SUPER START TO FALL SOCCER!

The kiddos started soccer this week, with Cora's first practice on Tuesday and James' first practice on Thursday. Jay is coaching both teams this season, which I'd worried would be too much for him, but the week went much better than I expected (especially considering all the extra doctor-related activities he had...) Cora's U5 team is a great mix of kids and Jay was thrilled that they all showed up to the first practice, nobody cried, and everyone seemed interested and engaged the entire hour. Cora was thrilled because her best boy friends Will and Jameson are on her team! James' team has one returning member from last season (Davon), and for the first time since his very first season, he doesn't have an all-boy team (there are two girls). James was a little bummed that he didn't have any buddies playing with him this season (Grant is not playing this fall and Coltin is on a different team - and of course he still misses Manu), but he's a very social kid and has no problem making new friends, so we're not worried about it. Besides, maybe it will help him stay more focused during practice and games?... Another change for him this season is that his practices are run academy-style, where there is a head coach who plans out the activities and runs the U6 kids from ALL the teams through them together. Jay still attends practice as team coach and is tasked with keeping his kids focused, encouraging them, and providing one-on-one assistance/guidance as needed.

Jay reported that both kids did great with practice this week. Cora was interested and aggressive, and behaved very well for "Coach Daddy". James stayed focused and learned 4 new footwork moves, and scored 2 goals during the scrimmage at the end of practice. He was SO VERY PROUD when he got home, showing me his fancy footwork (we had a short demonstration even though dinner was waiting on the table) and telling me about his goals - it was adorable and I couldn't stop smiling.

U5 team practice on Tuesday

U6 academy-style practice on Thursday

 My fingers are crossed that both kids really enjoy playing this season! 

(And I have a feeling that I'm actually going to be learning a lot more about soccer this season - the rules, the language, the moves - than I have previously, due to the increased skill level of the kids. I won't be attending practices this season though... Since we have that 3rd carseat, we're making use of it to spare the non-practicing kid an hour of sitting around the field on a school night, and to reduce the number of nights we need to eat dinner out due to practices ending at our usual dinner time - meaning I can be at home and have dinner on the table when Jay walks in with our soccer player.)

 Today they played their first games (Cora plays at 11:00am and James at 12:00pm). Cora's team played our friends the Lilleyman's team (and we play them again for our last game, which is good, since they weren't actually there and had a substitute coach). There was definitely some field dancing done by Cora, but overall she seemed far more into it today than she did last fall, so we'll see how things go from here. James played an awesome game and was very proud of himself. He played hard and definitely gave it his best, and even scored a couple of goals at the end! His team seems really well rounded, with a couple of ringers, so I expect them to have a fun season together.

I took lots of photos today, since it was the first game of the season...

Warm up time

Cora and her best friend from school, Jameson (whom she calls Jamie)

Will is #5, and he also played an awesome game today! I never saw the smile leave his face! Except when he had to sit out a quarter to give the other kids a chance to play and he continually asked when he could go back in ;-)

 

This one cracks me up! Jay looks totally confused by whatever the kids are doing!

Practicing kicking goals after the game

Temps were in the upper 60s during Cora's game - it was AMAZING!

It takes a lot of gear to coach two soccer teams...

James' team warming up before their game

Scoring goal #1

Taking it down the field...

...and scoring goal #2!

CHORE CHART CHANGE-UP

With the entrance of Skylanders into our lives, we saw an opportunity...

Skylanders (and Lego Batman/Indiana Jones/Star Wars) privileges are excellent bribery for our kids (especially James). Not wanting them to play whenever they want, we set some ground rules:

1. No playing video games on school days/nights (including Sundays after nap time)

2. Video game time must be EARNED (it is not just a given privilege)

This is where our new chore chart comes in...

