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.

Not too much longer

Occasionally, when I take Nico to school, the drive goes by quicker and we get a few minutes at his school, before there is supervision (read: before I can leave Nico).  Often he climbes into the front seat and cuddles on me before he goes.  He's really getting too big for it, it requires quite a lot of gymnastics to get into the front seat when you're starting to get tall.  

Definitely going to miss these days when he is a rotten teenager and I have to put the muscle on him.  

Hockey Gear

One of my favorite things that Nico is doing lately is wearing a vest under his clothes.  He does this so it looks like he is wearing hockey pads.

The kid is actually quite smart.  He knows that we wouldnt let him wear his actual hockey pads to school.  But that no one is going to fuss about a vest under his clothes.  

Seriously- it makes me laugh.  

New Years

New Years was so much fun this year.  We went over to the G's House.  The kids played hockey against the dads.  It was pretty intense.

M and D made crab cakes for dinner.  And they were amazing.  AMAZING.  Easily one of the best meals I have had in a while.  In fact, I can't remember the last meal I had that was even on this level.  

The other moms (2) and I put away four bottles of champagne.  Let's just say that I was nervous for a hot minute that I was going to barf.  A 36 year old mother drunk enough to barf!  THE SHAME!!

Chicago Boy

So, is this kid a Chicago boy or what?

Christmas

I know right?  How far behind can I actually be?

So Christmas was fantastic this year.  Our plans were to meet up with the NiCodys in Louisville, with Mom and Dad B.  Mike and Gay had plans to be in LOU as well, so we were hoping to see them.

Mike and Gay sent Nico's presents ahead of time (a set of Call of Duty Mega Blocks), Chicago Bears Swag, and a new judo gi (Nico *really* needed a new one, since his old one was WAY too short.

Santa brought Nico the Nerf Cam ECS-12 gun that he has had his eye on for months.  Granny and Grampy gifted Nico more nerf ammo and weapons- so needless to say, he is fully stocked.  Since Christmas, we have already had several gun fights- which is a lot better when you have a legit ammo supply.

The cousins had a wonderful time playing together.  They really got along quite well.  Nico and Maddox convinced JJ, Cody, and Dave to play sport with them on more than one occasion, including a football game in the rain.  

Dave and I got Nico some hockey gear- which he really LOVES.  

He really wants to play- but is kinda crap at skating- so we're signing him up for hockey skating lessons.  It is really very easy when your kid loves sports to want to sign them up for ALL OF THE THINGS.  But, I think Nico tends to lose his mind a bit when he has too much going on (read: he can be kind of a jerk).  And frankly, I don't want to be like some of these other mothers we know, where the kids do chess club, language lessons, sports, etc.  We've been trying to just keep it at one official sport per season: soccer in the fall and the spring, basketball in the winter, judo in the summer.  I am not sure how exactly hockey will fit into the equation.  

But the good news is that there is hockey and skating year round here- so we could really get into the hockey as basketball is winding down.    

N is for Nico

This is what Nico wore for his holiday show.  The holiday show was a slight debacle.  Long story short, his class didn't do a performance and he didn't go on stage.  And he didn't wear this in the auditorium.  But he was stinkin adorable regardless.

Sleepy Reader

This meatball fell asleep while reading.  This is the first time he has done that.  

Rounding third- headed to home.

We're skidding into the end of 2015!  Let me tell you- this year had been hard.  Just flat out hard.  I am really looking forward to 2016 lightening things up a little.  Sometimes it is just one thing after another.  Little known fact about me: I love the shit out of Christmas and Christmas music.  So, I have been listening to the commercial radio station in town that is playing Christmas music since before Thanksgiving (don't judge).  Of late, they have taken to doing a "Christmas Wish" segments, where they call people up and grant them a Christmas wish. Usually it is in the form of $300-$500 to be used for something.  Like, there was one day where the mom who had put the wish in for her son, it was to get her 12 year old kid a new coat.  And here I am ugly-sobbing in the car while I drive Nico to school 1) because how freaking sad is it that a 12 year old had never had a new coat *and* that was his mom's Christmas wish.  Also, 2) shit is tough, but it aint't that tough.  

*sighs, with hand to forehead: I just want to buy all the things and travel to all the places. Why can't I just do that?

In other news, Nico is really starting to get the hang of reading.  We're not quite at the place where we cuddle up on the couch, all of us reading our separate books.  But, we're close, I think.  Its surprising to me, how many words he can read, even the tough ones.  

