Dial It Down, Sunday

Sunday! A day of rest!

Carrie braided Annie's hair and worked with her in the arena.

Annie's making progress. Heidi came by and it was a horse day for Carrie.

Shane and I went to church and then I taught him how to play Memoir '44 after. It's a history game about WW2 I borrowed from John.

Loki ate a couple of pieces that dropped on the floor. He loves cardboard.

Loki peed when I yelled at him.

Shane rolled really well and won! I missed a rule about sandbags making him roll one less dice against me, but him winning may mean he'll be more willing to play again in the future.

I was happy to lose the battle to win the war on future boredom!

I spent a fair amount of time outside and helping out. I discovered a gross friend in Annie's poop.

It was at least a six inch long roundworm. I took a picture in case we needed to show a vet, but Carrie just grunted and said, "Time to worm her." For such a full grown worm, Carrie thinks Annie came from Sonya's with them.

Shane and I did manage an afternoon play date. We met the Cartwrights at Dorrier Park.

Claire wasn't there, because she was selling Girl Scout cookies. Logan brought his Nerf guns and Julia grabbed the ammo and ran off. Shane tried to get the ammo back for Logan, but it ended up a free for all.

Their dad, Alex (?), had a single shot nerf rifle and got involved in the running around. Shane told him to "pull up his pants" because he could see his butt crack!

"HVAC crack is worse than plumber's!" Corrie said (the mom - not sure on spelling).

The kids all enjoyed running around. Shane opened up a store where he started to sell ammo and other things. Logan accidentally shot himself looking down the barrel of his gun, got upset, and broke it.

It wasn't the longest play date, but it got some energy out.

I reached out to Shelby's family, as well, but their kids were all sick. That left horse chores and hanging out to finish up the weekend.

Sam and Shane Play Day

I finally got Shane and Sam together again for a play date! They haven't seen each other since the beginning of summer!

Things were stressful at the house, so drove the boys downtown. They started to haggle and bargain over Pokemon cards before the buckles clicked.

There's been a bit of construction since the last time I drove down 5th and Ridge.

I got to the park and...parked. The boys were still haggling.

Best line was from Sam. "I'm not going to give it for free. I'm nice, but I'm not that nice!"

Neither boy has much of a poker face.

We went to the park next. It was hot. There was only one other kid there.

Shane and Sam did their own thing. They tried to spin each other sick and called whatever they were spinning a time machine.

They play continued until they started throwing acorns onto the road below the park. Shane said they wanted a car to drive over and crush an acorn. I gave Shane a warning and when they kept trying to roll things onto the asphalt from uphill I called it.

So we walked to the library.

The boys wanted to look up The Last Kid on Earth series. I could have helped, but I let them do things on their own (Another kid had walked in with his mom mentioning the series. When I said, "Isn't that the series Sam likes?" it set the boys on the path....and I didn't want them to beat the other kid to the punch when the idea came from him!).

Originally, neither boy had wanted to visit the library, because "libraries are boring."

Now that we were there, they were both engrossed in books and comics. I'd brought Smash Up to play cards, but it was left unused.

The library was set to close, so we headed out with some Hank the Cowdog audiobooks (in poor condition, sadly).

I had the boys for close to three hours before we dropped off Sam and said our goodbyes. I'd love for the boys to get together more, but we'll see how often the schedules work out.

VBS Day 4 - A new park!

Shane insisted on wear his hat neither forward or backward this morning. "We'll see how long it lasts when sit in the car and can't lean your head back on the seat," I said.

He tried for about three seconds and then discarded it. I was curious if he'd remember when we got to VBS, but it remained forgotten.

It's been a fun week. Shane started off anti-VBS and I caught him panting with excitement about something when I picked him up today.

I got him to pose with his new VBS shirt. Carrie picked it up and dropped it off on Wednesday while I was at putt-putt with the youth.

We came home to a big surprise. Mommy wasn't home. Neither was most of the junk on our side porch! She was on her second dump run of the day.

Shane acted excited, but I was the one who really appreciated it! We worked on cleaning up dishes and around the house to show our gratitude.

I took Shane to Greenleaf park to meet up with Sam's family in the afternoon.

