinner gets ___________.





I had just flipped on the oven to bake muffins, but luckily our leprechaun had thought of this, and put the next clue in a storage drawer of the oven, not the actual oven. Phew!

Now the hunt gets hard

If you want to stay on the trail

Put on your coat

Look under a blue box where you send ________.

As it turns out, our mailbox is blue, as is the federal mailbox down the street. Connor and Helen rushed out to the front porch, and when Connor realized the clue was not at our house, he came inside and muttered "Stinkin' leprechaun!".

And for good reason! It snowed over 6 inches last night! Helen was a bit nervous about getting lost in the snow, so Connor cleared her a path.

Yes - that is our street. On MARCH 17. I am so over snow I cannot even express it.

You made it this far

You came through the snow

Now back to the shed

By the tool your dad uses to ___________.

It took a couple of tries to figure out where in the shed the mower was, but once they found it, Connor and Helen sensed the end was nigh.

OK, OK

I'm starting to tire.

You'll find the treasure

In the place you build a _______.

We ate dinner on very fancy paper plates that Helen had found at the grocery store the week before with Ed. 

And that's a wrap for St. Patrick's Day for us. The kids have vowed to use even stickier tape next year so they have a better shot at capturing that little green man.

Cheers, all!

Elaine



Sometimes you win...sometimes you lose

A few years ago, Ed's mom gave Connor a coupon to redeem for a transparent tadpole. We were supposed to mail the coupon in and watch the tadpole grow into a frog. We were supposed to view its organs as it grew. Creepy? Yes. But also awesomely cool.

Connor also received "Frog Planet" that same year. I can't remember who gave him this (Linda?), but in any case, we sent away for the tadpoles for that setup first.

Frog Planet was ridiculously disappointing. Our tadpole was weirdly large, and that thing lived for a LONG time - maybe even a year, definitely more than six months. It NEVER turned into a frog. A woman at our local nature center was giving a talk on tadpoles and insinuated the things turn into frogs rather quickly. We asked about ours and her first answer was "are you sure it's not a fish". Well, no, I wasn't sure. Eventually, she decided it was probably a bullfrog, because that was the only thing hearty enough to ship in the winter. By the end of the tadpole's life, it looked like it was trying to grow some legs - but it died before it got to enjoy full frogness. Totally. Disappointing.

That was five years ago.

I never bothered sending away for the transparent tadpole, perhaps because of the great disappointment of the first tadpole experiment. Perhaps because I end up taking care of all the things that live in this house, and I'm not interested in any more care taking responsibility. Perhaps I was just too lazy to mail the card in.

Connor found the transparent tadpole container a few weeks ago and Ed and the kids excitedly sent away for the tadpole. It came! Only the folks sending the tadpole had written the wrong address on the label, and how it eventually came to us is a bit of a mystery. By the time we opened it, things did not look good for the tadpole that would be named "Bob".

"Bob" lasted fewer than five hours outside his shipping container.

Sorry, Bob. Ed has sent away for your next of kin. Hopefully they have a little better go of it than you did. The kids, at least, are very excited to watch that thing turn into a frog. I'm skeptical that will actually happen.

Elaine

A Fairy Visit

Right before our last snowstorm, Helen and I were looking at the garden beds on the side of our house and found evidence of fairies moving in.

We were thrilled by our discovery, and immediately set about trying to welcome whatever fairies wanted to live in our garden. I figured each week we could add a little something, and in a couple of months - we'd probably have a pretty fun space.

Our first additions were some sparkly golden rocks, that surely fairies would love.

Helen also cleared away some of the dead pine needles that had gathered over winter, and as soon as a weekend is nice enough, we'll prune the branches of the plants back.

I had no idea another snowstorm would come and bury the start of our fairy garden. Helen and I have both been waiting for everything to melt to confirm our fairies' home is OK.

Think warm thoughts! We don't want any more snow this weekend to potentially bury the house again!

Elaine

Helen's Hair

A well-loved book at our home is Stephanie's Ponytail. For those not already familiar with Robert Munsch's book (a brilliant children's author, by the way), the basic story is that Stephanie creates a unique hairdo, all her classmates call her strange and then copy her, eventually her teachers start copying as well, and finally Stephanie tells them she's going to shave her head - and they all do, but she comes to school with her ponytail the next day.

Helen, apparently, has taken the text to heart, and had her babysitter create a crazy hairdo on her for a few morning. Her friends at school think it's hilarious (as do I), and she had lots of fun surprising them with it by popping her hat off. Not sure if she's trying to adopt the role of class clown or if she has other things on her mind. For now? It just makes me laugh.

Elaine