It was a Saturday morning like many others. Woke up, wrote a column, had breakfast.
But Jack had an away basketball game, so I headed out to Taco Bell to get him a quick lunch before he left. And Kate had a home basketball game, so I made her a quesadilla before we left. And then they both had indoor tryouts for the upcoming baseball season in the afternoon, so it would be a two-sport day for them.
Kate isn't fully getting basketball just yet. She likes to try to shoot the ball in practice and in our driveway, so that's good. But she might not fully grasp the game concept. Like that she needs to fight for the ball, and try to get between the other team's player and the ball, and try to stop the other player from shooting. The games go fairly quickly -- this one took maybe 45 minutes -- which is good, since a lot of it is spent quietly or encouragingly trying to get Kate to go for the ball, or get open, or have more of a sense of what to do. It's her first year playing and we're cutting her plenty of slack as long as she's merely hustling and running and trying. But the highlights are a fairly low bar. In this game she went for a rebound that bounced near her, caught a pass from a player standing near her, and then passed it to another player a few seconds later without incident. So, good! She's working on it. I try to impress upon her the need to be more aggressive, and hope it takes eventually.
Jack's team won its first game. There have been about eight or nine, with one close loss and a whole lot of blowouts. I missed it, but enjoyed it vicariously through texts from Emily. He made his first basket! Had a steal, an assist, and a rebound. Later he said to me, "I had a quadruple single!" Funny. Pictures afterward showed a smiling, happy team, which is always good to see (and unprecedented in the basketball arena).
I took Kate to her baseball tryouts. It's possible she's reaching a little high in trying out for Minors, but the alternative is a year in Rookie where she'd be one of the oldest players (and kids as much as two years younger than her, some nearly three). Plenty of her friends will be in Minors, and I'd likely be one of her coaches, so that would be good. We practiced some the past few weeks in the yard (as weather permitted) and the basement. She didn't always do great, but she tried, and that's what I told her about tryouts: Hustle. Try hard. Do your best.
And she did. I saw her hit pretty well (one of the observing coaches said to me, She stands like Jack!), field a few ground balls, run hard. She struggled with popups, and I knew she would, but she tried. And most of the kids struggled with those, in part because they just don't see many of them in games (and it's even harder doing it an indoor facility). But she didn't look lost out there, and maybe she makes it. Afterward she was tired and not sure how she did, but I told her I was proud of her.
Then came Jack's tryouts. Jack back in his baseball uniform with all of his friends struck me as taller somehow than I remembered. He looked older, more confident, happy. I was just a little taken aback. He hit well. Fielded most of the ground balls hit to him cleanly. Dropped a popup, which was unlike him, and I could tell he was bummed about it. Said he got a late start on the running. Overall he did fine and I wasn't sure why he was bummed afterward. Turned out he wanted to have the best tryout, as he thought it would get him onto the team he most wanted to be on. I explained that it wouldn't necessarily work that way, and we talked it out in the car on the way home. And he said, "Oh." Brightened. "Then, never mind." He's like that, can put stuff behind him quickly.
I told them both I was proud of them, we ordered a pizza which was fantastic, and everyone went to bed. It had been a day.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Pizza place
Kate and Jack both had basketball games tonight, and afterward I was gong to pick up pizza and calzones at a nearby Italian place. The plan was for both kids to go home with Emily, but Kate wanted to come with me to get the food. Ok, I said.
We parked and went in to this little, just-opened place that didn't even have menus on the wall yet. I said I wanted two slices of pizza and two calzones. I thought the order was done, but Kate used her elbows to lift herself up on the counter and piped up, "Do you have garlic balls?" The guy said, Yes, we do. So we got an order of those, too.
We stood waiting for a few minutes, Kate pointing out different things. "Those garlic balls look REALLY GOOD," she said. And: "Is that a stack of dough? Daddy, look, it's a stack of dough!"
