Category: Family (Page 13 of 13)

Yes, we have a new athlete in the family. Addie went to soccer practice last night and loved it. I was curious as to how it would go. She woke up from her nap in a groggy mood. And after getting geared up said the shin blades (what she calls shin guards) hurt her. I don’t think they hurt, but they were just different feeling, therefore uncomfortable. But she got her pig tails braided and new soccer ball ready and we headed off to practice.

She’s on a U5 team. So she’s pretty much the youngest and littlest one there. But she still tries. I think these other girls have older sisters/brothers who play too, so they’ve been watching and playing with them. So Addie is at a disadvantage there. Funny when I start feeling defensive for her already. But I’m worried that she’ll be behind the other girls.

But she loved it. She has 4 other girls on her team. They’ll play 5 on 5 w/ no subs. I guess that’s to give them lots of playing time and touches on the ball. She still needs some soccer cleats. But she’s giving it her all. She got tied up w/ another girl once and fell and bumped her nose on the ball pretty good. She started crying. I thought this would be either a minor deal or the end of the world. She came over and cried for about 10 seconds and then was ready to go back out there.

So hopefully she enjoys it, has half a clue what’s going on, and gets to meet some friends.

Hey all. I made it.

Katrina is one bad mama, though! The strom passed through on Monday and knocked our power out. Then the next day as it was getting hotter and hotter our phone when out. Then all of a sudden both came back on. Phone has been in and out, but power (therefore AC) constant. Had to switch ISP’s because my other dialup ISP was out of Hattiesburg and they got smashed. But we’re doing fine here.

Clinton has most people back w/ power, but still quite a few are w/o power. The crazy things is the gas frenzy. I think a lot of Jackson folks are coming over here for gas. I’ve still got over half a tank in both cars, so I believe we’re good for a few more days. By then either all of this area will be out of gas, or things will be back closer to normal.

I have been keeping a notecard of things to talk about. I plan to write a series of stuff about the storm and my experience in the aftermath. Nothing special, but I want to put it all down. The news is amazing. I could watch it all day. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers of anyone who remembered us. The girls are fine. We’re all good. In fact, we’re better than good.

Last night I was educated.

My 4 year old told me there were three times you need to say, “Excuse me.”

1. When you bump into someone.
2. When you burp.
3. And when you toot.

Last week we signed up our daughter for park and rec soccer. I’m anxious to see how she handles it. You never can tell about her. Sometimes she’s reserved. But other times pretty wide open. But she was excited about signing up. She actually got some shin guards at WalMart and she wears them around the house and talks about getting a soccer ball. She needs a size 3.

Bev played soccer a lot. We never had it in my town growing up, but would have liked to. Bev said we might actually help coach. Me? Whatever. I know nothing about coaching soccer. I’ll be a big supporter. But here’s to the season ahead.

…my wife and I can make some cute kids.

We were supposed to leave in the middle of VBS Friday to head north to Tupelo. We’d been gone on Addison’s birthday to the beach and Bev’s parents wanted to have something for her. I’m not sure why it mattered that we were at the beach because otherwise we’d have been at home instead of up in Tupelo. But oh well. I think part of it had to do with the fact that we didn’t stay in Tupelo any the last time we visited up there. We stayed at my grandmother’s instead…for good reason. More on that later.

Anyhow, Friday was the last day of VBS and Addison had been having the best time, so we didn’t want her to miss the last day. I took her up there and Bev was supposed to come up later and we’d leave together. Around 10 or so I’m up in my office and hear Bev and Jenny running in the gym calling for my name, kinda frantic. I poke my head out and look down in the gym. Bev yells up that Addie fell and hurt her head, and then I see her teacher carrying her and she’s crying loud. I can tell there’s blood, but nothing much else.

I run down there and then see her entire left side of her face awash in blood. Looks like it could be nasty. I wonder if it’s a cut, where is it, did she smash in her eye bone (orbital?) or what? But then they pull back a towel and I see it’s a gash above her left eye. With some blotting and wiping I see it’s not that big but will probably need some stitches or butterfly. Turns out she’d been running to snack time, tripped over something and headbutted the concrete sidewalk. Hard!

I pick her up and we walk to a clinic that’s just across the street. Despite the half full waiting room they take us on back because she’s covered in blood. She’s stopped crying on the walk over and now was being a tough girl. I was quite impressed. She can be a whiner sometimes, but this really wasn’t one of them. Her main concern was that she had gotten blood on her new VBS shirt. After waiting a while for the cut to deaden the pain, the doc came in and poked it a few times w/ the syringe and then sewed it up. Two stiches. And a bright band-aid for good measure.

Then on to Tupelo. We get there and then family finally starts arriving. Loads and loads. I try to stay out of the way. After the dust settles and the smoke from too many cigarettes disperce we start to wind down. The baby finally goes to sleep, then after looking at my wife’s aunt’s new home, we go to bed. But it’s not good sleep. The baby doesn’t sleep well, we don’t sleep well. And there an invisible haze of her dad’s cigarettee smoke in the house, even though he only smokes in his office which is connected to the laundry room. I think our bedding sat in there for a few weeks before it got on our bed. Horrible.

After what seemed like forever, we leave the next afternoon and make it back home to the final week in our rental house. Some youth came over to play some cards, then it was time to hit the sack after they left.

Being a dad isn’t really all that easy. So many times it’s fun though. But it sure can be frustrating too. You watch other kids act up and other parents do their thing. You take your cues and hints from them: do it like this, but not like that sort of thing. But when you try to put your own game plan into place, it never seems to work out just perfectly.

Sometimes it goes surprisingly well. Othertimes it seems that nothing works at all.

But I do think my four year old (freshly four) is better acting than most kids, but still can be a little unruley sometimes. Or whiney. Why does a whine bother me so much? Probably because I used to be so great at whining too. And now I guess she is. I’m not a “fan” of corporal punishment”, but will use it. Some frown at that, but oh well. She understands a good pop from a paint stirring stick.

The other weekend we had some friends to stay with us from out of town. Nineteen month old boy. Was a good boy, but would fuss sometimes to no end. Didn’t want to eat that?, “whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Didn’t want to come away from the sliding door?, “Whaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Something in the universe didn’t go he way?, “Whhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!” And not a long, punctuated WHA!, but a 5 minute one. I mean, c’mon, pop that kid!

I guess I see it as giving them some vitamins now so they don’t have to take their medicine later, if you know what I mean. Some people would say we’re too strict. Some would say we’re too loose. I guess it’s all relative. But I do want to be the best dad possible to my two kids.

She’s really a good dog. But she has some quirks. If she walks into a room with a ceiling fan on, she watches it like it’s out to get her. If the fan is on low, or you turn it off and it’s getting slower and slooower and slooooooower, it really freaks her out and she has to leave the room. She’s not so bad now, but there was a time when it could even be off and she’d be in the room and she’d all of a sudden bolt up from a nap, stare at the ceiling fan, and then slink out of the room watching it closely as if it were about to jump off the ceiling and whack her on the head.

Crazy dog…