Neil Adams Clinic

Last weekend, Dave and Nico headed down to Louisville.  Mike got his seventh-dan (seventh degree blackbelt) and a judo and sports camp run by a friend of the family.  Neil Adams, a two time silver olympic medalist and former coach of the British National Judo team was there, doing a clinic on tao otoshi (which we are coincidentally trying to make my throw- but mine usually looks like hot garbage).  I had to stay in town with Drake, which was a bummer.

Mike and Gay also took Nico for some birthday shopping and spoiled him.  Of course.  The kid got one of everything at the Louisville Bookstore.  :) They stayed with Tony and Kathy and had a great time.

They also got to see Dave's cousin Will and his family (Tracy and Darby).  And they got fried green chilli wontons at the Bristol.  Nico tried fried calamari and likes it.  Combine with the frind wontons from a Thai place on Granville that he put away like a boss and I am starting to think he is just like his dad (will eat any fried food).  

Fun for the boys, none for the mom!

It's the end of the quarter and I just want it to be over.  I want the grading to be over.  I explicitly set up the quarter to have final projects due the second to last week of class and then exams in the last week of class.  In my benevolent mercy, I granted an extension on the final projects.  STUPID.  Because now the grading seems like it will never end.  Boo!!

Dave and Nico are in Louisville this week.  Dave's parents came up from Miami for a high school reunion (I think).  So Nico and Dave went down there this weekend and are staying with Mike and Gay with Tony and Kathy.  Nico is having a blast with them... following Grandma around, catching lightning bugs with Kaley (Tony and Kathy's grand daughter), and riding on lawnmowers.  

What is not to love, right?

Dave has been doing judo. And I have been stuck in Chicago!  Doing work!!  I never get to have any fun!!  

You never let me have any fun...

So... mine and Nico's relationship is built around a lot of routine.  We have these "things".  Like, when I ask him if knows how much I love him, his answer is "1,2,3, dot, dot, dot."  Or when I tell him "I love you so much!"  One of the things I do whenever I take his clothes off of him (for the bath or to change or whatever), I pull his shirt almost all the way off his head but I leave it on, so it looks likes like long hair.  Then exclaim, "Green Hair!  Green Hair!!  It's my favorite!!  Green Hair!"  (if his shirt is green, "blue hair" if he is wearing a blue shirt).  It's silly.  He always takes the shirt off, looking at me like I am a moron.  He never leaves it on, he always takes it off.  To which I reply, "You never let me have any fun!"

Sometimes I will start with one of our games like, "You don't want to get hit by a ______________".  Where in, we go back and forth saying what we don't want to get hit by... like, "You don't want to get hit by garbage truck."  When he isn't interested in playing he'll say, "I don't wanna play that game!"

So we are at the grocery this week and he was trying to bite my fingers.  I dont know what it was all about, but, it was kinda annoying.  And he is definitely at the age where he thinks its funny to KEEP doing things that I tell him to stop doing.  In any case, I told him, "I don't wanna play that game."  He looked at me and said, "You never let me have any fun!"  My own words being used against me... I guess this is only the beginning of that phenomenon.

In any case, we are really looking forward to the trip to Louisville next week.  We're driving, so this week, I am going to be working on getting us packed and making sure we are taking along plenty to do in the car.  One of my favorite memories as kid was the vacations we'd take to Michigan, where we drove.  We'd pack a cooler full of snacks and drinks and we'd have a fresh batch of library books and some new art supplies.  I plan to do the same thing with Nico. Plus, I have an ipad now, so we can also put some videos on it for cheap.  Amazon has whole seasons of Sesame street.  I think its time that we got him hooked on that...

All for now.