More Soccer

This week Christian attended soccer camp at the high school each morning and had a wonderful time.  It was great because he could ride his bike to and from the camp and I was free to take Benjamin to marching band camp (across town) which was at the same time.   In the evening he had soccer practice with his team.  The season is over but the coach is so amazing that he has offered to continue to hold practices (for free) all summer.  He does them at the park in his neighborhood which has a wonderful little playground next to it.  Peter has an unlimited attention span for swings and sandboxes which this park has, so he's always happy to come to soccer practice too.

This is the face that Peter makes if you ask him to smile.  Cracks me up every time.

Soccer camp at the high school.  I only watched on the last day and came late enough that pretty much all the action was over.  He said he wishes it were every morning all summer.  I'm so happy he had a good time because he didn't want to do it at first.  He was nervous to be with all those strangers.  Then he told me, "I realized I'm missing out on such great stuff just because of people!  That's dumb.  I want to do it."  I was proud my little introvert pushed himself out of his comfort zone and saw the benefits of it. 

Soccer practice at the park.  They were on the blacktop this day to practice with the ball moving faster. 

Now that school is out, we've been trying to find as many non-screen activities as we can.  Peter and Christian and I went exploring in an unfamiliar section of woods and found a wrecked truck.  The boys thought that was really cool.  How do trucks end up in the middle of the woods??

We also went to the beach.  What a change from last year.  Benjamin didn't want to go and couldn't be persuaded.  Bella didn't want to go, but I forced her.  She complained and asked "When are we going home?" no less than 20 times in the 1.5 hours that we were there.  Christian tried to be happy and optimistic but it's hard when your sister is acting so miserable.  Luckily we had some good moments and I don't regret going, but we're seriously in the teenage phase of parenting and I really don't like it as much as the younger ages.  When they were little they loved going to parks, playing on the beach, splashing in puddles, etc.  Now just getting them to leave their bedroom is a challenge. Nothing ever compares to staying home on a screen.  And certainly hanging out with family is never as good as hanging out with friends.  Thank goodness I still have Peter.

Peter's smile again:

Benjamin's Eagle Scout Court of Honor

We finally made Benjamin's eagle rank official.  There were 10 scouts in his troop that attained the rank of eagle during the last two years, but who couldn't have an official ceremony (called a "court of honor") due to Covid.  So, now that things have settled down, we all got together, divided into groups of 5, and planned two outdoor ceremonies.  I loved having others with whom to plan because, truth be told, I never wanted a court of honor.  Benjamin didn't either.  Only Kelly wanted one and insisted we do it.  He felt that it made it official and meaningful and helped Benjamin to see how the rank of egale wasn't just an accomplishment to be forgotten, but a charge and a duty to live true to those ideals forever.  However, in his mind, the court of honor would be how we did it in the church - simple, cheap, quick.  In the non-Mormon world of scouting, an Eagle court of honor is a HUGE deal and he quickly realized what he'd roped me into and appologized repeatedly.  I had to attend 12 one-hour-long planning meetings, spend $600, and spend countless hours of prep to pull this thing off.  In the end, it was fabulous and Benjamin admitted he enjoyed it and felt pretty awesome.

Kelly was the only father who was an eagle scout, so he got to lead the boys in the Eagle oath - the pledge to live true to the ideals of eagle throughout your life.  He came down with a wicked migraine that morning and had spent the day in bed, so we weren't sure he'd make it.  I was there hours earlier setting up and he ended up driving to the wrong park and arriving very late, but luckily he made it in time.

Kelly put on Benjamin's eagle neckerchief and, as Benjamin's mom, I got to pin on his eagle pin.

Then he presented me with my traditional mother's pin, which meant even more to me since I'd also been his cub master for 4 years.

Then Kelly got his father's pin.

Then the troop presented all the eagles with their plaques - each one unique - showing the first 21 merit badges they earned as a scout.  21 is the number required to attain eagle, although all the boys had earned more than that.

Then every eagle had to give a speech and present mentor pins to those who were crucial in their path to eagle rank.  Benjamin was terribly nervous about his speech and it ended up being the shortest of all of them.  However, he was very poised and mature, and despite his brevity (which is very Benjamin in any circumstance) he didn't seem nervous at all.  All the other boys were 18-20 years old, yet he held his own very well.