Nico continues to grow like a weed in front of my eyes.  The other day, he explained that he was an idea man.  When I asked him what he meant he said, "I am just an ordinary man who comes up with ideas."  HA!!  Hilarious!!    We got a tree just after Thanksgiving, from a ucut farm out in Aurora.  You know. The one like the kind I want to own. *soon, little farmstead, soon.  I don't care what Dave says about you.  The tree has been up for weeks, but suffers the indignity of being on the receiving end of errant balls and such from sports in the house.  I guess it really is a case of you reap what you sow, because when you play sport in the house, you can't be THAT upset that when two Christmas ornaments are broken because they hit the deck.  But, speaking of Christmas, it isn't even Christmas yet and I already did the Christmas card thing.  I know, right?  I did fall down on the job a little in that I ordered metalic gold envelopes.  Metalic gold. Guess what looks like garbage when I write on them with a marker?  Yeah, those *adorbs* envelopes.  

So that is that. So looking forward to Christmas.  JJ will be in town, as will Mom and Dad, the Royses, and the NiCodies.  

There will be chaos. 

Winter is Coming

Nico got his first report card of the year last week.  Overall, pretty good.  He needs to work on producing neater work and listening a little better, but I could have told you that.  His reading is really starting to take off.  His reading at the beginning of the year was where they want it by the middle of the year.  

What is funny (at least to me), is that whenever we work on practicing spelling words, I *jokingly* tell him I am getting real tired of him getting them all right all the time.  So I went with that routine when I talked to him about his report card.  For a second, he was a little scared, since I was being so serious.  It was always funny when my mom did that with us kids...she'd "get after" us for bringing home all As... telling us that we better shape up and start bringing home Bs and Cs. 

It was hilarious when I started driving the struggle bus at Ft. Myers in the IB program and I had to redo Trigonmetry.  Joke's on everyone else, since I haven't had to use a Trig a day in my life.  Boom.  

*drops mic*

We had our first winter storm this weekend.  We had maybe an inch of snow on Friday night and woke up Saturday thinking, is that all?  Then proceeded to get another 3 inches on Saturday.  We made a game day call for Dave to try to make it to Louisville for a birthday party of one of his best good friends from high school.  It took him 2.5 hours to get out of Chicago, and the roads were just a hot mess south.  So he turned around and came home. 

The good news is that we are headed down there for Christmas, so he might get a chance to see his friends afterall.  Sunday we took one of Nico's friends for sledding at the sledding hill.  I even got in on some of that action.  Let me tell you, even as an adult, sledding is really fun.  

Skaty McSkaterson

A couple of Sundays ago, Nico's good school buddies had a play date.  One thing led to another and we all decided to take the boys ice skating.  Wyat (in the red) and Alex (in the blue) are both taking hockey and skating lessons, so their skating was pretty good.  They also had all the equipment- so they bombed around the rink having a blast.  

Given that this was only Nico's 3rd time skating, he wasn't as good.  He wasn't wearing pads- except for the helmet.  So, when he crashed, he was crashing on flesh.  He must have fallen down 100 times.  But he got up every time.  And didn't cry.

The cool thing up here, is that there are a ton of setups where you can take skating lessons.  There will be a 4 or 5 session skating class where you learn the fundamentals and when you can prove that you're not an absolute menace to society, you get to move onto playing hockey.  Which is cool and that Nico wants to do, in addition to lacrosse and baseball.

Turns out that all this school and work nonsense just gets in the way of Nico playing sport and Dave/Me ferrying Nico to sport.

The Garden Plot

So, I mentioned before, that I am trying to start us in a garden club in the neighborhood.  Well, they let us in!!  Wooo hoo!!  We are plot #94 of the North Park Village Garden Club.  

The plot is about 10 feet wide by about 20 feet long.  It is completely covered in weeds and lemon balm.  My neighbor has been a member of the NPVGC for 30 some odd years and the plot I am on used to be her son's.  

The last couple of Saturdays I have spent a couple of hours trying to get the plot in order.  Since we are at the end of the growing season, we're basically just doing getting the paths on either side of the plot in good order and clearing the weeds.  I am probably going to put some weed paper down, which will help keep the weeds from taking it back.  But, it's not terrible to spend all day pulling weeds when they smell like lemon balm.  

I have been doing some reading on the matter, and think I might go with the square foot garden method.  I am real tempted to put in some strawberry beds though.  I don't have to give the plot up every year.  If I want this plot next year, I can have it.  I would love to just have some strawberries.  But It would be 2 years before they start producing.  No one else seems to have strawberries, so maybe that is because they don't grow well in our area.  I don't know.  Maybe I should just stick to carrots and garlic?

And, I am not saying this is going to happen.  I am just saying.  That, if they don't watch themselves, I going to get all up in there and figure out how to have chickens or bees.  Just sayin.  