There were trees. Shane's motto is "gotta climb them all."

ALL of them.

He's good at it, too.

Sam's family was late, so Shane climbed to his heart's content. Carrie's going to hate these pictures.

Same showed up after not too long. He's not into climbing. Shane wanted to brag from the treetops, but I called him down.

The two of them jogged straight off to the spray park together.

I'd forgotten to have Shane change into a swimsuit before we came.

It was plenty hot out, though.

He'd dry in no time.

I took a lot of action shots as the kids ran around.

They enjoyed experimenting with increasing water pressure.

Shane laid down on the sidewalk to dry off.

When Sam inquired, Shane pulled him down and started to wrestle. Shane's an incredibly physical kid. He's not violent. He just seems to crave physical contact. 

That and climbing trees.

Sam had no interest in the climbing. He enjoyed the playground equipment much more.

Sam remembered the whirl-go-round I took him and Shane to. He wanted "top speed."

Unrelated to the whirly-go-round (yet my next picture), Shane managed to trip over his own two feet on concrete. He skinned both his knees including re-skinning away one scab for the third time in less than two weeks (maybe it'll be scar at this point).

Shane, Sam, and Toby finished the day by exploring all over the grounds.

Which worked for Kate (Sam's mom) and me. The boys dried off in the heat before we called it quits.

We spent over two hours out in the heat. I bet all the boys slept soundly!

Sunday in the Park

Rah asked Shane to ask me to go to the park Sunday. Shane was happy to parrot the question. They rode bikes while I walked/jogged with my book.

At first, we were the only people in the park. The boys ran to the swings. Rah asked me to take a video, so he could see how he could jump out of the swing from.

Kids draw other kids. After a little bit, two young boys, Jeremiah and Cameron, came running through the fence with a basketball.

Their older sister showed up shortly thereafter and a basketball game commenced.

Shane played for a little bit. He talked real big, but when one of the little guys whipped the ball behind his back and kept dribbling it was clear Shane was outclassed. Shane didn't do badly, but he switched off to trying to ride his bike around the court and then yell, "I'm the referee! Everybody! I'm the referee!"

I like to let the kids sort things out, but at that point I spoke up. I told Shane not to ride through their game and that they didn't need a referee. He could play or get off the court.

Shane chose to go lay on the seesaw. At one point he started to yell, "Can you guys be more quiet?"

The basketball game ignored him. He called out a few more times and eventually I called back, "You stop yelling. They're playing a game. It's a park. Play on your own or join the game."

Basketball continued the whole time we were at the park. An older boy emerged, Omar. He was a cut above and not shy to show it. "4 on 1! All of you versus me!"

The younger boys played some. Then they went to the playground where Shane was. Rah and the older sister teamed up to play Omar (and lost. Rah was walking instead of running and acting disinterested but the game went on.).

The little guys all started running around the playground. Shane started to try and throw mulch while Jeremiah and Cameron swung. Then they all started running around and chasing each other with sticks. They were all smiling and laughing. I kept an eye out, because I didn't want an accidental whack to turn into a fight. I spoke up on a few close calls, "Shane, have fun, but you'd better not hit anyone!"

They looked like they had a blast.

I think I earned the kids trust earlier when Shane had found a fidget spinner. He picked it up and said, "Ha ha! It's mine! I found it!" Cameron claimed it and Shane hopped on his bike and rode away cackling.

Jeremiah was on the other side of the court and described it to me ("It's yellow."), so I made Shane fork it over.

So somehow I became base during the stick fight. The kids would tear around, hit each others sticks, dodge close calls, and then Jeremiah or Cameron would run over to where I was. I told Shane, "If I get hit with a stick because you swing it near me there will be trouble," and then no one swung anything near me.

My one complaint: The little guys ran around saying, "Shit! Shit! Shit!" as Shane tailed them. Their big sister would sometimes yell, "Quit cussing!" but it never really slowed. I'd prefer Shane didn't learn too many of those words too early, but he needs to learn how to react in all situation. Shane seems to understand that while I don't correct every kid I meet, I will correct him in a heartbeat (We had a talk when he came home from school yelling, "God!").

