Soccer

Well, we had our soccer game today. Boy B spent much of his field time on his back. He thought it was fun to slide and also to kick and fall. His coach didn't scold him the way that I thought he should have. And parents are not supposed to call out instructions to the kids. They want the kids to listen to the coach on the field. I plan to talk to his coach tomorrow about coming down a bit harder on him.

Hubby missed coaching the game today, as he wasn't feeling well. So C coached instead. C is a great coach and the kids like him. I acted as Assistant Coach and kept track of which kids had been subbed in and out and who was next, etc. I think I gave them all fairly equal play time. Our team lost (not that we keep score, because we don't at this age group) but we did lose. Kids had fun and are learning the game, so that's the most important thing. Also Coach C does not follow the suggested practice plan. Maybe it's because he has played soccer for so many years that he just knows drills and stuff and just chooses them himself.

I had a to do list today and I don't think I got hardly anything accomplished off of it. I'll have to go back and see what I did or did not get done. Okay, I looked. Yeah, I didn't get much at all done. But what I did get done was good. And I had a great day!

After the soccer game, Boy A, Boy B and I went to their Great Grandma's house. We spent some time talking with GGJ and I invited her to any of Boy B's soccer games (since I had a schedule with me) and also to any of Boy A's flag football games. I told her I would send her a copy of his schedule in an email and I took care of that when I got home.

I am a bit worried about GGJ. Her hip is bothering her. I'm not sure what to do or say about it, but it does concern me. A lot. GGJ is in her 70's and very active, but these last few years, she's had to slow down a bit. My concern right now is her hip. Generally speaking, when older people break a hip, it is discovered after a fall. And the popular saying is "so and so fell and broke their hip" when in actuality, the broken hip is what caused the fall in the first place. One of the first signs of a broken hip, though, is pain in the hip region, which can be present for quite a while before a fall happens and the break is discovered. It all seems very backward in a way, but at the same time, it also makes a lot of sense. I think I may talk to GGJ privately in the near future to let her know my concern. She had company over when we popped in on her and I didn't want to bring that up while she had another person there.

We didn't end up getting home until after bedtime (roughly an hour later than we were expected to be home) so the boys grabbed slices of pizza leftover from dinner, ate them and headed off to bed. And guess what? They are back to school tomorrow!!! YAY!!!

Soccer!!!

Today is our second day of soccer for the season. Boy B seems to be in fine soccer mode, after our recent bout with sickness. He's been fever-free since early Friday morning, he's in good spirits and not contagious. It's TIME TO PLAY!

Okay, so this is the part where I admit that, since I was sick this whole last week, I failed our team. I am the main contact person (secretary, if you will) and I have been out of contact with everyone. I was supposed to get schedules and new rosters to the families. I was supposed to have a sheet ready for this one mom who wanted to know what she can do to practice with her son between our practices and games, I was supposed to have this child over to play and practice with Boy B, but our house was sick, so all of that failed.

This morning, I am going to have Hubby call all of the kids' families, letting them know our game time and get an exact head count for who will be there. I will be printing out the sheet for the mom to give to her at the practice and game. I will be going shopping for healthy snack for the kids for after the game. I will also be cleaning out the van to make sure we have room in there for our stroller (for Boy C) and our camp chairs (for Boy A, Girlie and myself) and our cooler with our water bottles and snacks. So much work for one hour, you know? Ah well, it's worth it. And Boy B is so excited that his Daddy and C are his coaches. Just warms a momma's heart, ya know?

And then tomorrow, we get to repeat the procedure for Boy A's football practice, but before that, we also have swim lessons for Boy A and B (though, I think we'll have Boy B's ear checked out first to see if he can swim) and Child Watch for Girlie and Boy C.

Let's get ready for.....sooooooocccccccceeeeeeerrrrrrrr!

So much to do....

Well, as you all know, we were sick this past week. So, today I am hoping to get a lot of work done around the house. We implemented a new chore system yesterday for the kids. I'm hoping it will work, but even with that system, I still have a lot of work to do myself.

My to do list for today:
-have Hubby call the soccer families
-find and make sure Hubby's coaching shirt is clean
-find Boy B's soccer cleats
-pick up Boy A's football shirt from Grandma M's house
-find Boy A's football cleats
-buy Boy A a mouthpiece for football? (Coach sent an email suggesting these for the team. It's flag football, but there is a lot of contact and one kid last week on another team and another game chipped a tooth playing the game)
-find my old html codes for prettier blogging
-buy treats for soccer players

Then housework:
-clean living room (top to bottom)
-clean up the kitchen (good enough)
-clean family room (top to bottom)
-clean out the van (top to bottom)
-do laundry (ideally at least four loads completely done)
-have kids clean playroom (good enough)
-have kids clean their room (top to bottom)
-have kids clean their bathroom (top to bottom)

I think that pretty much covers it. I wish I had a working camera so that I could show before and after pictures, but I don't have one right now. Maybe I'll borrow my mom's camera so I can post pictures of my projects. I'll have to ask her.

