soccer, loose teeth and summer mahem

I have to let the photos do the talking on this post, because my hands are too tired to type very much. This weekend was crazy - and yet, when I look at my accomplishments, they seem so modest. But my body says otherwise. This weekend I tackled the pushki patch in our back yard, and covered it with a garden - or at least the beginning of it. It's going to be a lot of work and it's only just starting, but I'm going to get there, and it's going to look great.

The past two weeks have been full of big firsts. First was the tooth - Liam got his first loose tooth, and rather than be freaked out by it, he was fine about it - excited even. I thought for sure it would be out by now, but instead, it is hanging in there. I have a bit of a problem with loose teeth. I don't know why, but they gross me out. But I'm being supportive - and keeping my finger-nails-on-chalk-board responses to myself.

Then, we had the soccer experience. I was a little worried about this one, but it was totally unfounded. First day, Liam balked at putting on the soccer shirt, but we got past that, then he went out on the field and met coach with 30 or so other little kids. The coach started right in with a loud coachy-type yell. "OKTHEREAREALOTOFKIDSOUTHERESOHERE'SHOWIT'SGOINGTOGO ..WHENISAYSSITYOUAREGOINGTOSIT...OKSIT.
OK,GOOD,WHENISAYPUTYOURHANDUP,PUTYOURHANDUP. OKPUTYOURHANDUP. GOOD."

I thought for sure Liam was going to be trying to climb back inside me in a matter of minutes, but I couldn't have been more wrong. He loved it. He sat. He put his hand up. At the end, I asked him what he thought of the coach.

"Well, Coach was kind of dramatic," he said. Oh god, I could have died laughing.

I took a bunch of photos of the soccer fun and posted them online on my web site at http://www.wordworksshop.com/soccerpics/index.html

But I am so happy that he enjoyed his first sportish experience. It's very good news, because he has a lot of energy these days. Last week, we went to a birthday party at a local track and he biked around it enough times to cover 4 or 5 miles - seriously. He was the first in his peer group to ride sans training wheels, so he was riding that high, but still. That's a lot of ground. Today, we went out on the spit and biked about 3 miles - Thea in stroller, me on blades and him on the bike. Good stuff. And topped it all off with a Glacier Burger just to balance things out, of course.

Last week was Thea's first week of full-time daycare. It was a little rough at times, like the day she fell asleep in the high chair during lunch and then wouldn't go down for another nap - can you say train wreck? But generally, she loves Nikki's. She just needs to sleep in a bit longer. The 5:30-6 a.m. trend continues. However, I'm hoping that kicking the dogs out will help, since they often wake up around 6 and perpetuate the problem. We'll see if my theory holds.

This also meant the first week that Liam had a day home with me all to himself. He couldn't have been more happy - pulled his guys out into the living room and had a set up for hours while I caught up on graphics work. Then he had a friend over in the afternoon and that was a thrill, too. "Do you mean Thea will be gone the whole time Nora is here, too?" "Yes" "WOW! Mom, this is the best day ever."

Pretty strong words given that his Dad was leaving that night for a fire assignment - the first out-of-towner of the year, although he's certainly been gone plenty already this year. Liam seems to be holding up pretty well. Me? Well, I muttered a few words today when the toilet backed up as I was leaving to do the grocery shopping with a cranky child, but otherwise, it is what it is. And it is summer - go big or go to someplace without 18 hours of daylight.