 We based our new chart (or "scoring sheet", if you will) on the report cards that come home from school daily, where the kids get smiley faces (or "meh" or sad faces) for each of a dozen behavioral attributes throughout the day (listening to the teacher, participating in circle time, keeping their hands to themselves, etc.) Ultimately, their overall number of smiley faces (or lack thereof) determines whether they ended the day on green, yellow, or red for that day (with red obviously being a very bad day at school). We input their scores from school and add our own scores (based on their behavior at home in the morning and evening, as well as whether they complete their daily chores), then add up how many minutes are earned (or lost) each day to give them a total for the week. By Friday evening, they CAN each earn a total of 2.5 hours (and they often do, though not every week). That time can then be used between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning (with the caveat that time can still be taken away on Saturdays or Sundays if they behave poorly over the weekend). So far this has worked REALLY well for James, and relatively well for Cora (you should have seen her the first time she woke up and realized that we had indeed put her on red the night before as we told her we would... fists clenched at her side while she screamed through her teeth and her whole body shook - she sure learned a lesson that her mama and daddy mean business!)

This is what their Chore Chart looks like now that we're no longer requiring them to check off their chores as they go each day (that was ridiculously time consuming, or we forgot about it completely and then the kids were mad that they didn't get to write their "X marks the spot").

And we still have our Rewards and Consequences sheet up on the fridge too (though it's been updated), and they know that if they BOTH are on green all week long, then on Friday after school they get to do something special (like go to Orange Leaf and/or the bouncy house place, or rent a movie from Redbox) or go out to a movie sometime over the weekend. They have missed quite a few Friday afternoons of fun in the past 5 weeks, but they're getting better about it, and it's quite entertaining to see them chastise each other if somebody is given a "yellow" warning, that they "better behave" so they can go get froyo!

FIVE DOCTORS

In two weeks time, Team Lindsay has seen a general practicioner, a dermatologist, a dentist, a urologist, and a cardiologist... Some visits were planned, some were not.

Our first planned visit was the dermatologist. At 35 and 37 years old, neither of us have ever been to a dermatologist to have all our many spots checked out, so we figured we were well past due. The doc told me that he's never seen someone with so many moles not have a single one that is irregular. Glad to be in the minority on that one, even if he did just call me "moley". He found one suspicious spot on Jay, but pathology cleared the biopsy. We don't have to go back for a year unless something new pops up that worries us. Minds are now at ease.

James has been SO GOOD at school (and at home) since he started kindergarten (not that he wasn't good all summer, but we worried, since he had a rough start last fall when classes changed and grew in size) that we wanted to reward him. He's been wanting a Flash costume (because he's "Fast like Flash!") for many months now. Cora has been good at school too (just not at home...), and her obsession with Elsa is never-ever-ending, especially after getting to wear Addy's Elsa costume while in California, so we tracked down an Elsa nightgown - it's soft and has snowflakes AND a picture of Elsa embroidered on it, so she LOVES it, and it's durable and washable, so WE love it too.

Our first unplanned visit was for Jay to see the on-station doctor here at work to get a spider bite checked out... He was "smoking out" the shed on Saturday (and working in the yard) so that he can do a roof repair (had to clear out the raccoons and other random animals first), and we're guessing a spider fell down from the ceiling during the smoking and bite his inner arm. He said it felt like a bee sting, but he never saw anything. No symptoms. Then he woke up Sunday morning with a raging red rash centered around a black necrosis spot... not good. So Sunday was a "lay around and don't get your heart-rate up so we don't have to go spend $75 on an ER copay" kinda day. Luckily, Benadryl helped the itching a bit and he never got feverish or nauseous or anything else, the rash didn't spread, and there was no sign of infection. Monday morning he went straight in to see the doc at work, and he was picking up a prednisone prescription by lunch. The doc said it looks like a Brown Recluse bite. It's days later now, and Jay is healing from that, but the prednisone has potentially caused some other issues...

I told her that the sun was making her hair glow and she struck a pose and said "No mama, that's just my magic."