Sick, sick, sick

It seems like it has been so long since we have not had a sick child in the house, but really, its only been two weeks. Two weeks today, actually. Finally we are all on the mend!

Boy B (who is 5) got sick two weeks ago today with a bad cough, fever and just acted lethargic. Wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, wouldn't move. He was miserable (adorable but miserable). His first soccer practice/game of the season was the next day and I knew he wasn't up to playing, but thought maybe he'd want to go along just to watch and at least meet the other kids on the team.

His response? "No, I don't want to. What if I cough on them and I get them sick?" This was said in a raspy, froggy-sounding voice. My heart just melted.

So, the kiddos stayed home with Grandma while Hubby and I went off to the game. Hubby is the head coach and Hubby's friend, C, is the assistant coach. It's kind of backwards, considering the fact that C is a huge soccer fan and LOVES to play and watch, and as it turns out, coach.

Then, that Monday, Boy B missed school, went to the doctor's office and we were told that he has para influenza. They did a quick strep test and a cultured test. Hubby and I thought it sounded like he had strep, but the quick strep came back negative.

We got a call the next day. The cultured strep test was positive, and where would we like the prescription called in to? So, we start antibiotics.

Wednesday, he still has a fever, Thursday morning it FINALLY breaks. Looking good to be back at school on Friday. I call his school and request his homework. Boy A brings it home with him after school.

Thursday night. Kitchen table. Two boys sitting down to do homework. Boy A, who is 8 and in 3rd grade with 2 pages of homework. Boy B, who is 5 and in kindergarten with 8 pages of homework (front AND back). Math problem: which child finishes first?

Answer: They finish at the same time.

It takes Boy A FOREVER to do his homework. He's a smart kid, he just does not like to sit down and focus on one subject long enough to finish a page of homework. Meanwhile, Boy B sits there, diligently and methodically, going through his homework one page at a time, stopping only to ask me to read him the directions. I don't understand this.

Actually, I think I do. We had discussed quite a while ago about homeschooling the kids. At the last minute, we enrolled Boy A in Kindergarten and he's been in public school since. His best year was first grade. His teacher was fabulous, she kept on him, it was wonderful! Kindergarten was good, but he slid back a lot in what he could do, second grade was horrible. Absolutely horrible. For him and for our family. It came out everywhere. Then we moved. That helped matters quite a bit, because we were in a different school.

This year, I don't know. I'm not even sure what to think just yet. Boy B does FABULOUS in school. I told Hubby years ago, when Boy A was about 5 and Boy B was almost 3, that I was pretty sure, based on their personalities at that time, that Boy A should definitely be homeschooled and that Boy B would probably do well in a regular classroom. Why do I not listen to myself? Honestly. I listen to others, doubt my own gut instinct and then my poor kiddo pays for it. And I pay for it, by having to sit next to him for an hour to make sure he gets his two pages done.

Hubby and I went shopping recently and we picked up a globe, which is not a huge deal for most people. But I have been wanting to have a globe in the house for, probably, four or five years now. I am so excited! I told Hubby that buying this globe only makes me want to homeschool Boy A even more. He said that he knew that. Maybe we can still do it.

Okay, so I started off with sickness...let's go back to that. So, last week, Boy B missed Monday through Thursday. He went back Friday. All was good. No school on Monday because of Labor Day (no sports that weekend either). Monday night, Boy B and now Boy A are BOTH running fevers. No school for either one of them the next day. And no school for Boy C because his teacher comes here to the house and we can't risk exposing her to the other boys because she visits a lot of families and some of the kids in those families have kids who are susceptible to sickness.

It's been crazy. This house of sickness. I'm so tired and exhausted. I got sick and ended up having to take a week off of work myself, this week. Thursday night, Boy B wakes up scream-crying. Take him in to get checked out because I know what it is. The doctor's diagnosis: "a rip-roaring ear infection" Hmmmmph. Can we not get ahead of this?

Okay, so here's my take on this. He had strep throat (caused by group A strep), used antibiotics which treats that (and also kills off good fighting cells too), thus making him more prone to the ear infection (caused by strep pneumo) for which we needed a different course of antibiotics. The question is...do I give him those and leave him vulnerable to yet another infection or do I forego them and just wait to see? We have done the wait and see approach with our kids before (oddly enough, it was after Boy A kept getting recurrent ear infections when he was younger that we kept treating him for) and our doctor is supportive of it. Most cases of ear infection clear up on their own in about the same amount of time it takes an antibiotic to work, but without the side effects of the antibiotic. At this point, I am taking the wait and see approach. I have the script ready to go if needed, but I'm hoping we won't need it. He's already missed almost half of his classes already this year. Poor kid may have to be homeschooled, just based on the fact that he's been too sick to be allowed in regular school. :) (Okay, so I'm not totally feeling that bad about it. I would love to homeschool him. But that's just between us.) :)