The First Tooth

Nico lost his first tooth on Sunday night.  It was a little loose and he was laying in bed reading and fussing with it, and it just came out.  He was quite pleased with himself.  

The tooth fairy came and left him $5.

Halloween

This Halloween, we stayed in the neighborhood and did trick or treating with The G's.  To recap, The G boys J and O play soccer in AYSO with Nico.  Their Dad coaches them and we have gotten to be pretty good friends with them.  They have a younger sister L, who just turned two (and is so adorable).  

Nico went as an army guy again this year.  He wasn't so much into the trick or treating, but was a lot more interested in running around the neighborhood with the boys.  

We trick or treated with them in the neighborhood, then headed back to their house for beers and dinner.  Their house is very cool- with a huge fenced in back yard and swing set.  Plus the basement is basically a big kids play room.  So, essentially, the boys run around like banchees and have a grand time.  

Their candy haul was impressive.  Turns out, the G's part of the neighborhood has their candy game on point.  

Pumpkin Daze

Dave found "Pumpkin Daze" on the interwebz.  It is basically want I want to do with my post academic life: a working christmas tree farm that also has attractions.

They have a pedal race car track, slides, tire towers, zip lines, petting zoo, and those giant jumping pillows.

During the fall (maybe just October), they have pumpkins and a craft beer tent.  This is basically my jam.

Nico had a blast, per usual.

The farm is maybe an hour and change from our house (out near Aurora).


Dave and I decided that it is just about as far as one would want to be from Chicago (if one were set on staying in the Chicago area).

Other than that, not much else is going on.  I am teaching this quarter- so Thursdays are kind of a mess (those are the days that I teach).  Dave is starting work for State Net.  That plus the fact that he is still writing for Hero Sports and occasionally Modern Health Care, means that we don't have much free time these days.  And I think it is kind of bullshit to spend the little time you have that is not committed to work or transit to cleaning the house.  Last week, Nico and I spent a couple of hours straightening the living room, dining room, and kitchen and it is basically a mess again. Which just proves the point: housework is bullshit.  I am really regretting subscribing to all those magazines I got with my frequent flyer points.  Every week- it seems like I get 3-4, which wouldnt be so bad, except I usually didnt have time to read last week's magazines.  Luckily, I am starting to get those "Your subscription is about to expire" notices in the mail.  Thankfully!!

 Last week we scooped up one of Nico's good little friends (that lives in our neighborhood) and played at the park for a while.  We discovered a new part of the park, which is basically just a bunch of junk that people have thrown into the words.  But it is cool because there are lots of structures the kids can play on.  So- it was a lot of fun.  Afterwards, the kid's Dad took us over to the North Park Village Garden Club- which I wasn't aware was a thing.  Apparently it is.  You can join the club and get a garden plot.  It's not huge, but its a good size.  It is a lot bigger than the sliver of backyard I have that gets decent sub exposure during the spring and summer.  Seriously, I am not joking, the sliver is about 20 feet long and about 2 feet wide.

Hopefully they will let us into the club.  I hope they do... because I have already requested seed catalogues and it would just be awkward if the garden club was like, "Plot's taken" and "You can't garden here."

Soccer

AYSO Soccer.

Oh, what is there to say?

It is frustrating because "having fun" is the most important thing- at the expense of everything else.  Nico's team is a bit of a mess.  But it's AYSO- so we're all just having fun.  The problem is that the emphasis on "having fun" discounts the fun that can be had by learning how to play a sport well.  By everyone being hyper vigilant about how it is all about having fun, the kids that are trying to learn how to play soccer (read: pass, trap, dribble, defend, and shoot) get penalized by the emphasis on "having fun".

For example, there is a kid on Nico's team that keeps picking the ball up in the run of play.  Like, on purpose, in the middle of the field, picks the ball up when it comes to him.  Now, it is not fair for the other team when this happens, so much of the time, a free kick is awarded whenever this kid picks the ball up.  But because its AYSO and this is just for fun, no one feels all that great about yelling at this kid.  Seriously- this isn't something that happens once or twice a game.  It usually happens 5 or 6 times in a game.  Sometimes the kid runs away with the ball.  But, its all funsies- so no one really gets after the kid.  Because that is not the culture of AYSO.

So what does Nico do?  Nico avoids playing the ball to his own team mate.  I don't blame him.  And I would definitely do the same, if that kid were on my team.  Nico has figured out that his team's chances are better at accomplishing "playing soccer" if he doesn't pass the ball to this kid, because there is a decent chance this kid will pick the ball up with his hands if it is played to him.  So Nico sometimes takes the ball himself.

