Jumping
Month: May 2018
Dinner
Spent
After-Dinner Play
After dinner, everyone went out to practice sports.
The Girl finished her second day of tryouts today, and she came home feeling pessimistic about her chances of making the team. But did she give up? No way. On the way home, she and K stopped by the Y and signed her up for youth volleyball. And after dinner, she was out practicing an overhand serve as well as her underhand serve.
“You really should master the underhand first,” I suggested.
“I know, but this is what we were working on during tryouts today,” she replied.
The Boy finished soccer this weekend, but he’s still keen on practicing. For a while there, I was tossing the ball to L for her to practice passing and trying to kick the ball back to the Boy.
Occasionally, the two activities almost collided.
Finally, the Boy, exhausted, took a break
and then gave me some tree-climbing lessons.
Monday
A few Two random thoughts from the day:
The Girl is trying out for volleyball. She started working on her skills Saturday after having bought a ball that morning.
“How did it go?” I asked when I got home.
“I was the worst one there,” came the simple reply.
It turned out that it was a two-day tryout session, and so I immediately wondered if she’d be discouraged from her first experience and say, “I don’t have a chance of making the team. I don’t want to go to the second day.” And I was wondering how I might handle that. Is it something I should make her do in the interest of building character — following through on what you set out to do and all that? Or should we just let it go?
Turns out, the dilemma never presented itself: after gymnastics, she asked if we could go practice volleyball for a few minutes.
Second thought: While the Girl was in volleyball, I did some shopping, and I went through the self-checkout lane when I was done. If they’d had these things in Poland twenty years ago, I might not have stayed. It was tough, those first weeks; it was especially tough making friends when I didn’t speak the language. The store saved me. No self-service there: no, just a counter and a packed shelf behind it, with a sales clerk between you and your merchandise. So I had to ask for every single item. Which led to funny mistakes and misunderstandings. Which led to laughter. Which led to friendships.
Chasing a Stork
End of Spring 2018 Soccer
The Boy finished his second season of soccer. It was a successful season, no doubt. Talking to the coach during Monday’s practice, I heard the kind of praise about one’s child that parents dream of. “He’s really got something,” he said. “He plays thoughtfully. He watches. He thinks. He doesn’t just barge in. He waits for a moment.” This jives with E’s own description of his strategy: “I just run around the edge [of the pack of children all trying to gain access to the ball] and wait for a good moment.”
(Click on the images for a larger view.)
After the game, spring planting. The Girl decided she wanted to help. Wanted to drive the stakes that will hold our simple borders in place. Wanted to rake the soil one last time. Wanted to put the young plants in the ground.
(Click on the images for a larger view.)
The Boy, just having woken up from a nap, had to fight for his right to drive a few stakes in…
Friday Afternoon and Evening
Returning to the Old
Looking at old photos.
Found a few that needed Lightroom attention.
Attention given.
Herding
We took Clover for her first intermediate-level training session tonight. I was a little worried about it: we’ve been neglecting her training, and I thought for the first few minutes that the Dog might not be up to par with the other students in terms of obedience. Once she calmed down a bit though — she’s always so excited around new dogs — she did just fine.
The trainer, who was a different young lady from the trainer who led us through the beginner training, mentioned that she used to train Border Collies almost exclusively. K and I looked at each other, knowing exactly what the other was thinking.
After class, we asked her about some of Clover’s issues, specifically her continued nipping. She explained that we needed to provide her with a way to exercise that instinct — she is a herding breed, after all — in play and not with us. She suggested using a yoga ball. “It’s too big for her to get her mouth around, so she can’t pop it. But it’s big enough that she can nose it around, which is what she needs.”
L just happens to have a yoga ball. It’s now Clover’s.
In short, she went wild. She pushed that silly ball all over the backyard, nipping at it, herding it.
Spring Evening
