At the Lake
the boy
Sunday
It's been a week of firsts and almost-firsts for the Boy. Yesterday, it was soccer. He did not want to play, pure and simple. He was fine with the races, the drills, the silly games. But when it was time to scrimmage, he panicked. Eventually, he got up his courage and went into the game, but there was a long period of waiting, watching, and fussing -- just a bit.
Today, it was Cub Scouts. "We'll start by making some slime while we wait for everyone to get here and settle in," the den leader said. No go. He absolutely did not want to do anything but bury his face in my belly. He finally joined in, but as with soccer, there was a moment of hesitation.
Back home, we were in the familiar territory -- swinging, bouncing on the trampoline, playing with the dog.
A spendid Sunday, like so many others.
Polish Mass Sunday
https://matchingtracksuits.com/2016/04/24/36890/
Sunday
Sunday Lazy Sunday
Saturday
Ice
The Boy and the Dog both love playing in the ice we dump from the cooler when we're done shopping. The former throws it; the latter eats it.
First Day 2017
The Boy started kindergarten today. It was for him a big adventure, to say the least, but we really didn't realize the extent of it until it was time to start getting ready for bed. The thought of going back to school tomorrow sent him into a tear-filled panic. We couldn't figure out what it could be. At one point he talked about how long the day was. At another point, he explained that the teacher won't let him run his hand along the wall as he walks down the hall.
"She said there might be staples sticking out!" he sobbed. "I like touching the wall."
So all in all, I think it was just the overwhelming nature of starting a new school with new kids and a new teacher.
For the Girl, the change came after school. She's a part of the school safety patrol, which is really a great honor for her because no one applies for the positions: it's simply through teacher recommendation. Since she has chorus and news crew in the morning before school, she had to sign up for the afternoon crew. And anyone who's ever worked in public education knows what dismissal looks like on that first day. My first day at my middle school over ten years ago now, dismissal lasted until five in the evening because of assorted bus problems. For the Girl, it wasn't nearly so ridiculous: she was there for forty-five minutes. Still, it must have been tiring.
Tomorrow we do it all again, but everyone is so tired from this first day that I'm surprised anyone is still up.
Treats
The Girl made treats for everyone today, with some help from K.
The Boy was especially excited.
Infinity
Driving home from Mass today, the Boy and I somehow got into a discussion about infinity. I can't remember how it came up or even who brought it up, but there we were, discussing one of the great paradoxes of life and math.
To try to explain it to him, I talked about numbers: "You can count on and on and on and on," I said. But this didn't seem to support what I said earlier, about infinity having no beginning or ending.
"But it does have a beginning," he protested from the back. "When I count, I say, '1, 2, 3, 4, 5.' You start at one."
I tried dipping into the topic of negative numbers to show him that we really could start anywhere.
"Negative numbers? Like 5, 4, 3, 2, 1?"
Throwing Away
It's much simpler to dump now and then sort later. Much later. That is what E has been doing with his toys -- cars, action figures, blocks, and the like -- for some time now, until all four of his main toy bins are hopelessly mixed. Last night, we decided that we had to get things under control, organized. I suggested it while putting the Boy to bed; he readily agreed.
This morning, then, we got to work by dumping all the bins into a pile.
"That sure is a lot of toys!" said the Boy.
"Perhaps too many," I suggested.
"Yeah, maybe too many."
We began sorting, making little piles of action figures, cars, train tracks, blocks, and more, and I suggested that we might want to get rid of some of the toys.
"Yeah, maybe the broken ones."
We made a deal with the cars: for every one car he gets rid of, he gets to keep three cars. That of course means he cuts his cars by twenty-five percent, which would be significant. I didn't think he'd agree. I thought he'd fuss about the suggestion, but instead, he went along with it quite willingly. He selected trailers for which there were no longer trucks, cars that were, in his words, for babies, and a few cars that just looked like they'd seen their best days. He was thoughtful as he culled his toys and surprisingly mature about the whole process.
Perhaps not so surprisingly: he's always imitating L, K, or me, always trying to be older than he is, always talking so seriously about such things as he sees K and me discussing important matters. He wants to grow up. He wants to be a man. The worst insult I can give him is to suggest, when he's fussing and crying over some trifle or other, that he's acting like a baby.
"I'm not a baby!" he protests.
"Then why are you fussing like one?"
The answer is always the same: "I don't know."
In the end, we got rid of two bags of toys. Broken cars, trailers with cars missing, mysteries (What is that? And what did it go to?) all got dumped into the trash bin. The rest we took to Goodwill.
It was a proud little moment for K and me, to see our little man realizing that he'd outgrown some toys, that he had more than he really needed, that he could live without them.
Growing with the Pup
Having a puppy is like having a newborn in the house -- that's what we'd heard. There is a certain amount of truth in this: Clover requires a lot of time and attention. And like a baby, she can't be just left unattended. But the attention is easy to give: she's such a sweet puppy, always eager to get a belly rub or a scratch behind the ear. Eager to please. Genuinely remorseful-looking when corrected. Or is she just playing us? Probably a bit of both.
And she's so curious. Those two things combine to torture our cats. Bida tends just to hiss. It's all it takes after a snoutful of claws a couple of times. But Elsa runs, and so what does Clover do? Chase her, of course. Isn't she just trying to play? It's not just Elsa and Bida, and that's a little worrying. There's a little black cat that comes around often enough, and Clover tried to make friends with her, to no avail.
She remembers the encounter with Bida that left her with a slightly bloody ear, so she kept her distance.
The Boy is having a bit of trouble with her, too. She's still trying to herd him, and the herding is getting more intense. She nips at his shoes, chases him when he walks in the room -- the tail is always wagging, but like Elsa, the Boy is starting just to avoid her at times.
Unless there's a toy to play with, like a stick.
Still, despite it all, we're all pretty much wrapped around her paw.
How could we not be?
Learning
The kids are learning how to clean. The dog is learning how to walk on a leash. I'm learning to take a break from this.
