Gymnastics

Last week Aaron came with to gymnastics and brought the camera. The pictures aren't too bad considering how dark it is in there. This is a skinny balance beam and Henry did great on it. He even jumped over small stuffed animals.

This part he does donkey kicks and then forward rolls. He constantly was forgetting to tuck his head in.

This is Henry's favorite free time activity, jumping into the foam cubes. Enjoy the pictures!

Henry's new thing

Yesterday Henry did something he's never done before, and well today he did it again. Let me set the scene.

Yesterday I woke up, took Henry to the bathroom and got him dressed. I let him play upstairs while I made breakfast. When breakfast was ready he came down and started to sit on the bench, but his shorts were twisted. I went to straighten them and noticed they were inside-out. How strange, I thought. I don't remember putting them on inside-out. So, I pulled them down to switch them around, but then I noticed he wasn't wearing underwear. Now I know I put underwear on. I asked him where they were and he said in the upstairs bathroom and he took them off before pooping... um what? I woke up Aaron to clean any mess left on Henry and went upstairs to visualize the mess. I expected poo all over, but when I got upstairs, it was only in the toilet and his clean underwear was laying on the ground. That was it. Aaron had to wipe his bottom and that was it. Wait, so, when did my boy start getting independent?

This morning we had the same routine. I went upstairs to iron my skirt (yes I really did ironing), and I noticed the bathroom door was slightly ajar. I looked at Henry and noticed his shorts were on backwards. I went to the toilet and again saw what I did yesterday. I took him downstairs to wipe his bottom and again that was it.

I guess it is good that he is doing things on his own, but really, could he have picked something else to do?

The end of soccer

Looking back, my last post was April 21st. I guess we've been busy, or I've been preoccupied. I suppose those kind of things always happen.

Last night Henry had his fourth and final soccer game. Watching the game, Aaron and I realized that one month of soccer is probably enough. Henry had a great time, but he seemed, a little, um distracted. He would run around, occasionally kick the ball, but mostly he seemed to to do what he wanted to do. Sometimes this consisted of fake punching kids, or getting into a defense stance and just staying there, but mostly just standing and watching the game around him. It has been interesting because the in all the practices and the first couple games, he was really focused into playing. I guess the novelty wore out and he found out he could goof off a little. I wasn't anticipating Henry to do this. I tried to encourage him off the field, but that didn't really help. He did fine and had fun, so I guess that is the most important thing. After the game they all got metals and Henry loves his. So, we now have his first metal and a soccer ball, pretty good for one month's play. The YMCA also has a basketball league this summer. I haven't completely decided if I want to do this, although I know Henry would love it.

Also last night, I had another basketball game. It is always so much fun, but I do feel like I am in "The Fight Club." Every time I come home with a little injury. The first game I hurt my ankle a little (my ankle was better in 2 days), the second game I fell on my hand and it was badly bruised, and this game I fell on the floor a lot and have a rug-burn type thing on my knee as well as a bruise. I'm going to have to wear a lot of tights this summer if I want to wear a skirt. Still, totally worth it. I had a lot of fun this game although we lost. Our opponents had 3 people over 6 foot, and we had none. I was playing a post against these guys. Not quite a fair match. Early on I was taking outside shots, but they would block it. Later when we were loosing I was getting more competitive, I just drove inside and shot and got fouled. Twice they knocked me to the ground and I got free throws. I did really well on my free throws (75%). In total I got about 5 points, 1 foul and maybe about 6 rebounds. So much fun! Next week is a 6:30 pm game, so Henry and Aaron get to come. I wonder what Henry will think....

Henry's first soccer game

Last night Henry had his first soccer game. It was a lot of fun watching him and feeling like a "real" parent.

Henry did really well and seemed to enjoy himself. He mostly just ran with the pack of kids. He wasn't aggressive at all. If the ball came to him and no one else was around he would kick it, otherwise he would just keep running. It was pretty cute, especially when he was smiling and running at the same time.

During the game I pitched my chair on the corner of the field. The sun wasn't in my eyes and I was close to Henry if he needed me (he did get frequent drinks). I didn't sit by any of the other families which is fine; I was there to see Henry, not socialize. Still, maybe part of me is a bit antisocial. For instance, there is a kid on Henry's team that seems to have a bad attitude. Whenever he was at the corner of the field he always kicked the cones off from their respective spots. Once he kicked the cone almost at me. At this time his mother was right there and she didn't say anything. Later I quietly put the cones back, and guess what? He kicked them again. I felt that mother needed better discipline so I didn't talk to her. During the game there were some very energetic parents that were yelling and jumping. I thought that seemed a little too much, so I didn't sit by them. This is not very neighborly of me. Maybe I should adjust my attitude.

After the game Henry and I walked home and he seemed a little sad. He said he wanted to score a goal. He quickly cheered up at home with some hot chocolate.

Last night around 4AM Henry started crying and told us he peed his pants. He always wears a pull up to bed, but tonight he soaked it through (maybe it was the hot chocolate). He was crying and I stripped him and put on dry clean clothes. I put him in bed with Aaron and I. Immediately he stopped crying and said "this is awesome." We'll see if this happens again.

