The Girl had her first meet today. As in, the first meet of her life, not just of the season. It was a monster all-day meet, with 35 schools competing. She took third in the varsity high jump.
First Meet
the girl
Three Pairs of Shoes
The Girl has taken up field sports -- javelin, discus, shot put (?!), and high jump. Today, here throwing shoes arrived, slick on the bottom to allow for maximum spin.
"Now I have three pairs of shoes to take to meets," she laughed. That doesn't count whatever she might wear to the meet.
Saturday
Our Girl
Volleyball in Rock Hill
The girls got second place in today's tournament.
Curriculum Night
Tonight, I took the Boy to curriculum night at his zoned middle school. We're still not sure if he's going to the charter middle school L attended (he's grandfathered in) or if he's going to the zoned public school. Right now he's leaning toward the latter: he's interested in music, and he wants to play in band, which is not something the charter school offers.
We spoke to the band director for a while, talked to the strings teacher, looked at the instruments, talked about the advantages of each.
"I think I'm leaning to this school," he said.
"My only concern," I said, "is that the academics at this school won't be at quite the level as the charter school."
The Boy expressed that he's okay with that, suggesting once again that he's not such a smart guy as someone who needs those "high-level classes."
K and I don't know where this idea comes from. He gets great grades; he scores well on standardized tests -- he just doesn't see himself as a gifted person, certainly not as a thinker. He sees himself as perfectly academically average.
He couldn't be more different than his sister...
Rings
Sunday Games
The Girl has slowly disappeared from this site though not for lack of interest on my part. She's reticent to have photos taken; she is often not at home in the evenings, either at practice, the gym, the library, or just going to visit friends; the things we talk about don't result in cute exchanges anymore but just honest sharing with each other -- when she's willing to share. She is, in short, a typical sixteen-year-old, and her withdrawal from this site mirrors a bit of a withdrawal from family life into her own, growing life.
So when she accepted an invitation this evening to come downstairs and play a board game with E and me, the temptation to take a picture was great, but I knew it would ruin the moment. K probably did, too, and didn't even try a stealth shot. Instead, the three of us sat and played Sequence, chatting about nothing of any significance, just spending some time together. I played without a care, randomly placing my pieces with only the occasional intent -- usually to block L's pending sequence. She won anyway (she always wins board games), and though I would have played another, neither child was interested.
"Are they both just humoring me?" I thought as they walked away.
Sunday
The girls won the bronze bracket.
We went to visit family.
A good Sunday overall.
Here and There Today
