The Week in the Review
Soccer with Luca
Quick recap of the week - work from literal dawn till dusk on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Just as I was becoming a walking corpse, Thursday rolled around. Sprinted home in the car, jumped into my clothing and excitedly grabbed Luca for his soccer practice. Unfortunately for me, Senhor Luca was not feeling up to it that day. The little man was ridiculously tired and in need of a nap. From time to time, he still can use one. Unfortunately, the sleep gestapo (aka Mom) had not noticed and if she had, a betting man would have taken the odds that should would cattle prod him to keep him away for fear of night time or early morning wake up. Mom is not a big fan of losing out on sleep. Anyway, I cajoled and then resorted to dictatorial command to have him go to practice.
There is a lesson to be learned here that I only occasionally remember -- a tired child is a roller coaster ride. You may expend a lot of energy on raising his mood only to see it plummet at rocket speeds to a terrible depth. Such was my experience. I commanded him to sleep in the car and he dutifully did so. (I wonder how many more months/years I can actually get away with "Go to sleep. Now!" and actually have that work.) Having arrived at practice early, I started the wake-up process.
By the time practice started, Luca was awake, alert and pretty darn unhappy about being awake and alert. And he had less than zero interest in practicing. Alternatively and all at once his feet hurt, his legs were cold, and whenever the long sleeve shirt that was under his practice jersey dared to peep out from the sleeves, he basically whined, complained and then cried. About two-thirds of the way through the practice I gave up. I had expended a tremendous amount of enery to have him smile about twice in 40 minutes -- both times courtesy of pratt falls by me. That apparently never gets old.
We got home and I am not sure who fell asleep faster that night, Luca or I. I shouldn't have pushed the poor guy out the door to practice, maybe next time I'll remember. The next day after a full night's rest he was his usual fun self.
Saturday is Sports Day
Saturday morning Luciana lets me sleep in. She doesn't like to miss out on sleep but she is more than understanding when I've had a long week. I had my usual tennis lesson at 7:30 AM with the sadist coach Carey Anne Richards. I am a 34 year old man who is forced to do 10 push ups because I failed to get in position for a shot. This after she ran me around the court with sideline to sideline drills. All in all, it was a good lesson and I had my fun. I keep telling myself I will start playing tournaments again (the last time was before Mateos was born) but since I haven't been able to beat the teenager I've played twice recently (and who my ego says I am much better than), I think I need a few more butt whipping sessions first.
Next stop on the sports train -- t-ball for Mateos and Luca at 9:00 AM. The game was good -- the boys played well and had a good time. The best part of the game for them is goofing around in the dug out with their teammates. Helmet to helmet head smacking is the game du jour. The season has gone very well and the kids can all hit and field -- well, the fielding is sporadic at best and maybe four actual outs have been recorded all season but the progress has been made. There are only two more games left and they will miss it I am sure but we are not likely to sign up for next season. Just too many games and practices when you combine it with soccer. I'd tell you who won the game but at this age, there aren't even any "outs" allowed. Have to say, it is better this way now. The kids on both teams are always all smiles.
Drive home from baseball, open the front door and begin changing Luca's clothes. He has a 11:00 AM game. That gives us about 20 minutes from the time we get in the door to get back out the door. Apparently, Luca believes that is enough time for him to watch Mateos play Super Mario Brothers a few times. Luca is the world's best video game fan. Luca doesn't actually play often -- and more often than not refuses to and instead begs you to play. He is a fan in every respect, cheering y0ur every success and angrily denouncing you when you fail to live up to his expectations or, have mercy, die to easily.
Luca's soccer game goes well. He found his way into kicking the ball a few times. He actually had a very nice break away where he dribbled the ball twice (almost half the length of the field) and just missed wide on the goal. Fortunately for us, his shooting accuracy isn't yet polished since in this particular he was streaking toward his team's goal. He is a fairly unidirectional player at this point. Whatever direction he is pointed when he receives the ball he kicks it. Forward, backward, sideways - no matter. And always at full force.