My holy grail

Last week I stumbled on something amazing. I was looking for co-ed volleyball and I got to Overland Park's co-ed leagues. I scrolled down to the volleyball part, but I noticed there was a part that said Women's Basketball. Wait, what? I scrolled back up and looked. There was a Monday night league with only women. I saw there were 8 teams and they started 2 weeks ago. Oh man, I just missed it. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I called the league coordinator and he suggested writing an e-mail to him and he would pass it to all the team captains, and if they needed an extra player they would contact me. I sent out the e-mail, and waited. Nothing happened. I guess everyone already had their teams. I could always do it next season. I wasn't too discouraged because before this, I didn't even know Women's basketball was an option here. But, then later, I got a call...

One of the team captains asked if I wanted to be on their team. Oh boy, would I? She gave me the logistics and I was to start playing on Monday night. The first game was at 9:30pm. This made for a very busy and long yesterday. After work Henry had soccer (see picture above). Then, I had my session with my personal trainer. I didn't want to cancel because it would be too short notice. In hindsight, maybe I should have. My trainer has been very impressed with my strength progression and promised to make this lesson harder. That he did. This time he taught me super sets, which is very exhausting. I felt that at the end of each set I could not even lift a pencil. After my session I read a book to Henry then went to my game. I went an hour early for check in and also a team meeting. I found my team pretty easily and they were all really nice. This whole night, I never got too anxious. I felt like aerobically I was ready, but I knew my basketball skills were sleeping. I was going to play good defense to make it up.

Pretty soon the game started. Quickly a girl on my team got fouled shooting and had free throws. On the second shot the ref said " has to hit the rim." I thought that meant the ball has to hit the rim to count, but apparently I was wrong. You are not supposed to move until it hits the rim. When I played before, you were able to move as soon as the ball left the shooters arms. Well I got out of the lane right away, the shooter made the shot, but it didn't count because of me. Whoops. Mistake. That's okay, brush it off, no problems. The next time the ball was in our possession I made a shot and it went in. 2 points! Woo! Maybe I redeemed myself. So, I guess technically I made our first points of the game (but it should have been the second).

In the first half we were playing man to man. I realized that maybe I wasn't in the shape I needed to be in. This was a lot more intense than my jogging or even circuit training. Maybe it was because I already worked out, maybe it was because we only had one sub, but I got tired. I wasn't too bad and kept up fine, but I had to limit my explosiveness. Later we changed to zone and I felt much better. Funny that my basketball skills weren't too bad but my aerobic capacity was my limiting factor.

During the game I scored 5 points, 2 shots and 1 free throw (1 for 2). Not too bad. The game was a blast! We ended up winning in double overtime. Very exciting. Everyone there (including the opponents) seemed to be playing for fun. That's exactly was I was looking for. Can't wait to go next week.

Trolley Run

This morning we had the Trolley Run and we all had a lot of fun. I'll give you a recap of Aaron and my run, then I'll show you pictures of Henry's run. Aaron and I got to the starting line a little early and got in our respective places. We were in the green group, which was the third group. I was excited to enroll in this race knowing we were not in the slowest running heap. At the start line we had to wait a little, and that is when things get a little nerve racking. You stand still, amongst other very athletic people. I was getting a little cold and a little nervous. I wasn't scared that I wouldn't finish (like other races), this time I wanted to make a good time for myself. Everyone told us this was a good, easy, quick race and I wanted to do my best. When it was time to go, we took off with the big crowd. At first the pace was a little fast, but it settled down at my goal. I wanted the first mile to be 10:30 and then take it from there. I felt I could hold that pace for 4 miles if I needed to, but if I felt good I could decrease the pace. The first mile went quickly and we ended up with 10:37. I didn't know that during the race because I didn't hear the little beep and wasn't looking for it, but I guessed it to be that amount. The next mile we held it back a little, but got faster as we passed downtown Brookside. It was nice there because the road was getting bigger and it was easier to run the pace we wanted without having to weave as much. We finished this mile at 10:13 and I still felt good. We kept our fast pace from the end of the 2nd mile and just continued. I followed Aaron's lead a little. Toward the end of the 3rd mile I was getting a little tired, but not enough to change pace. We finished the next mile with the astounding pace of 9:38. I am not an under 10 minute runner, so after this I knew we were doing good. For the last mile, I did have to push it a little just to keep Aaron's pace, but it was a good amount of push. The type of push you should have for races. We were closing in the last quarter of the mile when I saw the finish line. I also looked at my watch and saw that we were close to finishing under 40 minutes, but i knew I had to push it, so I did. The last bit was about an 8:00 minute mile. I was starting to feel more uncomfortable, breathing hard and a little bit queasy (not too much). Then, the finish line was above us and the race was done. I looked down at my watch and saw 39:59. Yes!!! We did it. A great pace and we finished the race. It was better than I hoped and I loved everything. After our race was Henry's race, but there was an hour wait until it started. Henry was excited to start which made it a long, long hour. For his race there was a small area of grass designated for the little kids races (age 1-6). There was a path around the kids area for the older kids. They could go half around (~ 1/4 mile ) or all the way around (~ 1/2 mile). Henry wanted to race on the path, so we let him. We lined him up with the older kids and we were off. I ran with Henry the first time and he did great. The other kids quickly passed him, but it did not deter him. When he crossed the finish line he got a ribbon. Immediately he wanted to do it again. Aaron ran with him the second time and then we went home. All in all a good morning.

PS If you want to see more pictures, you can visit our flickr site at www.flickr.com/photos/henrywilliam

New Camera

We've been without a nice camera for a while. Graciously, Aaron's folks let us borrow one of their cameras that they don't use very often. It is a nice camera with a big lens in front. It feels weird to zoom by moving the lens, but I'll get used to since it makes pictures like this.