Also on Monday, after a 3-month waiting period, Cora finally got in to see a pediatric urologist to discuss her looooong streak of accidents (which had miraculously ended during our trip to California and continued successfully over the past month of our return home, but we sure weren't going to cancel an appointment that took that long to get). I figured they would do an ultrasound, maybe bloodwork, etc., but it was just a simple urinalysis (which we'd already had done multiple times by her pediatrician and our general practitioner over the past 1.5 years to rule out infections) and lots of talking. The urinalysis was clear, as usual. They determined that Cora needs to alter her technique (wide legs vs. legs together) in order to completely empty her bladder, and to prevent "backflow" from going elsewhere, only to trickle out later. They also recommended some dietary changes (no more Sprite or lemonade splurges, no more chocolate or chocolate milk, to name a few - she won't be pleased) and a more strict bathroom routine (as in, taking her religiously every 1-2 hours, which we tried way back when this all started and had zero success with). I suppose we'll just have to see how it goes. If this doesn't solve it (or should I say, if the problem returns, since she's been absolutely AWESOME about not having accidents for the past month), then we'll have to look for other causes (small bladder, loose sphincter, etc.) She goes back for a recheck in 6 weeks.

Next up was the dentist. This was not a stellar visit for Jay and I... Watch out runners - apparently regularly eating Gu and ShotBloks and all the concentrated sugars they contain can wreak some havoc with your teeth. Jay NEVER gets cavities, but since his return to running this spring/summer, he got one. And I received a VERY long lecture from both the hygienist and the dentist about not wearing my night guard, which they made me a year ago to combat teeth grinding (since I had almost half a dozen hairline fractures in my molars at that time). I have zero symptoms of teeth grinding/clenching (no jaw pain) when I'm awake (other than those fractured teeth...), so I figured it was maybe just a fluke at the time (perhaps just stressed about something), since I have never in my life had another dentist tell me that I grind my teeth (and I've seen a LOT of different dentists with all the moving around I've done since college - Dr. Chaney is our newest, we've been there for a year now, and he is by far our favorite - he's the 4th dentist we've seen just since moving to Mississippi). Well, I noticed a couple months ago that I had a sharp spot on an upper left molar (and figured it was one of my old fillings coming out and needing to be replaced), then two weeks ago I felt another sharp spot on the other side of my mouth (and figured it was the same thing). Nope. Apparently I cracked the filling on the left and CRACKED MY TOOTH on the right. Now I'm the 35-year-old that has to go to bed with a mouth guard for her busted teeth and a heating pad for her busted leg and back (for the behind-the-knee soreness I've had for months and can't seem to eliminate, and the off and on sciatic pain I get, especially after running long miles). Needless to say, Jay had to return for his filling the next day, and I go back next week to take care of my two cracks... 

Christina found this pajama top in a bag of hand-me-downs she got for Will and set it aside for James because she knows he's currently obsessed with Skylanders. He was SO HAPPY when I gave it to him! He went on and on about how "VERY nice" it was of "Miss Christina" to find that shirt for him because he loves Skylanders and "Wow, look at all the badges on here!" and "Hey, I don't have THOSE two guys... Mama, can we get more Skylanders guys?!"

After the dentist, Jay had an appointment with his cardiologist that he scheduled as quickly as he could after feeling absolutely terrible during his run Tuesday morning. His heart has been feeling "off" since the Hill Climb, and the prednisone is likely not helping. They did a stress test that he passed with flying colors, followed by an x-ray that came back clear. The next day he had an echocardiogram, but he's still awaiting the results from that. Since he wasn't cleared by his doctor to run, and didn't feel like he should anyway, he's tried to take it easy this week (not that easy to do though when you're coaching two soccer teams!) Please keep your fingers crossed that all is well with him, but that they figure out some cause for his "off" feeling so he can fix it.

  

Somehow, James has escaped the doctor this paycheck, but his time is coming... He gets to go to the dentist with Cora early next month for their semi-annual cleanings. And hopefully won't need any visits anywhere in the meantime, though he has had a cold for the past week... or maybe it's just allergies like Cora and I had for the past two weeks... unless we had colds too, then just passed them to James. In that case, watch out Jay, because you're probably next.