The stick fighting seemed to end as some wrestling began between Shane and Cameron. Shane ended up on top laughing. I made my way over.  I told Shane to "Let him up if you all are going to wrestle."

This turned out to be key.

One of the ways I get kids to accept my authority is I set guidelines. I don't yell, "No!" and set up a power struggle (Unless they're danger). Shane's the first one I say something to. He has no choice but to listen to me. Other kids normally follow suit.

The boys hopped up (Cameron tried to kick a little, but whiffed), laughed, and then tried to wrestle again. Cameron ended up on top of Shane this time.

Shane tried to kick when they stood up and I said, "No kicking! If you're going to wrestle, wrestle!"

At that point, I was in charge. I would have preferred a game I didn't need to referee, but it was already underway. Most boys need physical play. They also need guidance (especially with kids who I don't know the parents of!).

Shane and Cameron hopped up and went at it again, smiling and laughing. They tussled and got near the playground's border. "Go to the grass! I don't want anyone hitting the concrete." They obeyed.

The game continued in the grass. Hopefully, it was good wrestling practice for Shane. I called out a point whenever someone got knocked over. Jeremiah watched at first. When he jumped in, he knocked Shane and Cameron over while they struggled against each other. "Whoops! Jeremiah got both of you that time! 2 points!"

Lots of smiles, lots of laughs. I called it quits after a while. It's good to end on a positive note and everybody's happy.

I told Shane to "make sure you know your friends' names," as we left. "It shows you care."

Turns out they were both older than him (2nd and 3rd grade). From their size, I would have guessed they were 1st or younger.

We got energy out.

Playground Politics

We've been to the spray park every summer here. Somehow, we made it halfway through this summer before showing up.

"Hello, old friend," Shane thought and hugged the pole.

Shane made a friend instantly.

I brought a bad of paper and my phone and planned to relax and think, but I never seem to be fully able to. I watch Shane, watch the other kids, and watch the other parents instead. Situational awareness and observation are part of my profession.

There was definitely some playground politics that went underway for over half an hour. Shane and his new friend wandered off the spray park and onto the playground. There were a couple of older boys there (7-9ish?). They had a sandbox and some toys and Shane desperately wanted to join in (Shane's water park friend got bored and wandered off).

The boys let Shane stay in proximity at first, but it was clear some sort of drama or disagreement was building.

I watched, but was too far back to hear with all the other noises. I wanted to give Shane and the boys time to work out the issue on their own.

Later, an older girl (10? 11?) came and the boys seemed to be telling her that Shane wanted to use "her" sandbox. The parents of the other kids were closer and seemed oblivious. The instinct to swoop in and "rescue" my kid tugged at me.

This went on back and forth for almost fifteen minutes. There was no yelling, tears, fighting, or any red flags that signaled immediate attention. Eventually, Shane wandered over to me (and that's when the other parents started to pay attention).

"Daddy, they won't let me play in that sandbox. They think I want to use their toys, but I don't. I just want to dig. I don't want their toys, but they're stopping me." etc. Shane said. (Details are his thing).

"It's a public park. You can use the sandbox, but their toys are theirs. Go for it, bud. Be nice and have fun." I pitched my voice to carry without shouting.

"Ok!"

Shane bounded back off, and I heard one of the other parents say, "He can use the sandbox."

Shane was still young man of the group, but he managed to make himself useful. There was some sort of pool the kids wanted to build. He found a water bottle and filled it up from the spray park.

It took him a few times to figure out how to fill it quickly. The kids sent him back if it wasn't full.

Things went pretty well the rest of the time. Shane showed the boys how he filled it up so they could (and then kept explaining after they got the gist of it).

We spent around an hour and fifteen minutes at the park. I stayed under my tree in the shade, and the boys dug a "Pikachu pool."

When we left, the older boys were frustrated with each other. They were chasing each other on the playground and throwing mulch. I'd bet they were brothers. Shane was oblivious, because he was "washing" all the mud off in the spray park (I timed that well, heh). He played another five minutes in the water park before I threw him in the car (it was hot!).

Shane's a great kid. I know I'm biased, but I think he's remarkable for his age.

Meanwhile, I got jack done. My paper was nearly blank.