This is Not Sports Related (or is it...)

Tuesday was the 90th day of Kindergarten at school.  This was sort of a big deal, although the really big deal is the 100th day.  We count days of school and track them in our classroom.  This serves a very practical purpose, it helps the students practice counting and number skills.  Every 10th day we make a really big deal about "Zero the Hero" as we make a new bundle of straws and move them from the ones pocket on our chart to the tens pocket.  Then we count by tens and have a special math day that focuses on "Zero the Hero."  We have done all sorts of really fun stuff this year to celebrate these 10th days. 

Why is the 90th day so important and special?  Well, as I pointed out to my class, there are 90 straws in the chart that shows how many days we have been in Kindergarten and 90 days in the chart that shows how many days we have left in Kindergarten.  That means that we are HALFWAY through kindergarten.  One of my students actually figured that out himself.  I was pretty impressed with him!!!!!

That means Tuesday was "halftime" for Kindergarten!  It made me realize that even when I am not involved in sports I still think with a "sportsmom" brain.  I divide things into quarters and halves, measurable units, keeping track of movement through them and keeping score.  I compare things.  I have a little log in my brain keeping track of things.  Not important things, just things.

I am not sure this scorekeeping is good.  Well, for Kindergarten it is a fun way to learn to count by 10's.  If you look at the rest of my life maybe I need to let some scorekeeping go.  I don't need to track every detail, every time frame, and remember them for ever.  I am starting to see that some of this made me the insane sportsmom that I am.  A little less scorekeeping and a little more enjoyment is in order.  I need to appreciate the moment, not try to assimilate into the context of some bizarre score keeping system that makes no sense to anyone but me.  That is my new goal, to give up the scorekeeping and enjoy life.  Call me next week and see how I am doing with it.

Dog Shaming

I have found this wonderfully amazing way to occupy myself- Dog Shaming.  If you aren't familiar it is a hilarious web site where people submit photos of their dogs after they have caused some sort of trouble.  It cracks me up almost every time and reminds me that I am not alone in owning incorrigible dogs.  In fact some of these dogs are waaaaay worse than mine!!!   Check it out:  http://www.dogshaming.com/

In the meantime here are some shameful things that Bella and Fenway are constantly doing:

• Bella poops and pees all over this house.  She will walk to the back door  (if the weather is okay that is), glance at you, and if you don't notice immediately she will go somewhere to poop or pee.  Her favorite spots are in the powder room, computer room and right in front of the TV.  She is never limited by those spots however.  If she does make it outside she will pee and poop on the deck, sometimes RIGHT in front of the door.
• Fenway insists on sleeping in Bella's teeny, tiny pink bed.  She has 2 large beds of her own, but won't stay out of the tiny bed.  Then she lets Bella get in on top of her.
• Bella is a bully.  She takes whatever she wants from Fenway.  Fenway lets her do it.  Last night I heard all this growling and I looked.  Bella wanted the toy Fenway had.  Fenway dropped it so Bella ran off with it.  I followed Bella and she had all the toys in her bed. 
• Fenway eats trash from the powder room.  Her favorites are toilet paper tubes and magazine inserts.  She makes a huge mess.  Bella follows behind and pees on the mess.
• Fenway is eating her crate, literally.  She has chewed holes in the sides of it.  Nothing stops her, not even bitter apple spray.
• Bella keeps going under the deck and getting tangled.  Then someone has to go and "fish" her out.  The two of them have totally trashed the lattice around the deck so they can get under there.  I am not sure what is so fascinating, I think they are eating rabbit poop.
• Bella barks at everything, but mostly us.  If you bump the blinds, touch the front door knob, or ice falls in the freezer she will bark incessantly.  Her bark is loud and shrill. 

These are just a few of the silly things that the dogs do on  a regular basis.  It sort of makes you wonder why we keep them, but then I look into their sweet eyes and all is forgiven.  Who else on earth loves me that unconditionally?  I do love my naughty dogs.

To Play or Not to Play

I was watching Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN while I was getting ready for work this morning and they were talking about the ongoing debate about the safety of football.  In a recent interview with The New Republic magazine President Obama said, "I'm a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I'd have to think long and hard before I let him play football."  This has prompted more debate about the safety of football in general and youth football in particular.  Are parents neglectful or even abusive for allowing their young sons (and sometimes daughters) to play football?  One of my recent posts was critical of parents for allowing their young children to participate in MMA, so I can certainly understand why people are concerned.  The difference I guess is that I am more comfortable with football.  Before you ask, I do feel slightly hypocritical right now as well, football, MMA, figure skating, cheerleading, baseball, track, all sports have the  potential danger of injury.  I guess before I criticized MMA I should have rethought my own sports parenting choices.

