If you asked me a year ago, I'd tell you that the closest C would ever come to sports would be learning to play this:
I've never really been all that into sports. Sure, during high school I played tennis (a little) and watched Andre Agassi tennis (a lot) and with every pregnancy I became temporarily obsessed with the Denver Broncos (better than heartburn) and I even went through a running phase where my happiness with my weight, my self image, and my legs (they were sooooo cute) overshadowed the pain in my back for a time. Mr. K and I don't discourage our kids from playing sports but we probably have (somewhat unintentionally) steered them towards lifetime fitness activities (swimming, running, cycling, skiing, climbing) as opposed to team sports. This has worked out exceptionally well for C but I think we are getting ready to change our tune regarding R. He's just so excited to play basketball with his buddies from school!
Both C and R are loving swim team and they've moved up to a more challenging practice group which means one more evening a week spent at the pool (it's hot in there and there are, you know, parents of other swimmers there ack!) but we do get one more evening of incredibly sleepy and too-tired-to-wreak-havoc children so I think it's probably a wash. C discovered an actual real live muscle in her calf last night so I think our fate is sealed.
It's pretty darn awesome to see our kids go into uncharted territory. We haven't had any games or meets yet, and so the jury's out regarding our kids' response to either winning or losing but for now, I'm just going to roll with it and enjoy the enthusiasm for active pursuits. I don't think C will ever make friends with Dodgeball, that bane of ball-fearing, glasses-wearing children everywhere but then again, it appears that the PE teachers of America are fulfilling some kind of important nationally-mandated "chucking of balls at heads" teaching target so I guess she just has to suck it up, duck, cover, and when the teacher isn't looking, flip off the opposition.
I am a very good role model.
Maybe I'm excited about the kids' athletic pursuits because I'm slightly bored with the musical opportunities available to a pretty-darn talented 12-year-old percussionist/pianist/budding jazz organist. I know there are still many musical stones unturned and that as she gets older, more opportunities will arise. For now, I'll just have to continue to tell jokes to the people (mostly family and CSU students who have interned at the middle school) seated around me during band concerts to make them less depressing. Do you think it's too late for me to be diagnosed with ADD? At what point does the likely diagnosis shift from ADD to dementia?
It's a question to ponder.
Last night R had to write some paragraphs for English class. He wrote one on who he most admires (his morning teacher for 4th grade, a man who caught something last year and ended up unable to walk and with severely compromised eyesight. He now team teaches with another teacher which has enabled him to have one more year as the passionate educator he dreamed of becoming. We'll see if he is able to return next year. I would complain about the other teacher (and there are definitely things to complain about) but she has, after all, made it possible for him to return and she didn't know until about 5 minutes before the school year started that she would be a long-term sub. His next paragraph was about someone he's proud of (his sister, C, who, despite her general lack of athletic ability, decided to join swim team and challenge herself), and the last one was about something else I don't remember because it was getting late and he said, "Can I just write a crummy paragraph and get it over with?" My answer was "yawn" and "yes".
A's take on sports? "I don't need to. I'm already too awesome and so is my booty*."
True that, munchkin.
*we now live and school among the general population. "Booty" would never have entered into my kids' vocabulary without the move. Go us!
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