Lions Redux

Connor's fall football team/league participated in a post-season invitational weekend tournament in Richmond a week before Christmas. We had some new players and coaches from other leagues and only three weeks to come together as a team and practice. The football stars were aligned----the Lions won! It was a fun weekend with some great families.

I Hear Voices!

This weekend we got to enjoy the fruits of Connor overcoming a major peer pressure challenge at the very beginning of middle school. Connor likes to sing. He likes to perform. So when his chorus teacher announced tryouts for "All County Chorus", he was naturally interested and somehow expressed that to his classmates. One or two of them told him it was "for girls", and chided him for it. He shared none of this with me and based on the chiding decided not to audition. In a lucky coincidence I noticed something about it on the school's web page and asked him about it. He told me what had happened and that tryouts had be the day before and that he had decided not to do it because he didn't want to take any "crap" over it.

I'll let you imagine the long peer pressure conversation that happened after that. The probing question that seems to really hit home in these circumstances with him is, "Who is happy with this decision? Are you happy?" When you give into others influence and don't do what you think is right and will make you feel good about yourself, you're only making others have power over you. NOTE: Even all of us grownups could use a reminder about this.

Suddenly, a backbone emerged. I think I actually saw it growing.

We decided together that I'd ask his teacher if it was too late and that if he made it he'd be willing to take the "crap" for it, but that it wasn't really worth it to him to take the "crap" just to audition. Good compromise and his teacher was totally understanding. Other kids were still auditioning and she let him do so quietly the next day with no big announcement in class. She and I made it clear to him, though, that if he made it there would be an announcement and discussions in class about rehearsals, etc. That it would not be a secret and that he should be proud of it and prepared to handle any comments or criticisms that might come.

And then the magic happened. He made it. 10 kids from the whole school. One other courageous male as well.

 This is where my professional experience doing sales training, negotiating and communications comes in handy. He steeled himself for the announcement and we role-played how he would handle it when the crap came---as it did. He chose his script response from the various choices we rehearsed and practiced. In the end he went with the simplest:

Boys: What? You tried out? That's for girls. 

Connor: Shut up. Its my life. I get to do what I want and I don't really care what you think. 

And that was the end of that. He said that once it was clear he'd made his choice and that he didn't really need or want their approval, they didn't say much more.

In the end, it all worked out. He had a good time rehearsing early mornings before school and rushed out the door excited to go practice. The day before the concert they took an all day trip to come together with all of the other kids and rehearse for Saturday's show. That, of course, was a big hit. Getting to get out of school for a day to stand around and sing was major remuneration to him.

The show itself was short and sweet. And he got to reconnect with a football teammate of his from a few years ago who also made it. They even got to stand next to each other during the show. It was kind of adorable. It also worked out that his grandmother, aunt and cousins were in town and got to see him perform. He was very proud of himself and we were all proud of him, too.

Bespectacled

Connor.  In his first pair of glasses.  He needs them for reading.  And to be even more stylishly handsome.

Middle School Prep!

• Got the supplies.  Around $120 including tissues and baby wipes.

• Got the locker setup. Learned the combo.

• Got the class schedule.  Did a walk through.

• Got the ridiculous amount of binders ready.

• Now we just need a haircut and a good face wash and we he's off to a new normal tomorrow

I love that Connor is resilient and always ready to move on to the next thing. He squeezes the most of of today and then he's done with it.  That is a great way to be and its something you either have in life or don't.

He didn't go to orientation because we were out of town.  He didn't go to summer's "Bridge To The Ridge" program.   He learned his locker number and combo in 5 minutes.    He ran around showing all the other kids how to open theirs as if he were a teacher.  When he found out his math class was in the 7th grade house, he said "Oh, good.  Some 7th grader might try to beat me up and get the shock of his life." He has virtually no anxiety about it that I can detect.   Maybe he'll freak out in the morning...but I suspect not. 

Lions Football

Connor is playing on a new football team in a new league this year.  We made the change so that  he would be less encumbered by weight restrictions and be able to play a skill position.  But...its not worked out that way.  Though the rules are different here and we thought he'd be fine, he's grown over the summer and he's even exceeding the weight rules in this league.  It remains to be seen how this all will work out, but for now he got to play in a forfeited game yesterday and he scored a touchdown.  

River Riders II

For the second summer in a row, Connor spent a week in Harper's Ferry West Virginia at River Rider's adventure camp.  This year his friend Adam joined him.  They had a blast kayaking, swimming, tubing, rafting, zip lining, etc.  They also spent a day at go-carts and paintball.  We're down 2 water bottles and a brand new shoe.  I think there may be a direct correlation between how great camp is and how much stuff you leave behind. 

