Relentless

Last Saturday Michael started a basketball class. He seemed to have fun, but of course his listening was not perfect. He has trouble with his auditory processing and a gym has a high level of ambient background noise. However, by watching the other kids, he was able to fake it pretty well.

As usual Michael's best attribute was being relentless, and that paid off on when they scrimmaged; he got TWO steals. It was all hustle. Sometimes that hustle would take him out of a play as he would over pursue the ball, but that is fine; I would rather see him try his best and fail giving it his all, than be one of the kids that give minimal effort.

RAP

Mom, there are three geniuses in the family, but your smart too

Victory
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

The other day Alex said something that made Jenny laugh: he told her, "Mom, there are three geniuses in the family, but your smart too because you married a genius." Instead of taking offense, Jen laughed and has retold the story to me no less than three times. From Alex's words I would guess that, for the foreseeable future, he will not have any confidence problems in school, which is good. Not that I thought that it would happen, but there was always the possibility that his speech therapy could erode at it.
RAPatton

Winter Festival

ToInfinity
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Last Friday night the Eli Pinney held the Winter Festival. Despite it's name there was not much winterish about it, everything was held inside and there were no winter themed decorations. Despite the lack of seasonality, it was a rousing success; the PTO raised a lot of money, and our kids had fun.

The PTO spent money to make money this year by bringing in the vendor "Super Games." They provided jumpy things, padded cars and giant soccer ball bowling (as seen on the front). It was a step up and a needed change of pace compared to other PTO sponsored Festivals. We also chaperoned Kari and Kent. For the most part they behaved themselves and added to the boys enjoyment of the evening.
RAP

Flipping Out

Flipping Out
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Saturday Night we took the kids to their first (and mine also) Hockey game. It was the Majestic Ohio State Buckeyes Vs. the Diabolic Forces of Evil from Notre Dame. I figured if any Hockey game would be interesting, this would be the one, but I was wrong. It was just as uninteresting as any other Hockey match. It was like watching Soccer or paint dry.

Fortunately, the good people of the Ohio State University anticipated this, and had many things for the kids to enjoy such as this jumpy things, interactive displays and amusing scored board graphics. Throw in a little popcorn and cotton candy and the kids still had a good time, despite the Hockey!
RAP

Sandwiches For the Homeless

Sandwiches For the Homeless
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Jenny is continually amazed with the amount of community service projects that are done in conjunction with Eli Pinney; she often remarks that to some extant it almost feels like a religious orientated school. The community service project du jour was making sandwiches for the homeless. They had to make a score at home and another score at school. So with 2 score sandwiches and 6 boxes of plastic bags our boys learned a little bit about helping others.
RAP

Two Tribes

Two Tribes
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

December was abnormally cold, but the pendulum has swung the other way, and January has been quite temperate as you can witness in this snapshot. That day it was 55 and sunny. Most days don't go into the 50s, but most have been warm. The 10 day forecast seems to point to continued mild temperatures, but I am certain at some point we will get a big snowstorm.

Due to the mild weather, the boys have been playing outside a great deal; the play the same type of pretend games they play inside; usually Mario or Kirby based. At that moment Alex was rambling on how he was a character from the Mario and was getting Michael some ice cream. Yes, ice cream in Winter; I told you it has been warm.
~RAP

The Fastest Michael Alive

The Fastest Michael Alive
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Since school was not in session on MLK Day, Michael was able to go to Alex's Locker Soccer class; furthermore there were many older siblings in attendance, so the coach allowed them all to participate. Michael was the fastest there, and surprisingly enough, good at soccer (according to Jens).

This was a bit surprising because the last time he played soccer he was not into it all. He did not lack ability, but instead he just did not 'get it' (I don't get it either); now he seems to 'get it,' most likely due to the Mario Strikers game he plays. Athletically, I am more impressed with the way he runs; his arms and legs are in the ideal position. I had to work a long time to get that right and he seems pretty natural at it.
R