I noticed a penny on the floor and pointe it out to her. She said, "Ooh" and picked it up. Amused, the guy behind the counter said, was it Heads or Tails? She paused. "Uh. I think it was heads?" That's good luck, he said. She sand the lucky penny song, then made up another one.
"Penny, penny, went to the store, to buy a jacket to keep her warm." She was pleased with this one and sang it a few times.
Sitting at a table waiting for food, she said, "Do you want to play rock, paper, scissors?" I said, no...lets do Math Facts. So I quizzed her on multiplication tables, and she did pretty well. Then she invented a game with the salt and pepper shaker and ketchup bottle on the table. Salt and pepper were kids and the ketchup was the Daddy. She talked for them with little voices, the kids playing outside and talking about what to do, the Dad supervising. We did this for a few minutes, and then our food was ready.
We drove home, and a Taylor Swift song was on the radio and Kate knew all the words. And when it ended, she sang her made-up song about the penny, going to the store.
We parked and went in to this little, just-opened place that didn't even have menus on the wall yet. I said I wanted two slices of pizza and two calzones. I thought the order was done, but Kate used her elbows to lift herself up on the counter and piped up, "Do you have garlic balls?" The guy said, Yes, we do. So we got an order of those, too.
We stood waiting for a few minutes, Kate pointing out different things. "Those garlic balls look REALLY GOOD," she said. And: "Is that a stack of dough? Daddy, look, it's a stack of dough!"
I noticed a penny on the floor and pointe it out to her. She said, "Ooh" and picked it up. Amused, the guy behind the counter said, was it Heads or Tails? She paused. "Uh. I think it was heads?" That's good luck, he said. She sand the lucky penny song, then made up another one.
"Penny, penny, went to the store, to buy a jacket to keep her warm." She was pleased with this one and sang it a few times.
Sitting at a table waiting for food, she said, "Do you want to play rock, paper, scissors?" I said, no...lets do Math Facts. So I quizzed her on multiplication tables, and she did pretty well. Then she invented a game with the salt and pepper shaker and ketchup bottle on the table. Salt and pepper were kids and the ketchup was the Daddy. She talked for them with little voices, the kids playing outside and talking about what to do, the Dad supervising. We did this for a few minutes, and then our food was ready.
We drove home, and a Taylor Swift song was on the radio and Kate knew all the words. And when it ended, she sang her made-up song about the penny, going to the store.
Wednesday, January 06, 2016
Vermont
We went to Vermont to see Nana and Baba after Christmas. Drove up on New Years Eve and brought a lasagna, champagne, and Sprite for the kids. Once in Vermont, there was snow, our first of the winter. (Leaving for home, Jack wanted to pack some in the car. Sorry, Jack, it's not going to make it back. But we tried.)
Got there and opened presents, and there was plenty of great stuff but mostly I want to talk about this awesome L.L. Bean hooded sweatshirt that I shall never take off.
We got ready for dinner, with Kate eager to help out setting the table and doing things for Nana. Fascinated by little things I was used to but had taken for granted. "You have a drawer for napkins?!" That kind of thing.
We all watched a little of the Nickelodeon New Years Countdown special, and the Dick Clark Rockin New Years Eve special, and the Walking Dead marathon. OK, we all didn't watch that.
Tucked the kids into bed later than normal, it was New Year's Eve after all. I think they slept well that night, I slept not quite enough; up too late, up too early. But it was a low-key New Year's Day planned, even more so because Emily was sick.
One thing the kids love to do is, at it occurs to me now, what I used to love to do. Walk around in the woods behind the house, climbing on the giant rocks, climbing over fallen trees, creating and inventing forts and hideouts and secret bases. We found tracks of deer, and rabbits, and other creatures presumably. I found old pieces of the swing set from the flat place, and remembered playing games up there. It always seemed so much higher and further from the house, and maybe it was, and maybe it seemed that way to them. But I could always look down and see the house, from afar looking exactly the same as it ever did.
We found walking sticks and trudged around in the snow. Kate shouted that she was killing guards ("I killed 600!") and Jack staked out different territories as the base and the medical center and other facilities. We did this for about an hour, and then it was cold and time to go in.
