The Kids are Alright

2-18-16

We returned to the scene of the crime.

Practice was moved back to Hull, which is fantastic for many reasons. The first of which was for Bobby who opted to ride his bike to Hull to meet us there. He didn’t stay long, either, and he rode home, too. He was thrilled! He is loving this freedom and ability to get places pretty quickly. Dax even indicated that once his cast is off, they will both ride to school, which is going to be fantastic. They will be able to ride the neighborhood, just exploring!

There are other benefits for it being there, including just how close to the house it is. I don’t have to stress about getting everything ready to go there since the closeness gives me the luxury of time. In some ways, too, it just feels more comfortable since it isn’t as crowded.

However, I was very aware of the fact that this was the first time Dax was back on the field where he was injured in the first place. Lucky for me, we were not practicing in the same spot, but I’m not gonna lie; watching him there was hard at times. I felt like I could just see him falling again, and it pained me to relive that horrid memory. I ended up spending much of the practice talking to Tracey (DJ’s mom) which I think helped a great deal in keeping my mind off of these demons.

I think I was also going into the practice in a pretty good mood what with Bobby’s parent/teacher conference going so well. Mrs. Arevelo certainly discussed the things I expected. All in all, he is an incredibly bright kid. She talked about how in discussion groups he is very articulate and comes up with amazing thought from interesting perspectives. She talked about his amazing heart, too, which I loved seeing her light up when she would discuss his kindness.

The main thing he needs to work on is being more responsible and organized. So many of the things like homework that he was missing was due to him losing it in his actual folder! I asked her how much of the gobs of paper he has in his folder that he needs, since Bobby has been thoroughly convinced he needs to keep it all in there. She assured me he doesn’t need most of it, so I purged the folder last night. In it, I found the homework assignments he was supposed to turn in. I found the math workbook he thought he had lost. I found lots of stuff. My plan now is to go get him a better folder. He may qualify for a good ole Trapper Keeper. He can start using it now since next year with multiple classes, it will make sense to have a folder for each class, and something to keep all the folders in.

We will need to work on more reading. I was brainstorming and have come up with yet another reason to get an exercise bike. I am wondering if he is riding while reading if that will help his concentration. Just in the same way Dax has to have a soccer ball near him while he does math, perhaps just moving his legs while he is reading a book will be a good combo. We shall see.

Whatever we did in terms of making the boys tired seemed to work well as it seemed to me that they drifted off pretty well and I don’t know of a time when Dax got up. I know I might sleep through one or two, but last night I was the one who couldn’t get comfortable. I think it was just that it was the wrong temperature out and it was hard to not feel like I was either freezing or overheating.

The boys have interesting days ahead of them. Dax has his field trip to the Rancho house, and Bobby has the Bike Rodeo this morning. Ken is accompanying Dax to his trip, which makes me feel a little bad no one is watching Bobby on his Bike Rodeo. Then again, it sounds like it isn’t a long event so truly it isn’t too big a deal. I am hoping his friends Parker and Ian also ride, which would be really fun.

This afternoon is mostly quiet, with Ken helping Dax finish up his birthstone presentation. We ordered a strand of his stone and it is truly perfect for him to be able to have a prop to pass around during since it will allow the kids to really see the stone up close. This shouldn’t take too long, and with it being a minimum day, they can get it done early enough to allow for down time. I have chores to be done since we have a game night tomorrow night and I would like to make sure everything is clean. We have science fair projects to complete this weekend, too, but once again they are not hard and truly not even too time consuming if we all work together to complete them.

Sunday has Ken reffing early with a Striker game right after. Aside from those outings, we don’t have much on tap. I know we want to stop by the other Walmart to look for Dax’s bike, but this will be the first Sunday in a long time where I will be anxious when it is over because it will mean we are closer to Monday afternoon.

As if Monday wasn’t cool enough, Trusty is out of town! WOOO! Next week looks busy, with orthodontist appointments and science fairs, but the positive of the early week will help fuel the energy to deal with it all! YAY!