He presented a mentor pin to his former scout master, David Reiche.  He wanted to also present a pin to Michael Edwards, the assistant scout master, but he is undergoing chemotherapy and was unable to attend.

The ceremony also included various other elements which I didn't photograph because Benjamin wasn't directly involved - speeches by other scout leaders, the candle ceremony involving the wooden mountain you can see on the left in the picture above, etc.  We also had the memory boards along the back wall where photographs and memorabilia from the eagle's time since cub scouts was displayed.  That darn board took me so many hours.  I will include a picture of it when I remember to take one.

We also had the whole event catered.  To save money, we provided some of the sides and we served it ourselves.  I enjoyed that because I got to see each and every person who attended as they came through the line.

Finally, in the end, we had 5 smiling eagles - Alex Czajka, Andrew Czajka, Benjamin, Joe Dlugos, and Andrew Wozniak.  As Joe's grandpa put it, "4 Polacks and a German."

Christian asked me afterwards if I regret doing it or if I'd do it again.  I hated the process all the way through because I felt like Kelly had forced me into it and everything the others wanted was just so over the top and unnecessarily fancy and expensive (ie. $150 for the special cake decorated to look like a scout shirt!!) but once the whole thing was done, I have to say, I'd do it again.  I loved the others in the group.  They are wonderful people and I'd never have gotten to know them so well if it hadn't been for this ceremony.  Also, seeing Benjamin honored publicly like this and seeing his smiling face and seeing how proud he was, was heart warming, to say the least.  It was emotional when the whole audience of 100+ people stood and clapped for him and the other scouts.  I would do it again for that.

Appointment for "Now"

 With the oppressively hot days we had last week, I took Peter to the splash park while the kids were in school.  He had a wonderful time playing with his sand toys in the water and cooling off. 

 When he'd had enough, I decided to take him into the nature center that is in the same park.  They have tons of fun animal displays and activities and I knew he'd like it.  However, covid changes everything and when I got there, I saw a sign out front that said they were only open by appointment. I thought about leaving, but I really wanted Peter to see it. It listed a phone number to call to make an appointment, so I stood there, in front of their door, and called.

    Me:  Hi, I'd like to make an appointment to visit the nature center.

    Office staff member: When would you like the appointment?

    Me: How about right now?

    Office staff member: Ok, let me get the door. 

It was that simple!  As luck would have it, no one else was there.  We were welcomed in and she proceeded to set up all sorts of displays, bring out pre-santized toys and activities, and clean the bunny enclosure so Peter could enter if he wanted.  We were the only ones in the whole place and I thought, "Why doesn't everyone do this?!?" until she said, "I'll take your payment right over there whenever you're ready."  I put on my my best poker face and pretended I'd known all along that this place I'd visited dozens and dozens of times with my other three was no longer free.  I should have realized - no one sanitizes and preps for one guest without making it worth their while.  Oh well, I had one hour to make the most of it and we did.

Peter loved seeing the bees flying in and out of their indoor hive.  You could hear the busy buzzing and he was so excited that he kept wanting to bang on the glass.  I had to grab his hands many times for fear we'd soon have a massive disaster.

Many of the items I remember them having, such as many different kinds of animal furs, were gone because they are not sanitizable, but they brought out lots of other fun toys and activities for Peter to use.  He loved the magnetic building blocks.

His favorite, by far, though, was Twitch, the bunny.  He spent a long, long time with him in his enclosure, gently stroking his back, attempting to feed him green beans (Twitch was defintiely not hungry), and sometimes simply sitting still next to him and watching him.  So sweet.   

The nature center also had tons of other activities and animals I didn't photograph and it was well worth the money, at least this once.  Just really wish they'd mentioned the cost on their sign.

This is the last week of school for everyone and Peter and I have been making the most of our last week with one-on-one time.  He found the perler beads in my closet the other day.  My initial instinct was the shriek "no" at the imminent disaster, but then I thought it might be a really good fine-motor activity as long as it's kept within certain perameters.  I got him a tray and some tupperware and a few perler forms and he had a wonderful time scooping the beads from the bucket into the containers and trying to place them on the forms.  Any that spilled stayed on the tray and he was remarkably careful.  No beads ended up on the floor until he began to tire of the activity.  Then he started to make a mess and I saw it was time to end.

