Sport

Nico had his last skate of this skating session last week.  It is a pretty cool set up.  The classes are pretty short- 30 min.  This makes sense if you know how much time the kids spend falling on the ice or getting up.  My guess is that its better done in 30 min spurts.  

But Nico has improved 1000% since he started- which is basically just a testament to how quickly kids learn things.  We think we're going to keep him going... we're going to sign him up for the next session.  

I am okay with him playing hockey.  Basically I am trying to run out the clock on football.  He  *really* wants to play football.  And I don't like the idea of him playing a sport with the culture that football has.  And the injuries that football has.  Also- if he were in the 99th percentile for size- it might be worth it.  But he isnt.  There is a decent chance that he is going to be 5'7" or 5'8"- and I am sorry, but when you're O-line is 6'+, you can't have a quarterback that is 5'7".  Plus, hockey and soccer lend themselves to each other. 

But the kid wants to play lacrosse, rugby, baseball.  My guess is that when he actually sees wrestling, he'd be into that too.  But apparently, this is the way to do it.  Those kids that came of age in the late nineties and early aughts whose parents poured tons of money and time into playing competitive soccer year round- a lot of them ended up losing seasons when they are 16, 17, and 18 to ACL and MCL injuries.  Theoretically the way to ensure you don't become a walking bag of injuries is to keep playing other sports- don't specialize.  At least not until you're 14 or 15.  

So we will see.  

But hockey is cute. Especially since he is such a huge fan of the Blackhawks.  I think he would be perfectly happy with a Blackhawks jersey to wear every day of the week.  This weekend we got him a Toews jersey.  Its hard because he adores Patrick Kane.  But then there was the whole sexual assault charges that happened (last year?)- so we're not actively encouraging the Kaner love.  

Gordon the Good

I haven't wanted to write this, but I have needed to.  The four people who read my blog regularly already know (from the Facebook and from texts and phone calls).  Gordon died at home on Feb 6.  

It was weird, he hadn't been himself for a while.  It had been hard for him to move around, and he hadn't been sleeping upstairs with us.  Since the back step has been icy and slippery, I had been trying to walk him around the block, because it is easier to get down the front steps.  

I came home from work on Friday (2/5) and Dave said that Gordon didn't move much all day and he just layed on his dog bed wimpering.  So, after dinner, I carried him upstairs and gave him a bath, which has ALWAYS perked him up.  Afterwards, he RAN downstairs and then took turns pulling Dave and me around the neighborhood.  So we figured this was just him being sore from the arthritis and being old.  But the next morning, he wouldnt move out of the foyer, even as we came and went from the house.  This is very strange for him, because he doesn't like people stepping over and around him.  He usually finds a place to hide from all that.

  

I had grading and stuff, so Dave took Nico to hockey and I ran an errand, when I came home, he had moved to a dog bed, but had an accident on it- which is completely uncharacteristic of him.  So, I picked him up and carried him to the front door, thinking I could get him to go outside.  He wouldn't/couldn't.  There is a person in a our neighborhood who posted a photo of a vet making a housecall, so I tried to get in touch with her so that he could come look at Gordon,who at this time was breathing hard.  I got him settled onto a dog bed in the living room and settled in next to him.  

On their way home from hockey, I texted Dave to let him know that Gordon wasn't doing great.

They had stopped to bring home dinner and Dave had the conversation with Nico about how Gordon wasn't doing great.  About two minutes after they got home, Gordon started shaking (maybe a seizure?).  Nico came and sat on my lap and was there when Gordon died.  

I have talked to a couple of people about it, and the conclusion is that it seems like Gordon might have been hanging on, for one last look, which is stunning, if you ask me.  He was a really good dog- and he had a really great life.  I am just so thankful that we were there when it happened.  

Drake is okay, I think.  There were a couple of days early on when he wasn't all that interested in eating.  But I think he is getting used to the idea of being an 'only' dog.  He doesn't have to share bed space or couch space- so I think he is okay with that.  

Hockey Skating Lessons

So this happened this weekend.  We promised Nico skating lessons for Christmas and the session started this weekend.  Before kids can play hockey, they have to start to learn to skate, because aint nothing more dangerous than a bunch of kids who can't control their bodies on ice trying to play hockey and swinging sticks and such.

Nico had a blast.  He had to work with the little scooter sled for a while before they ditched the sleds for skating without.  I think its only going to be a few lessons before he is buzzing around like a little hockey machine.

Despite our better judgement, this is going on during the same season as basketball.  We didn't really want to be the kind of family where our kids' extracurricular activity runs things.  But here we are.  The good news is that when he starts being a little monster, I can threaten to take away more things, to get him to fall in line.  There was an incident at Legos a couple of weeks ago and I suspended Nico for one lego practice, you would have thought the world was coming to an end.  It was awesome.  It sucks while it is going down, but I would much rather have a kid who cares passionately about things like legos and basketball and skating lessons than a kid who DGAF.