Went out to eat dinner at Black Rock, as we always do. Had steak and pasta with butter, and both kids ordered Shirley Temples to drink. I don't know when this started or who ordered it first. I think they like the idea more than the actual drink.
At home, Kate and Nana read Ant and Bee books for about half an hour. Listening to them, I realized that Ant and Bee were kind of similar to Frog and Toad. Probably not as funny -- how could they be? -- but similar. Kate read, then Nana read, then Kate read again. Jack messed around with a Solitaire Chess game he got for Christmas; Baba sat on the rug beside and watched and offered advice.
I dug into old games and played them with the kids. Jack Straws, even though the device to pick the straws up was broken. This card game I used to play all the time with Robin and Scott ("Because she wanted... To Steal the Diamonds!"). Fortunately, they took right to it, and we all read the cards and finished the whole game. Kate didn't quite get it right; when she got the "Steal the Diamonds" card she didn't want to give it up, thinking you win by being the one who stole the diamonds. She's the same way in Hearts, now that I think about it.
We went to bed, got up for pancakes as always, packed up the car. Jack and Kate coaxed Emily up into the woods for round 2 of exploring, walking sticks at the ready. I knocked snow off the roof over the front steps. And then we piled into car and came back home.
Got there and opened presents, and there was plenty of great stuff but mostly I want to talk about this awesome L.L. Bean hooded sweatshirt that I shall never take off.
We got ready for dinner, with Kate eager to help out setting the table and doing things for Nana. Fascinated by little things I was used to but had taken for granted. "You have a drawer for napkins?!" That kind of thing.
We all watched a little of the Nickelodeon New Years Countdown special, and the Dick Clark Rockin New Years Eve special, and the Walking Dead marathon. OK, we all didn't watch that.
Tucked the kids into bed later than normal, it was New Year's Eve after all. I think they slept well that night, I slept not quite enough; up too late, up too early. But it was a low-key New Year's Day planned, even more so because Emily was sick.
One thing the kids love to do is, at it occurs to me now, what I used to love to do. Walk around in the woods behind the house, climbing on the giant rocks, climbing over fallen trees, creating and inventing forts and hideouts and secret bases. We found tracks of deer, and rabbits, and other creatures presumably. I found old pieces of the swing set from the flat place, and remembered playing games up there. It always seemed so much higher and further from the house, and maybe it was, and maybe it seemed that way to them. But I could always look down and see the house, from afar looking exactly the same as it ever did.
We found walking sticks and trudged around in the snow. Kate shouted that she was killing guards ("I killed 600!") and Jack staked out different territories as the base and the medical center and other facilities. We did this for about an hour, and then it was cold and time to go in.
Went out to eat dinner at Black Rock, as we always do. Had steak and pasta with butter, and both kids ordered Shirley Temples to drink. I don't know when this started or who ordered it first. I think they like the idea more than the actual drink.
At home, Kate and Nana read Ant and Bee books for about half an hour. Listening to them, I realized that Ant and Bee were kind of similar to Frog and Toad. Probably not as funny -- how could they be? -- but similar. Kate read, then Nana read, then Kate read again. Jack messed around with a Solitaire Chess game he got for Christmas; Baba sat on the rug beside and watched and offered advice.
I dug into old games and played them with the kids. Jack Straws, even though the device to pick the straws up was broken. This card game I used to play all the time with Robin and Scott ("Because she wanted... To Steal the Diamonds!"). Fortunately, they took right to it, and we all read the cards and finished the whole game. Kate didn't quite get it right; when she got the "Steal the Diamonds" card she didn't want to give it up, thinking you win by being the one who stole the diamonds. She's the same way in Hearts, now that I think about it.
We went to bed, got up for pancakes as always, packed up the car. Jack and Kate coaxed Emily up into the woods for round 2 of exploring, walking sticks at the ready. I knocked snow off the roof over the front steps. And then we piled into car and came back home.
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