Crash Into Me

4pm phone call from daycare that Connor had been wounded playing on the blacktop. According to him, "Umm, Mom. Cameron tripped and got blood, um on his elbow and CRASH I tripped over him and BOOM my head hit the ground." That's a quality NTSB interview if you ask me.

Check out the massive bump on his forehead. He came up to my office for an hour at the end of the day and kept calling one of the women I work with by the wrong name. I asked him why and he smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and said "I don't know. Brain damage?" Nice. A wounded comedian.

More On Kindergarten

So, I thought I had some other good pictures on the other two cameras we were using that night, but alas, nothing but fuzzy garbage.

Graduation was so cute. They were all really exicted, but if you watch the video here (its the one dated 6/17 with the picture of the row of grey chairs) I think you'll see that Connor was pretty near the top. He did really well controlling himself to the best of his ability.

I'm a little sad to pass this milestone, but really only a little. He is so ready to move on. Honestly, he was ready to move on a year ago, but our county only has half-day kindergarten and I just couldn't reconcile all the running around that would have had to be done. I think he learned what he needed, but like every mom and dad I'm focused on what he didn't learn. He's not so good with money (that might be genetic!), and time/days/calendars. So, the two of us will work on those things over the summer.

Congratulations, Connor Tate! You did it!

The Graduate

I'll post more about this later, but Connor graduated from Kindergarten tonite. He did a great job in the ceremony. And he did a great job in Kindergarten. First grade, here we come!

A Dip

This lovely afternoon we made a family visit to the new "aquatic center" (pool) at Ida Lee park in Leesburg. The center has a nice sized lazy river pool, two big-ish water slides, a nice kids play area with three smaller slides, including a tube, and a bunch of other water features. What it doesn't have is an open water pool area. It was at capacity when we arrived and it really didn't seem that crowded. Full enough, but not overwhelmingly packed. Lots of lifeguards who seemed on top of their games. Clean bathrooms. Overall, a fun place to go if you don't want to sit! Came home tonite and made pizza on the grill--plain for Connor, onions/garlic/sliced tomatoes for Daddy, and white pizza with arugula for me. I had a whopping four bites of it! Whoo hoo!

Blooming

Okay, this hydrangea was dead last summer. I swear. Nothing but dead sticks pointing up into the air. Now, this. And a perfect blue with no special fertilizer. I note that the neighbor's blossoms have turned pink.

And this is one of our first vegetable experiments in full bloom--yellow squash. Pretty!

And this is what happens when you plant your magnolia in the right spot, it gets plenty of water, and you feed it the right things. That's the first blossom of the year and its easily 8-10 inches wide. And it smells SPECTACULAR.

Not Enough

I have not taken the time to document much of this year's baseball season. Its been a rainy one. About half of our games have been cancelled. But we've had fun, and the families have been just fantastic. And just like with the fall season, the kids have improved dramatically.

On Monday night the coach (Bob) switched things up and had the mom's coach on the field. It was really fun and I think everyone enjoyed it. Not that these shots really support that statement:

Connor had a great second inning playing shortstop. He made a few really good plays and he seemed intense and focused. Focus and intensity not being things we see often, it was remarkable. He was pumped by it and you could tell. He informed me last night whilst in the tub that this fall he would be "moving up to INSTRUCTIONAL ROOKIE". I didn't even know he knew that term existed. But he's right--he will. And we'll look forward to our third season of good old baseball fun.

Take Me Out (But Not For 10 Hours!)

Its' 6pm and we just got home from Washington Nationals stadium where Connor and 5 other Blueclaw teammates participated in Dulles Little League's day at the game. We woke up at around 7 this morning to get out of here on time for the parade lineup at 10:30am outside the stadium. We Metro pooled with 3 other families so the trip in was fun. The parade took about an hour, so we were done with the Little League bit by around 11:40am. First problem---the stadium didn't officially open until noon, so we had to mill around for awhile. Then we got food, but there was no where to sit so we had to sit on the ground. And did I mention that the game didn't start until 1:35pm? So we basically had two hours to kill. It was fine, but YEESH. When we finally got to our seats, we could only stand to sit in them for an inning or so---we were roasting in the sun. It was either leave, or try to get an usher to let us move to seats with some sun cover. We were successful at negotiating that and managed to stay until the end of the 7th inning before heading home. Nice ball park. But a really long day. And now Connor wants to go to the pool, which is just not happening for him. I am bushed.

Remember

Today is the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at Normandy, France which was the beginning of the end of World War II in europe. We sure have a busy weekend here at Tatertown, but you can bet we'll squeeze in some time to be thankful to all of those who gave their lives for the liberation of others.

This is a great resource for information. And this is one of the greatest speeches of tribute to the day and the men that served and died on those beaches.

Golden Rule

C: Mom, I know the Golden Rule.

D: You do? What is it?

C: Treat others like they should be treated.

D: Kind of. Actually its: Treat others the same way you'd like them to treat you.

C: Yeah, yes. That's what I meant.

D: What do you think about that?

C: Its fine. But, Mom, what's the Silver rule?


Insert cricket chirping sound effect. I had no response.

Dive In

Our lovely community pools (all three of them!) opened last weekend. This weekend we made our first visits (both days) since it was absolutely gorgeous weather. I love pools. And I've always loved those David Hockney pool paintings. Couldn't you just dive in?

The largest pool in the community is the one closest to our house and the one that the boy prefers because it has a water slide and a diving board. Connor is fearless and wants to play and swim with kids much older than he is. I try not to be a crazy mama bird and let him fly a little bit, but I still am forced to constantly herd him back to where I can see him and away from the generally kind 11 and 12 year olds that he is driving slowly insane. Its also a really big pool and I am constantly moving around. First, he wants to slide. Then he wants to "free swim" (he heard some kids use that term and now it is de rigeur). Then he wants to jump. All if it makes for no reading, no closing the eyes, no sitting still for long, and constant vigilance.

The pool was crowded both days. Yesterday when we arrived at 3:30pm I had to beg a chair from someone. 90 minutes later it was almost empty. By the time we left at 6:30 there were about 10 people in the water. During the crowded time, the voyeur in me came out and I overheard some interesting conversations.

1. Four teenage boys--older, graduating seniors, laying out on the concrete chatting. Boy 1: "All my mom and dad talk about is wine and real estate." Boy 2: "At least your mom and dad talk." OUCH.

2. Four 14 or 15 year old girls listening to two iPods with split ear buds.

-One of them, the most arrogant throughout the whole conversation, suddenly says "I am a really talented photographer. I don't know if you guys know that." Silence from the others.

-One of them is surfing the web on her device. She turns it to face the friends and says "Check out this website. Its just wives and handcuffs!"

-Girl 1: "Do you still text Robert?" Girl 2: "No. His mom reads his texts." GOOD MOM!!

-"Sterling people are so the BEST. They are the gangsta wannabes."

Despite this silly drivel, there were several conversations that included what I would describe as profound disdain for anyone that they believed took or abused drugs. That made me feel good, at least.