Luciana swung by at about 11:50 and dropped Mateos off to me and picked up Luca. Mateos's game was at 12:00 PM. As usual, he and the rest of the kids on the team clowned around together before, during and after the game. I am always amazed by how much they are always putting their hands on each other -- tickling, tackling, pushing, etc. Very physical play. Mateos was his usual intense self on the field and really did a good job getting to the ball and playing defense. The team actually scored a few goals -- three I think. Considering that we'd scored one goal all season, that was a pretty prolific output. I think it was better for the parents than the kids as most of us were becoming psychologically damaged wondering about the psychological damage the kids must be experiencing losing by so many goals each game. And most assuredly the kids could have cared less. I, however, could have jumped into the air for joy as if we had just won the World Cup.
Sunday Notables
Today was a fairly good day. In the morning I worked from home but I could hear Luciana entertaining the kids downstairs and quite a bit of laughter and fun. Mateos wandered in and out a few times to remind me that my time was nearly up and when I came down both he and Luca were in great moods and ready to play. We ended up going to lunch at Super Target (ooh, the cuisine of min-pizzas and hot dogs) and then we bought some Lego sets for the boys. Mateos selected a larger, more advanced set and Luca two smaller yet neat little individual ones. Mateos was able to find the pieces and follow the directions pretty well. I played the part of quality control to help him stay on track occasionally but all in all, he put together his t-rex legosaurus pretty much by himself. And he had a great time doing it and so did I.
Mr Luca enjoyed his legos but the highlight of his day came at night when he built a very large and elaborate rube goldberg race track for his match box cars. The race track started at the top of the playroom door and then dropped a few feet where it was propped up on anything and everything Luca could find to stack in the playroom. The track ended titled up so the cars would shoot off the jump and whack the wall. He had quitely constructed the track by himself and was thoroughly pleased with himself as he ushered me in to show me. At first site of the demolision that was the playroom, I was a little worried that mom might not be too happy. However, I have to agree with Luca that it was very cool. We played for quite a while together and I made a number of track alterations under his direction. And when it was time to clean up he was a very willing helper. That's a good night.
Quick recap of the week - work from literal dawn till dusk on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Just as I was becoming a walking corpse, Thursday rolled around. Sprinted home in the car, jumped into my clothing and excitedly grabbed Luca for his soccer practice. Unfortunately for me, Senhor Luca was not feeling up to it that day. The little man was ridiculously tired and in need of a nap. From time to time, he still can use one. Unfortunately, the sleep gestapo (aka Mom) had not noticed and if she had, a betting man would have taken the odds that should would cattle prod him to keep him away for fear of night time or early morning wake up. Mom is not a big fan of losing out on sleep. Anyway, I cajoled and then resorted to dictatorial command to have him go to practice.
There is a lesson to be learned here that I only occasionally remember -- a tired child is a roller coaster ride. You may expend a lot of energy on raising his mood only to see it plummet at rocket speeds to a terrible depth. Such was my experience. I commanded him to sleep in the car and he dutifully did so. (I wonder how many more months/years I can actually get away with "Go to sleep. Now!" and actually have that work.) Having arrived at practice early, I started the wake-up process.
By the time practice started, Luca was awake, alert and pretty darn unhappy about being awake and alert. And he had less than zero interest in practicing. Alternatively and all at once his feet hurt, his legs were cold, and whenever the long sleeve shirt that was under his practice jersey dared to peep out from the sleeves, he basically whined, complained and then cried. About two-thirds of the way through the practice I gave up. I had expended a tremendous amount of enery to have him smile about twice in 40 minutes -- both times courtesy of pratt falls by me. That apparently never gets old.
We got home and I am not sure who fell asleep faster that night, Luca or I. I shouldn't have pushed the poor guy out the door to practice, maybe next time I'll remember. The next day after a full night's rest he was his usual fun self.
