Travis was one of only four boys in his preschool class of 11 this year. Several of the little girls were quite into matchmaking, and he was quickly considered fair game. I couldn’t follow all the ins and outs, though I know there was a least one arrangement where they all agreed that one little girl was someone’s girlfriend but another little girl was going to marry that boy.
One little girl, Dani, became Travis’s special friend. The two of them were often sitting near each other and hugging on each other. But Travis was reluctant to acknowledge their long term plans from his side. “Dani says she’s going to marry me,” he’d say. Or “I’m the one Dani is going to marry.” Only once did I ever hear him refer to “Dani, you know, the one I’m going marry.” Read the rest of this entry »
I know lots of families who set the goal (or the limit) for each kid to do one sport and one musical activity at a time. This seems to make sense for lots of reasons, and it’s always been what I figured we’d end up with.
Each of our kids has been involved in an organized sport of some sort (though in a pretty casual way) throughout most of the year for quite a while. Travis started piano last fall. His Friday classes were sometimes hard to look forward to at the end of a tiring week, but the timing helped avoid conflicts. And with his shorter school days, practice wasn’t that hard to work in. Read the rest of this entry »
Travis has always been happy in the mornings and up on the early (but still reasonable) side. But I didn’t realize how much he loves mornings until the other night. I was putting him to bed and he announced, “I can’t wait for it to be morning.” There wasn’t anything special the next day, so I asked him why. “I just LOVE mornings! It’s just sooo wonderful to wake up and come out of my room and see everyone!” These were clearly the words of a child who feels secure and loved and looks forward to the way that’s reinforced every morning. It made me very happy to hear!
Hallie just finished her first season of soccer through CASL. Until this spring she’d played through the Salvation Army. But she had a huge team and a really disappointing coach and zero instruction last fall. I was glad she wanted to give something new a try.
I still wasn’t astounded by her Monarchs coach, but this was still a better set up for her. There were just 8 girls on her team and the games were played four on four on small fields with 2 small goals at each end and no goalies. This gave everyone a lot more playing time and time in different positions.
Hallie scored her only goal of the season in her first game. She wasn’t even shooting at the goal, just kicking the ball down field, but in it went. Her team didn’t win too many of their games, but Hallie had a good time with it. She’s insistent that she wants to play again in the fall.
Hallie wasn’t the best or the worst player on her team. She says she wants to be really, really good at soccer but she’s rarely interested in playing at home. (Same thing with basketball.) I would love to see her decide she wants to work harder at practicing her new skills. But mostly I’m delighted she is having fun, not taking it too seriously, and eager to keep going.
Last weekend I did my first triathlon. It’s something I’d wanted to do for a long time. The kids have watched me train for it, told their friends about it, and seemed excited for me. But I was so touched by how proud my whole family was when I actually did it.
I ended up doing the race in the pouring, pouring rain. But Mark and the kids were out there the whole time. And so were my parents, who very sweetly came down for less than 24 hours just to cheer me on. And so were our good friends the Battaglias, with their boys. It was so great each time I passed to get the high fives and the smiles and the cheers. When I finished I think Mark and the kids were beaming harder than I was! And Mark was barely home afterwards before he was flooding Facebook with “I’m proud of Kelly” pictures and messages. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s now been a couple of months since Travis’s spring TK conference. I jotted down the things I wanted to write about but never managed to make a post. I’d better do it now before we’re running into conferences at Conn!
His teacher, Mrs. Jacki, couldn’t say enough good things about Travis, perhaps veering into hyperbole. She started the conference by saying, “Travis is without question the brightest child I’ve ever taught. I think my kids are pretty bright. But I’ve never seen anything anything like him.” Later on she said, “I don’t know if it’s genetics or how you’re working with him or what but what he knows is astounding.” Read the rest of this entry »
Hard as it is to believe, yesterday was Travis’s last day of preschool! He had a really great year at HBBP. I’m thrilled we found such a great place for him and sorry to see his year there end.
T has a bit of a transition between school and summer. Since Hallie’s got 2 more weeks of school left, he’s going to go to a week of summer camp at HBBP next week. His teacher and a lot of his classmates will be there. That helped yesterday feel just like an end of the celebration and not so much of a goodbye.
I don’t care what the stats say about population growth–in our experience, Raleigh just keeps getting smaller and smaller. I have no doubt we’ll run into many of his classmates through sports, schools, and activities.
No one beats Travis at being proud of new accomplishments! Last weekend he helped Mark string a clothesline and pulleys in the garage. For the next two or three days I think that’s that first thing he mentioned to anyone he met. When Gum and Gup arrived on Sunday, it was the first thing they were shown and they got to hear all about his involvement. He was talking nonstop! Read the rest of this entry »
I met Kelly and the kids at Hallie’s school to hear an update from the teacher on Hallie’s progress. I left smiling when her teacher called her “phenomenal,” but little did I know I wasn’t done with hearing good things. I decided to forgo hitching a ride home with Kelly in the van in keeping with my carpooling experiment today and opted instead to walk the 1/2 mile home. Travis decided to join me, so together we walked up the hill back to our house.
As we walked, we chatted about lots of things. He wanted to hold my hand and so we walked up the hill hand-in-hand. As the conversation continued, he said something that made me remark “that wouldn’t be my favorite thing.”
“You know what’s my favorite thing?” he asked as we kept walking. “My love for you.”
All I could say was “awwww” and returned the compliment. It was so sweet to hear but as I thought about it later I only appreciated it more. Travis will often tell someone he loves them but it’s rare that he offers it the way that he did.
His hand in mine, the pleasant walk, and words that would make any father proud: it doesn’t get much better than this.
