Carrie surprised Shane with the new truck after wrestling. It's officially inspected, maintained, and home from the shop. Carrie found a booster seat on a Black Friday sale.
It was a cute reveal. Carrie asked Shane to go on a walk with her outside. He was perplexed, but went with it.
When they walked by the truck, Carrie clicked the unlock on the key. She hammed it up.
The truck met with his approval. Then he went back inside to play an hour of video games before bed. He's had three pink dot days in a row. We reward respectful and kind behavior at school (much more than anything grade related).
Shane's wrestling season has begun! We arrived early and played outside.
Practice started with running. Shane's good at that.
So good, that he didn't want to do any cartwheels, rolls, or anything else. He ran more.
He also cut across the inside of the circle to feel like he was winning and flopped down on his back in the middle of the runway several times and said he was too tired. The coach asked him to do rolls and Shane declined.
I almost died.
I'm not the coach, though, so I held my tongue (barely).
The coaches are both new, but they look and carry themselves like ex-college wrestlers. I wish I was that built (but without the time and effort - priorities!). He got Shane to do a decent drop step.
Shane, my little attention hound, eventually decided he'd rather stand NEXT to the coach to drill. He walked right up in front of everyone, faced the crowd, and took his place at the coach's right hand. Coach didn't say anything. Either he has a sense of humor and he's going to love Shane, or Shane's going to have to readjust his boundaries!
Shane got his game face on when found his partner.
They practiced their double leg takedown.
Shane goofed off, caused his friend to trip, and ended up like this, milking it. I ignored him until he walked across the mat to complain to me. His partner found someone new to work with after Shane's absence lengthened.
I coaxed Shane back out to try stand-ups.
It started well.
Then Shane remembered he had a bandaid on his knee from the weekend.
Oh, the agony!
He couldn't bear to sit up when coach was talking either!
Warm-up and skills lasted about 45-50 minutes. The final part was reserved for a game (Excellent!). Coach introduced "Dogs!"
I should have learned the lesson from soccer: Let Shane do whatever and either the coach or the kids will correct. I figured Shane didn't know the rules since he flipped and flopped around on his belly when coach explained them.
Overall practice score: D+
I'm probably hyper-sensitive because I coach, but Shane flopped around and carried on enough to make me grate my teeth. However, he did participate some and he seemed to remember the drop step from last year. He didn't fight going to practice and despite all the drama Shane was happy when I told him I liked his drop step when we left (Partly, because he got another pink day at school and wanted video games when he got home! I hope some of the smile was wrestling related).
Soccer started off rough and got better. I think wrestling will, too.
Nana and Pop dropped by! They were headed north to rendezvous with Jama. She and Nana are flying to visit Beth (Never mind that one is recovering from pneumonia and the other has a bum knee!).
It was a pleasant surprise for Shane. They brought an early birthday gift!
It was perfect timing, too. Shane earned his first "Pink Dot" from school! That means he was a role model in his class! He got to play Legos with Pop, watch Simon's Cat cartoons with Nana and Carrie, and then stay up a little later playing video games.
I wish the Simon's Cat cartoons had started a little later. Flashing lights prohibit Shane from focusing on anything else. Even something as cool as Legos.
Flash:
No flash:
I was tempted to sit there and build it all for him. I love that sort of thing! It's not all about me, though.
UPDATE - We ordered out for dinner and I had leftovers for breakfast and dinner Tuesday. Waste not, want not! I polished off the rest for breakfast Wednesday. Thanks, Nana and Pop!
Carrie, Shane, and I drove over to Grandma and Grandpa's Friday night. We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas before bed.
Shane helped Grandpa make waffles the next morning.
He's been cooking lately.
The ladies took over for the heavy, lunch cooking. The gents were on distraction detail.
Shane did help set the table.
I turned on Star Wars to try and keep him busy the last few minutes before guests arrived. I sat down to watch it with him...
...and then the kid killed me. He ran to beg for Grandma's iPad, so he could play Angry Birds instead!
Have I mentioned my kid's an addict? This is what happens when guests do arrive and the iPad gets put away.
People over things, Shane. People over things.
Grandpa, Grandma, Grunkle Mike, and Graunt Janet, Brian, Kim, and Ryan arrived in waves. Shane recovered in time to eat.
It's not like he didn't get to take selfies with Aunt Kim afterward.
The adults all settled in to watch football and cheer Penn State. Between all the noise, preparation, and hubub, Carrie, Shane and I returned home for a quieter evening.
He was thrilled - I gave him my phone for the ride back. Carrie broke out a new toy when we got home to keep the night special.
That wasn't advertised, but it was almost true. Shane met Dylan and Eli at Bounce 'N Play for a play date.
There was plenty to bounce and play on. I guess it's a more sanitary version of the hamster tunnel places like Discovery Zone and Leaps and Bounds from my own childhood (which were amazing).
Movable compartments are a new development. Cool stuff.
The older boys ran around to the hearts delight. Sometimes Eli caught up with them. Sometimes not. He liked Krista to check in on him. He, also, liked to get other kids to help him. Shane helped in this picture, but Eli used the tactic to pick up a little girlfriend, too.
The toddler area garnered a lot more interest from the older boys than I expected. This house was the site of many engineering projects and a few conflicts (and one potential health hazard with a farting Eli).
I didn't go in expecting to get lunch, but it was hard to say "No" when all the children are marching and chanting, "Pizza! Pizza!" Carrie showed up from the barn and Dover saddlery around then (she loses track of time around horses).
And proceeded to sweep the floor with the Elion.
After a while, Dylan and Shane started to squabble. They needed a break from each other.
The creative area provided the break.
Shane liked the paint room. However, pay attention to the little blond.
How's that for the opposite of you would expect? She was very bubbly and announced exactly what she was writing. Since it was backward, none of the people walking by looked twice.
It got painted over eventually. Shane enjoyed making a mess himself.
The boys reunited for a final tour of the facility.
All showed signs of fatigue. We'd played for almost four hours! I didn't realize hanging out as a parent was such an endurance sport.
Right before the end, Dylan got bounced on by Shane at the basketball gym. He cried like he was dying. I made sit in time out until the tears stopped. When they kept going, Shane slunk lower and lower against the wall, eaten by guilt.
He was fine, though (of course). We got both boys to go out again for a minute before calling it a day. They ended on a high note.