We've also gone swimming a couple more times, once again with Christian.  No trip to the rec center is complete without climbing the big hill out front.

Peter had so much fun climbing up and running down.  Sweet Michigan children deprived of mountains have to find their hills where they can!

Our ward boundaries have recently changed and we now have about 100 new families in our ward.  Consequently, we had a big party at the park to get to know everyone.  I brought along my blind friend and her seeing eye dog, Ava.  Peter couldn't get enough of Ava.  Ava was the dog that Peter "attacked" when he was a baby.   At only a few months old, he reached out and jabbed his fingers into Ava's eye, escaping a mauling only due to Ava's impeccable training.  Ava has never forgotten and is always leery around Peter.  It's pretty funny to see sweet, well trained Ava fighting between staying by her owner, as she should, while avoiding Peter's dangerous fingers.   Eventually Ava allowed Peter to pet her and Peter was willing to go play and leave the poor dog alone.

Overcoming Covid Isolation

 I've been trying to help Peter become more comfortable around children by going to playgrounds and library events, etc.  Our church organizes a weekly playgroup that meets at local parks every Tuesday.  I take him each week in the hope that he'll make some friends among the young kids.  We have 6 boys and 3 girls in our ward all born within a few months of him.  Today we took one of the girls with us because her mother had a doctor's appointment.  I worried he'd be uncomfortable with her in the car and with me taking care of her, but he didn't seem to mind at all.  He warmed right up to having her next to him in the car and the two of them followed each other around the park all morning.  They didn't really play together, which you wouldn't expect of toddlers anyway, but they happily stayed close to one another and interacted really well.  It was so fun for me too - having two little toddlers at the park.  Two little blondies, the exact same height, playing together, made me look like I had twins and it was fun to imagine I did.  I would gladly have taken her back home with me.  When her mom arrived and we went our separate ways, the little girl cried and tried to get into my car and Peter pointed to her empty seat all the way home, making expressions and motions that indicated he missed her and wanted her back.  It was really sweet to see the two of them bonding.  It gives me hope that the effects of Covid isolation for Peter will be shorter lived than I'd feared.

Nature Walk

No one else wanted to leave the air conditioned house today, but my little buddy was happy to go on a walk with me.  I'd much rather cool off in the shade of the trees than with air conditioning.

We stopped at the playground on the way home.  This little man has incredible grip strength!  He loves to hang and swing on things and he can hang for a really long time.  It's impressive for a one year old.

 

End of the Season

 Today was Christian's last soccer game of the season.  Today he scored his first goal - the perfect way to end the season.  His team won 8-0!  As the final whistle blew, a member of the opposing team stomped his foot, screamed, "This team is trash!" and stalked off in a huff.  I felt bad for them.  Not a great way to end the season.  Christian, however, was elated and asked if we could go buy his favorite sandwich at Subway to celebrate.  We stopped by the house, picked up Bella, and had a little victory lunch.  His favorite, btw, is bacon, lettuce, cucumbers, shredded cheddar cheese, and ranch on toasted italian.  He ate an entire footlong by himself!

(Christian is #12 in black)  It was hard to get pictures from far away, so they're quite grainy.  Plus, taking pictures with a toddler climbing all over you and repeatedly grabbing your arm is hard.  However, today during the game Peter started giving back rubs and arm rubs and it was so sweet.  He would just stand next to me and start rubbing my back or my arm and stare into my face.  "Are you giving me love?" I'd ask.  "Yeah," he'd answer.  Then he'd smile really big and place his head on my shoulder.  Melt my heart.  

Then, given that it was 90 degrees outside, we decided to go swimming.  We bought a summer membership to the rec center so we could have more things for the kids to do away from the screen over the summer and I've already taken Peter there twice this week.  Christian had a wonderful time too. (Benjamin was motorcycling and Bella was at a birthday party.) It's a great multi-dimensional pool with lazy river, little whirlpool areas, lap pool, slides, and a toddler area.  Something for everyone, although the slides are still closed due to covid.  I love seeing how cute and gentle Christian is with Peter.