Moose has been playing football since he was 6 years old.  He was so little when he started that his team didn't have game pants small enough for him, they had to duct tape his game pants on so they would stay up.  He wasn't the only one in that position, there were several duct taped football players on that team.  He has played every year since then.  He played in middle school, high school, and now college.  Has he been hurt?  Yes he has, but never very seriously until the collegiate level.  As a young player he had some bumps and bruises; nothing significant.  His senior year of high school he missed a couple of weeks with a dislocated kneecap.  It killed him to sit out, and it was preseason games at that point.  The worst injury he has sustained playing football was a torn rotator cuff at the beginning of his sophomore year.  It happened at the beginning of the season, before games had started, and took him out for the year. 

Peter Pan played high school football too.  He had a broken arm, broken collar bone and a concussion that I know of.  So he most definitely knew the risks of playing football.  He shared those with me.  We have held our breath through 15 seasons of football, knowing the potential risks, knowing our son loves what he is doing.  Most of all I know that if Moose were offered the opportunity to play professionally he would jump at it, knowing the risks, accepting them.  I think most football players and their parents would agree.  Is it a dangerous sport?  It can be.  Have there been some really devastating injuries to players?  Absolutely!

Here is the real truth.  If you play sports, any sport, injuries aren't an "if" but a "when".  All sports have injuries.  Moose has been hurt as seriously playing basketball as he has been playing football, including his only concussion.  He also broke some bones in his back and hand playing basketball and I am sure his high school trainer will attest that she saw him more during basketball than football.  Belle has had at least 3 stress fractures (foot, back and tibia) from skating and running.  She has also had a concussion from skating- and no she wasn't doing pairs at the time.  We allowed her to pursue that seemingly dangerous pursuit and she had a couple of bumps and bruises, but nothing serious.  She has had some terrible falls while skating all by herself, and usually while doing some sort of footwork not jumping.  Cheerleading, soccer, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf just to mention a few.  They all have injuries associated with them.  Parents still choose them.  So if the question is to play or not to play football because your child might get hurt, then maybe no sport is right for your child.

My New Obsession

Well, I shouldn't really call it an obsession, but I have become completely convinced that my Kindergarten students need to paint their hands or feet to create art on a regular basis.  It all started with handprint turkeys in November.  Then we did reindeer in December and we also did a precious ornament with 5 little snowmen.  Before leaving for winter break I repeated the 5 little snowmen and put it on paper, then we wrote about the snowmen.  Actually, we filled in the blanks to create our own little rhyme.  Last week I decided to try footprint penguins and footprint snowmen.  This week it was skin colored paint in different shades for "I Have a Dream" stories.  They were adorable.  I am already planning to repeat last year's really cute Thing One and Thing Two when we get closer to Dr. Seuss and Read Across America.  I also have some great ideas for February, March and April.  The one thing I need to do is find parents to come and assist with this process so that I can actually teach reading groups instead of paint little hands. 

Sports At It's Best and Worst

If you pay any attention to the world of sports, well to the world in general last week, you know that Lance Armstrong finally admitted to using PED's (Performance Enhancing Drugs) during his tenure as the world's greatest cyclist and that Manti Teo has been involved in some really bizarre online relationship.  These two stories hit ESPN and all the other networks with a vengance last week.  Lance went on OWN and sat down to tell Oprah everything, Notre Dame spent the week defending their star player, and most of us shook our heads in disbelief.  One story illustrates all that is wrong with sports, the other was just baffling.  This was not sports at its best. 

Then I found an amazing video on Facebook about Sports Illustrated Sports Kids of the Year and my faith in sports was redeemed.  Watch it for a few minutes and you will be in tears.  It is inspirational, uplifting and shows what sports should be about!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J5UqYRxY48

So, after last week when so many things were wrong with sports it was amazing and uplifting to see what is right! 