Champions!

Connor's AAA Little League team--the Rays--won the World Series championship for their league division.  It was a dramatic week with weather delays and postponements.  The great thing was that Nana was in town to see it! 

Championship Rings!

Promotion - More

A bit more from Thursday night.

They asked us to send in shots from when they started school and now.  Love both of those smiles.

Connor's teacher - Mr Wolslayer.   Loved him.  He was just right for C.

The fifth grade singing "The Climb".

He had a flower for me.  This is how he delivered it.

Fifth Grade Party

Volunteer moms put together the most amazing party for the Mill Run fifth graders. I worked the party for about three hours and I was totally exhausted. Thanks to all the moms who do this all the time. I don't have what it takes!

Check out the link below to see the Velcro Wall get the best of him.

http://youtu.be/j8SVU33WHlQ

Fifth Grade Promotion

There will be a few posts for this topic because I have pictures on multiple devices.

Thursday night was Mill Run Elementary School's Fifth Grade Promotion Ceremony.  It was so sweet.   I thought I would cry my eyes out but the whole thing was so positive and upbeat it was impossible to be sad.

Five years flew by light lightning.

The shirt had to be untucked?

Give yourself a round of applause!

Check out the matching blue laces on the kicks!

Cake!

Inspirational words from his teacher---a life preserver!

Hell Raiser

This is some balloon game of my sister's. Cracked me up!

SportsMANship

Took the photo above just yesterday.   Connor's coach is about to put him into the game.  It was a tough one.  The other team was physically much larger than ours and the officiating was not good.  Our Dragons lost and things are feeling dire with a 1-3 record.   This is Connor's third year playing football and he's never been on a team with a losing record before.  He seems more annoyed about it than sad. 

Last night I ran over to the mall to return Bob's birthday gifts (shirt too small, pants too big!) and Connor came along because he wanted a new xBox game (Skate3) that he's been playing at a friends house. He hadn't had dinner so we stopped at the food court and ordered some Chik-Fil-A.

It was busy there so you had to place your order, move to the side, and wait for them to call your name.  Connor, video game box in hand and wanting to read it, drifted away from me and I didn't notice. After a bit I realized he wasn't with me and turned to face the giant seating area--scanning the packed food court for my missing offspring.

You know that feeling? That quick flutter your belly that comes with the momentary panic that you've totally lost your child?   I had that.  And in my head I was beating myself up because when we'd walked up to the Chik-Fil-A I had been thinking about how relaxing it was to just be with Connor out in public and the freedom that came with not having to be constantly on guard about where he was.  It was a brief respite from the vigilance required to monitor my 3 year old.   Really.   I had just been thinking that very thought and now my handsome 10 year old was gone.  Surely snatched by a creepy guy and now being drugged in the bathroom, his hair dyed, his clothes changed---so the creepy guy could smuggle him out of the mall past the alert crowd that was about to be created when I contacted mall security and began screaming "Connor!" in the food court.

But no.  There he was.   I finally spotted him after a good 2 minutes (it felt like an hour)  of roaming and searching. He was standing beside a table with I family I didn't recognize who were eating their dinner.  There was a mom and dad, two smaller kids, and a boy about Connor's age.  He was deeply engaged in conversation.

I marched over on a mission.  I wanted to hug him.  I wanted to smack him.   I wanted to hug him while I smacked him.  As I drew closer, I noticed that the dad was wearing a t-shirt with the logo and name of the team that had beaten Connor's team earlier in the day-the Panthers.  I still had on my Dragons t-shirt as well.   I got to the table and nicely said hello and then turned to Connor and said with some tension in my voice  "You scared me.  I couldn't find you."   He gave me the blank stare of a 10 year old who's in trouble but paralyzed to respond. The dad jumped right in to his rescue though and said  "You have fine young man there.   He was standing nearby and saw my shirt and came up to me and said "I remember you from my game today."  He then walked right up to my son, stuck out his hand and said "Good game, today, man.  Good game."  I asked them if they knew each other and they don't.   That's quite a nice thing for your son to do and I appreciate it."

Connor looked at me and was proud.   I thanked the dad for what he'd said and for letting me know what Connor had done.  We chatted with them for a moment and then Connor and I said goodbye and headed back to Chik-Fil-A to get our likely now very cold chicken.

I hugged him.   And I forgot all about the smack.   

The 20/20 Experience

Connor had his first real eye exam today. He enjoyed the machinery.  He's a bit far sighted...but no glasses needed.  He loved the pupil dilation!  Trippy!