Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Who Are These Kids?

Laura had her first swimming lesson this morning......stubbornness at full tilt. She whined and complained about getting dressed. She acted like it was a death sentence walking out to the truck. She did not have a single smile to spare as we walked into the pool area. She did not have a word with which to speak to her very kind swimming teacher. She would not go in the water. After five minutes, and constant coaxing, she resigned to remaining near her class. Apparently, we were to consider ourselves fortunate that she was blessing with us with any communication at all....that in the form of shaking her head "no" to every little request or question. How delightful. Looking like a big waste of $42.oo.

In Laura's defense, she has been frightened by pools for over a year when the sprinklers unexpectedly turned on in the community pool as she was enjoying some quiet water play. But on the flip side, she is SOOO STUBBORN. Nothing will get her to behave on these kinds of days. She will stick to her stubborness no matter what. She could have been offered all of the toys in the world just to put her legs in the water, and she would have responded with her trademark quick shake of the head "no". ARGGG!

Crispy and Melissa had soccer games at the same time tonight. With Bob out golfing, I sent Melissa with the neighbors, and took my baby out to watch Crispy's game. Crispy spent the first half of the game in la-la land, playing with his shorts, picking at the dead grass, missing all the action even when it was directly next to him. By the second half, he found his focus, and was really into the game. In fact, he played his best soccer ever tonight. He did a great job as goalie for two shifts...he made some nice saves, and he had tried with great effort to stop the ones that made it in. He had a perfect breakaway towards the end of the game, kicked the ball three times in succession down the field, and made his first goal! That was pretty exciting! Athleticism is not a strong trait in our family, so this was a moment to remember! Hooray!

Later, I heard reports of how well my little girl did who usually just runs with the crowd. She was a "maniac" on the field, kicking the ball at least 12 times during the game (we get really excited if she just touches it once during the hour). She also had a 'three kicks in succession' down the field! Wow! It was an amazing report, and she was certainly proud of her accomplishments tonight. It is so wonderful to see these little boosts in self-esteem now and then.

Michael had a hockey game at 9pm....again the neighbors coming to the rescue and taking him to that too. Michael must be gaining some great confidence himself, as he volunteered to play with the opposing team. A team filled with big high school boys, none of which my son knew, and he was the only one to step out of his comfort zone away from his friends on the bench. For this son of mine who likes his routines and knowing exactly what is going on, I was totally shocked for him to make this move! It turned out to be a great game, and the natural competitive oppositional edge of friends stepped up the play. Way to go , son! What a day to be reminded of how different, unique, and independent these kids of mine can be!

1 comment:

Alison said...

It is cool when they can surprise you like that. And Michael willing to play with the other team? I know a lot of adults who aren't willing to step out of their comfort zone - good for him!