The Boy is Athletic

I don't post as much, now that the kids are older, now that they could read or even write their own entries.  But I posted much longer for Abigail than for Joseph and Joseph is a pretty great kid.  At the end of his Montessori education, age 5, the amazing teacher duo of Mr. Jay and Ms. Kelly gave awards to the kids and Joseph got Most Likely to be in the Olympics. 

But Joseph has a very American trait that will seriously hamstring his ability to be a world class athlete:  his not-so-inspiring work ethic.  *shrugs*  But hey, he is happy and well-rounded and I'm okay not having my almost 7 year old on a travel team.

Last weekend, we took the kids to a batting cage for their first time to try to bat anything than a wiffle ball at close range with a fat plastic bat.  Here is the boy on one of his first pitches:

Here is the boy at a recent soccer game (photo credit to Abigail)



















And, just because I miss summer, here is the boy dock jumping at the lake house this summer.
(no, we do not OWN a lake house)

This winter he wants to try basketball. 

Sunday Snapshots

My soccer boy

Sunday Snapshots

Joseph's Summer of Growing Up, Part 3

Sometimes it is the little, subtle things that make you take notice of your kiddo and see them in a new light.  Take Joseph.  This summer, he has decided that sometimes he wants to dress himself in clothes that are not athletic wear or DriFit.  You know, shirts with collars and khaki shorts and reef flip flops. You know, the fancy stuff.  I also took him shopping for school clothes for kindergarten. He wanted jeans. Skinny jeans. He looked at least 3rd grade in them!

Joseph is trying to become Mr. Responsible too.  He clears his plate after dinner without being asked (and often clears the plates of other people too!). 

He speaks in more complex paragraphs.  He is full of clever one-liners.  For example, we have a needle for the hand pump so that the kids can blow up their basketballs when they are low on air.  I keep the needle in the garage, in its tiny cardboard package, hanging above a box of sticks we use to start fires in the winter.  I kept warning the kids not to drop the needle into the stick box.
Then Joseph told me "Mama, I dropped the needle in the stick box."  (This was also an out-of-context sentence that really confused Larry.)
I said "Jos, I told you guys over and over not to do that!"
He fired back immediately "Well, maybe you shouldn't have hung the needle over the stick box!"

I had no comeback for that.

Recently his sister had surgery that limited her walking and what she can eat.  He has been so kind and helpful, even though he has been jealous of all her new Lego sets and ice cream dinners. 
She has not wanted to be alone for a second either and when Larry and I told her she had to start getting brave enough to get over that, he looked deep into her eyes and sincerely told her "I will never leave you Jie Jie."

Joseph's Summer of Growing Up, Part 2

Together with my parents and brother we rent a house we love on Smith Mountain Lake.  The house has a swimming/ party dock that is huge and the water at our dock is deep and clean.  Abigail has always loved to run and jump and swim in the deep water.  She was fearless (even when she thought there were sharks in the lake) because her Uncle Jim was there.

Joseph has preferred to sit on the dock and watch or wade into the shallow water up to his waist.

This year, before the car was even unpacked, Joseph was down at the dock jumping off the ladder to his grandmother.  We were all saying that maybe he'd be brave enough to jump off the dock by the end of the week.

Ten minutes later:

And shortly after that, he yelled "Cannnnnoooooonnnnnnnbaaaaaaalllllll" while running for the length of the dock before launching himself into the deep water.

But that wasn't all.

By the end of the week, he was riding piggy-back style into the lake on Larry's back.

We went to the community beach for the lake so there was a zero-entry swimming situation for Joseph.  He decided it was time to start swimming both under water and on top of the water, teaching himself how to come up for air without touching bottom.  And then, as soon as we got home, he announced he would be swimming in our pool (where he can't touch  bottom) without his life jacket anymore.  Okay, kid.  You got this.

Joseph's Summer of Growing Up, Part 1

It was a pleasant morning in June and the kids were riding bikes and other riding things on the driveway as they often do on pleasant mornings. Larry and I had been bugging Joseph about relinquishing his training wheels for a while, especially since he could ride his balance bike down a hill while weaving between two rows of trees, over a driveway, and into a drainage ditch without issues.  

On this particular morning, Joseph said that he was ready to take off his training wheels.  I said okay, buddy, let me go get some shoes on and I'll help you. I went inside and when I returned to the scene a minute or two later, Joseph had already obtained a crescent wrench, removed his left training wheel, and stored it on a shelf. I didn't even know he knew what tool to use for such a job, much less how to use it properly!  The right wheel was on a bit harder, so I helped him with that.  

Then he hopped on his bike and started to go.

That was it.

By the next morning, he was standing and pedaling and turning.  A few days later he was confident enough to ride to a local playground a mile away.

I don't know if I am more proud of the bike riding or the wrench usage.

Video here:  Link to YouTube

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