WIZARD OF OZ BIRDHOUSES

We missed last month's Home Depot Kid Craft because we were in California, but we made it out this morning and were pleased to discover that the kids would be making birdhouses. The downside was that this particular kit seemed to have weak nails in it (that bent easily), so Jay and I ended up having to do most of the construction for the kids. Cora helped Jay a good bit, but James seemed to be off in space a lot (he hasn't been feeling great this week - we think it's just a summer cold that is going around school/town). When it came time to paint, Cora was ecstatic (because painting is her favorite!) and spent probably 30 minutes or more carefully covering and recovering each side of her birdhouse (except the back, which she let me do to help speed up the process at the end), eventually ending up with a basically brown house... James was over the painting in 10 minutes, quickly swirling his yellow, green, and blue paint choices into a lime green color and applying it evenly over the entire thing. Once the houses dried, we took them home and let the kids apply the Wizard of Oz stickers, which made them very happy (little kids and stickers...)

 (At this point, James was done painting and bored, so I let him guard my coffee and play on my phone while I helped Cora finish up. Daddy was inside getting wood cut for some small home projects.)

 Always proud to get their new pins and certificates at the end!

CORA'S DARKNESS

Last November, as we were road-tripping to Georgia for the Soldier Half (which we are doing again this year - the full marathon for me and the half for Jay), Cora was being moody in the car. When she finally quieted down for a moment, James said very seriously "I'm scared of Cora's darkness". Ever since then, Jay and I (and James) have referred to her "difficult times" (i.e. when she's experiencing anger, jealousy, resentment, impatience, disapproval, etc... so many emotions for such a small girl) as her "darkness". After mentioning it to family while visiting California last month, they saw it too (it's pretty obvious when her darkness shows). It's kinda funny now though because if she's being difficult and one of us asks her why she's being grumpy (or insert other negative mood/behavior adjective), she'll turn her evil eye on us and whisper in the creepiest voice she can muster... "Darkness!" We've created a monster...

DOLLAR FUNDRAISER

Agape is doing a Dollar Fundraiser to help raise funds for playground equipment. Not to upgrade, but to get their first REAL playground equipment ever! They currently have an old swingset and a few random/broken plastic toddler playhouses (like the Little Tikes type houses). No slide(s), no ladders, no climbing structures of any kind (unless you count the overturned playhouses that the older kids sometimes arrange into tunnels). A set of commericial grade (SAFE!) playground equipment would be truly wonderful for these kids! If you can spare a dollar, we would absolutely appreciate your assistance with this fundraiser. We are aiming to complete a sheet for both James and Cora. All our dollars are due next Friday - please let me know if you are interested and able to contribute!

 

LETTERBOXING

After the movie, we decided to go on a little adventure and find our first Letterbox. Letterboxing is similar to Geocaching, except instead of following GPS coordinates, you follow clues to find the hidden "treasure" (which in this case is usually a waterproof bag or box containing a history lesson, a notebook, and a stamp). We joined Atlas Quest and picked an easy one to start with.

 Thanks for the idea Cari, the kids seemed to enjoy it! There are dozens locally here in Vicksburg that we can hunt down and many more in nearby areas for when we travel further from home. Perhaps we'll even create our own to hide once we've done a few and started our own notebook.

TMNT

3-day weekends are pretty great! I did my long run early Saturday morning (I'll be glad when it's both cooler and darker in the mornings, to justify starting my long run at 6:00 or 6:30 instead of 5:30...), then spent the rest of the day being lazy (napping, playing Skylanders, watching The Lego Movie again). We all slept in Sunday (James was the first one up at 7:20!) and Jay did a later run, and we followed the aforementioned park play with another lazy afternoon at home (including some Skyping and FaceTiming with the grandparents, and group cookie baking). Today we slept in again, I did a short run, then we tried to come up with a plan to reward the kids for an awesome week behavior-wise last week. Unfortunately, our first plan of going to see 'Planes Fire and Rescue' was busted because it is not playing here in town (or anywhere within a 1-hour radius). Then we thought the bouncy house place would be a hit, but they're closed on Mondays for some reason. Eventually we landed on the idea to go out to lunch (Newk's) and see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (despite some less-than-stellar reviews and our uncertainty about the violence level for our kids). We liked it well enough, but we definitely could have waited for the DVD release. At least it gave James an excuse to wear his new WOOT shirt!