But what is learned here?
1)  The kid still hasnt learned the rules of the game and that the rules apply to him.
2)  All the kids think it is a great big joke.  Ha ha ha, _____________ picked up the ball again.
3)  Trust no one.

The thing is, that if we could take the kids in AYSO that "get it" it could be really fun.  It is fun to learn to pass and trap the ball.  It is fun to play soccer in a way that starts to approximate how the sport is played.  Its fun to learn how to be an athlete- showing up to practice and games on time, having respect for coaches and the game and the rules.  Its fun working on an identity of "soccer player".

But this nonsense?  I don't know everything, but my guess is that this is why people leave AYSO.

Eh.

This guy is reading like a champ lately.

His first grade teacher assigns too much homework, I think.  I mean, I don't think she has much of a choice, it was the same for kindergarten.  I think that there are probably a lot of parents who don't do much with their kids- so the homework becomes necessary, to make sure that those kids can keep up.
But Dave and I do all kinds of things with Nico that aren't homework, but that are adding to his academic skills.  Like, most mornings we have spelling tests in the car.  Its been hard lately, because it is still so dark early, but some days, I can get Nico to read to me in the car.  We do math to divide up the bullets whenever we have a nerf gun fight in the house.

But the homework is just such a beatdown.  She sends home a packet on Mondays with 20 activities for each week.  Sometimes, we only get through half of them.  :(

But I guess maybe I dont have to be worried yet, Nico got his progress report last week and it was all A's.  So, I guess we're not failing him yet. 

Camping

I had originally planned to take Nico camping in August as part of his birthday celebration.  But then Gran's Michigan travel plans changed so we spun the camping trip to October, which was actually better, since I *really* wanted to go in October.

One of the gym owners and his girlfriend (Dan and Kay) have started an adventure business, where they take people on various kinds of adventures and help them get introduced in a relatively safe environment to things like camping, rock climbing, hiking, etc.

I didn't have appropriate gear for myself.  I managed to get Nico a sleeping bag before we went, but ended up borrowing one whose owner said that she thought would not be warm enough.  I was taking my woobie (poncho liner that I stole from JJ) and thought I could layer on enough layers to not be cold.  That was false.  I froze my butt off on the first night- and didnt get much sleep.  Plus Nico peed in his bag- despite me waking him up in the middle of the night to go.  Which, in case you haven't had the pleasure, is horrible.  You have to put all of your stuff on and go out in the cold and do that and come back and get bundled up again.  Not fun.

Kay let me borrow an extra sleeping bag for the second night and it worked like a charm (in that I fell into the sleep of the dead).  It also wasn't as cold, so that helped.

We got to do some hiking and climbing on Saturday.  Turns out, that Nico is a wiz at rock climbing.



So much so, I think I am going to try to find some places to do rock climbing around here.

I didn't do any climbing, but mostly because I didn't like the angle my feet would have had to work with my ankles on the rock.  Also, I don't like 10 people watching me do things.  Anything.  So... I just spectated and cheered for Nico, who was a champ.  The climb involved a decent hike- with not trivial elevation.  It was a good reminder that weightlifting shape is not the same as running from zombies in the woods up a hill shape.  

It was a touch early for fall colors- it had been relatively warm when we got there.  But it was gorgeous.  Cool- so the bugs were not an issue.  It was really cool. 

We tried our hand at fishing on Sunday- which was a beat down.  Someone (whose name rhymes with Rico) cranked the reel on his fishing rod to tightly, so it caused the rod to get jacked up.  And when I tried to fix it, I busted the whole damn thing.  Since we were casting from the shore, we didn't get any bites.  The day we fished was over cast and grey.  Not like below.  

Despite using big juicy night crawlers, there were no bites.  It makes me nervous that I caught my Dad's fishing gene.  Which is unfortunately, since I used to fish like I belonged in the Hansen clan (that runs the Northwestern on The Deadliest Catch).  The good news is that there is a group that does fishing lessons here in the Chicago area.  Am hoping when our finances loosen up a bit, I might get a chance to go out there and do that.  I tried learning from a book.  I literally bought a book to learn how to fish.  I might as well be reading chinese: "When the rainbows go after the spinning charlies, make sure you hit them with the reds and the crawlers before the jimmies get in there." WHAT?  What is happening?

The trip was really fun- I learned how to start a fire and cook over an open fire (although, there were a couple of these there- turns out Mama really wants one!) Also, as if I needed any more things to be snobbish about, camping gear.  So far, the list stands at (in no order)

1) yarn

2) beer

3) stationary+pens

4) athletic gear

5) planners

6) quilting fabric

Where will it end?