Saturday is Sports Day
Saturday morning Luciana lets me sleep in. She doesn't like to miss out on sleep but she is more than understanding when I've had a long week. I had my usual tennis lesson at 7:30 AM with the sadist coach Carey Anne Richards. I am a 34 year old man who is forced to do 10 push ups because I failed to get in position for a shot. This after she ran me around the court with sideline to sideline drills. All in all, it was a good lesson and I had my fun. I keep telling myself I will start playing tournaments again (the last time was before Mateos was born) but since I haven't been able to beat the teenager I've played twice recently (and who my ego says I am much better than), I think I need a few more butt whipping sessions first.
Next stop on the sports train -- t-ball for Mateos and Luca at 9:00 AM. The game was good -- the boys played well and had a good time. The best part of the game for them is goofing around in the dug out with their teammates. Helmet to helmet head smacking is the game du jour. The season has gone very well and the kids can all hit and field -- well, the fielding is sporadic at best and maybe four actual outs have been recorded all season but the progress has been made. There are only two more games left and they will miss it I am sure but we are not likely to sign up for next season. Just too many games and practices when you combine it with soccer. I'd tell you who won the game but at this age, there aren't even any "outs" allowed. Have to say, it is better this way now. The kids on both teams are always all smiles.
Drive home from baseball, open the front door and begin changing Luca's clothes. He has a 11:00 AM game. That gives us about 20 minutes from the time we get in the door to get back out the door. Apparently, Luca believes that is enough time for him to watch Mateos play Super Mario Brothers a few times. Luca is the world's best video game fan. Luca doesn't actually play often -- and more often than not refuses to and instead begs you to play. He is a fan in every respect, cheering y0ur every success and angrily denouncing you when you fail to live up to his expectations or, have mercy, die to easily.
Luca's soccer game goes well. He found his way into kicking the ball a few times. He actually had a very nice break away where he dribbled the ball twice (almost half the length of the field) and just missed wide on the goal. Fortunately for us, his shooting accuracy isn't yet polished since in this particular he was streaking toward his team's goal. He is a fairly unidirectional player at this point. Whatever direction he is pointed when he receives the ball he kicks it. Forward, backward, sideways - no matter. And always at full force.
Luciana swung by at about 11:50 and dropped Mateos off to me and picked up Luca. Mateos's game was at 12:00 PM. As usual, he and the rest of the kids on the team clowned around together before, during and after the game. I am always amazed by how much they are always putting their hands on each other -- tickling, tackling, pushing, etc. Very physical play. Mateos was his usual intense self on the field and really did a good job getting to the ball and playing defense. The team actually scored a few goals -- three I think. Considering that we'd scored one goal all season, that was a pretty prolific output. I think it was better for the parents than the kids as most of us were becoming psychologically damaged wondering about the psychological damage the kids must be experiencing losing by so many goals each game. And most assuredly the kids could have cared less. I, however, could have jumped into the air for joy as if we had just won the World Cup.
Sunday Notables
Today was a fairly good day. In the morning I worked from home but I could hear Luciana entertaining the kids downstairs and quite a bit of laughter and fun. Mateos wandered in and out a few times to remind me that my time was nearly up and when I came down both he and Luca were in great moods and ready to play. We ended up going to lunch at Super Target (ooh, the cuisine of min-pizzas and hot dogs) and then we bought some Lego sets for the boys. Mateos selected a larger, more advanced set and Luca two smaller yet neat little individual ones. Mateos was able to find the pieces and follow the directions pretty well. I played the part of quality control to help him stay on track occasionally but all in all, he put together his t-rex legosaurus pretty much by himself. And he had a great time doing it and so did I.
Mr Luca enjoyed his legos but the highlight of his day came at night when he built a very large and elaborate rube goldberg race track for his match box cars. The race track started at the top of the playroom door and then dropped a few feet where it was propped up on anything and everything Luca could find to stack in the playroom. The track ended titled up so the cars would shoot off the jump and whack the wall. He had quitely constructed the track by himself and was thoroughly pleased with himself as he ushered me in to show me. At first site of the demolision that was the playroom, I was a little worried that mom might not be too happy. However, I have to agree with Luca that it was very cool. We played for quite a while together and I made a number of track alterations under his direction. And when it was time to clean up he was a very willing helper. That's a good night.
posted by Raffi at 10:49 PM
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