I Thought Skate Moms Were Crazy

I discovered something that disturbs me in ESPN the Magazine this week.  MMA (Mixed Martial Arts for those of you like me who need it defined) has established youth leagues/tournaments.  Children as young as 6 are participating in these events and while they are structured to eliminate some of the more severe aspects of the sport it is still seemingly brutal to me.  There are participants who are homeschooled in order to have more training time (reminds me of another sport I know...) and weekends are spent traveling and competing (sound familiar fellow skate moms?)

The homeschooling and training isn't what bothered me.  I think it is the battle to the death mentality of this sport, like a modern gladiator fight without the actual death, that really bothers me.  The few things I have seen indicate that MMA is just all out street fighting.  Someone is of course going to call me on that, and to be fair I don't know anything about MMA.  It just seems like in an era when we know more than ever the dangers of head injuries and the long term prognosis for people with repeated head injuries that this is recklessly abusive to those children. 

This is of course just my opinion.  As I write this I feel like I should be more understanding, you know one insane sports mom to another...

I'm Baaaaack, Well I Am Trying!

So obviously sometime last spring I stopped posting.  I just got so busy and it was really easy to ignore my blog. First it was Belle's graduation, then we all went to the beach, then it was my summer vacation, then we had to get Moose and Belle off to school and deal with conflicting sports schedules during the fall, then ...  Well, there really isn't any excuse, I just didn't keep up with it.  So, now that it is January, time for resolutions and goals, I am going to try and start this up again. 

In order to play catch up this post will be everything that happened since the last post, well everything I found interesting, fun, amazing, or important anyway!  Beware, this is sort of a long post but I am covering several months.  I am sure that sooner or later I will remember something else that I didn't share so I will add a later blog.

Belle went to her senior prom in the dress we got on our Spring Break trip to Boston.  She had a blast and looked absolutely beautiful.  I LOVED her dress. I was sort of sad to see my little baby all grown up.

 

 

Just ignore the boxes in the driveway- Moose and Peter Pan were doing some project while Belle was preparing to go!  I know I am biased, but I think that Belle's dress was one of the most beautiful prom dresses I have ever seen.  It was not at all what she set out to get, but I think she looked amazing.

 

Moose had a sack in the spring scrimmage.  Being an insane sports mom, this was enough to keep my brain twisting around possiblilities well into the summer. 

 

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Belle ran in the "Color Me Rad" 5K with a bunch of friends.  It was not a race, in fact the object was to spend as much time as possible on the course and get covered with color.  They had a blast.  She was a mess!

 

Belle had her final track meet and Senior day.  Track has been tough the last couple of years since Belle has fought injury after injury, but she did persevere and keep training.

 

Belle graduated from high school with honors and we had a blast at the beach with the whole family. 

 

 

 
Belle decided to go to Marymount University and run Cross Country there. Since she decided on the less expensive college option she joined the family tradition and got her first car, a black mustang.   Everyone in our family has gotten a mustang for their first car.  This was not planned, it just sort of happened.
 

Moose got his VMI ring and enjoyed a fun weekend at Ring Figure.  I finally got to see him in his dress uniform and he looked really good.  He is now 3 semesters from real life.

 

 

Belle started college, leaving Peter Pan and I with a very quiet empty nest.  She loves her choice in school and has enjoyed running Cross Country.  Highlights of her season were running her first ever 6K races, improving her time and earning a PR, and earning a spot on the regionals team. Unfortunately injury made an appearance and continued to plague her.  Still she has made some wonderful friends on the team and it has already become a huge part of college for her.
 

 
Moose seemed to make some progress toward his football goals, even though he spent last spring recovering from his shoulder surgery.  He has an amazing attitude and never gives up.  He makes me so, so proud.







 
 
I completed more college courses online and then made the decision to transfer to Old Dominion to finish my MEd.  I really want to be in a classroom and have that give and take.  I start this week.  We will see how long this takes. 
 
Peter Pan is going to start taking classes toward a certificate in Physical Therapy Assisting starting in February.  He wants to see if that will lead to a new career path. 
 
If you put all that together you will realize that starting in February every one of us will be a college student.  Yep, the family that studies together goes broke together, haha.
 
 
 
So, that is what has happened since my last post in sort of a nutshell.  Now I feel like I can continue on with my blog and know that everyone is caught up.  It may not matter to anyone else, but I had this OCD need to finish last year before moving on.  Now if I can just keep up with this.  I tell my students all the time that you have to practice reading and writing, this is my way of doing just that.  Happy New Year!