Yesterday, Josiah participated in the school wide spelling bee for seventh grade. Gabe is participating in the second grade bee on Friday. I was testing Josiah on his word list over the weekend in between football downs. He would periodically ask me, “Can you use the word in a sentence?” To which I’d reply either, “No. I can not,” or “I have no idea what verdure means.” I thought I had a fairly large vocabulary until I realized I didn’t know a quarter of the seventh grade spelling bee list. I was also no help when it came time to pronounce the words. The words are followed by phonetic symbols which would be helpful if I knew how an upside down e or an a with an umlout (Karl will have to give the proper German spelling of that word) sounds. So far, Josiah has been reading Gabe his words. I feel the boy has a better chance that way. At the Bee yesterday, Josiah came in 4th place and advanced to the next round. If he hopes to win, I think he would be wise to hire a new coach.
Last Saturday, Josiah was invited to attend a birthday party for a girl in his class. He would not normally consider such an invitation, but it involved a movie ticket to National Treasure II and free pizza. He and his buddies (mates) agreed they would all go together thereby making it an acceptable occasion. The difficult part, of course, was the gift buying. Abby informed Josiah that the girl liked webkins, and that Josiah could purchase one at Hallmark. Abby loves Hallmark with all its bric-a brac and girly things. Josiah was a bit apprehensive when we set out. We arrived at 0855 and the store opened at 0900. We sat in the car and began to watch our fellow Hallmark shoppers. They were all men. It was the Saturday before Christmas and these men were forced to go out and find a gift for their wives. My brother-in-law Rich was shopping on Saturday, but had to finish up a few purchases on Christmas Eve. He didn’t want to break with the tradition of buying the gift and wrapping it on Christmas Eve. This year, Dale was unable to adhere to this Christmas Eve shopping tradition as a result of his distance away and the speed of the Army postal system. I received my gift weeks in advance. I will no longer be able to grumble about him always shopping on Christmas Eve. Anyway, back to Hallmark…One guy was peering intently in the window with the hopes that he could spot something before hand, so that when the clerk opened the door, he could dash in, purchase it, and make a quick get away. Another guy, who was clearly military, was walking back and forth not directly in front of the Hallmark as if to fool anyone who happened by that he wasn’t actually waiting to go in. He threw something away in the rubbish bin down the sidewalk, he wandered around on the street in front, and constantly looked over his shoulder in case a friend happened by to accuse him of Hallmark shopping. The smart guy stayed in his car and made a quick dash for the door when the clerk finally unlocked it. Josiah and I went in to join our fellow shoppers. I began to find various things and hold them up for Josiah to see. I then noticed a glaze come over his eyes and I thought of Dale. When in a store like Hallmark, Dale will wander around in a daze. He can not relate to anything in the store and the choosing becomes a torture to him. I said to Josiah, “You won’t feel comfortable giving any of these gifts will you?” He replied, “No.” To his great relief, I let him escape. So, down the sidewalk we went to the bookstore where he purchased a day to day calendar and a journal. He brought the gifts home, wrapped them, and even made a funny card. When I dropped him off in front of the movie theater, he realized to his dismay that only the birthday girl had arrived. I left him on the curb and drove away laughing as the dazed look came back over his face.
Last night the school hosted a family fun night for the middle school kids to get to know each other through game playing. Social events are so successful with a bunch of preteens who wander around aimlessly and don’t talk to each other. Everyone started out having ice cream in the cafeteria and then moved into the gymnasium to play games. Gabe went into the gym ahead of me while I was talking to some of the other parents in attendance. When I finally got into the gym, I found Gabe sitting forlornly by his game and he told me, “I don’t know why they named this family fun night.” Where are the Briens when you need them? I saw Josiah talking to a kid in his class and got my hopes up that he had asked him to play a game. But no, why would he do that? Josiah’s teacher set up a game with her son and I made Josiah go over to join them. I finally found a little girl to play a Spongebob version of Life with Abby, Gabe, and I, but the length of the game proved too long for her. Abby’s teacher pulled the large jump ropes out and Abby went over to twirl them, so kids could jump double dutch. She was doing great when her teacher was on the other end, but then a boy in Abby’s class insisted he could do it just as good and took the teachers spot. For the next 30 minutes, the kids attempts to jump in were futile because he couldn’t get the rhythm of the ropes. Some other kids were playing a form of keep away with the only ball in the room. There were three adults playing Dutch Blitz who needed a fourth, but I was stuck as the Spongebob banker and couldn’t join. By the time the kids gave up the Spongebob game, the Dutch Blitz cards had been put away. “I don’t know why they named this family fun night,” I thought. The only one enjoying himself was Zeke who had found the Uno Attack game and was busy pressing the button and shooting cards at himself. On the way home, I instructed my children that they had to be more willing to go and talk to kids and ask them what game they wanted to play. Abby replied, “That’s just not my personality.”
Feeling that we had not had enough family fun, I decided that today we would go on a family bike ride. I was not deterred even though I knew I had to put air in the tires, straighten the handlebars, put the foot peddles back on, and teach Gabe to ride without training wheels. I thought, “How hard could it be?” When Dale called for his weekly chat with the kids, Zeke was sobbing into the phone in between statements of “Mommy mad angry”. Hard for other people, no. For me, oh yah. I did manage to get the bikes road worthy with some help from my neighbor. The hammer isn’t actually helpful during bike repair, but it made me feel better to bang a bike with it. Gabe had his first bike riding lesson and survived the sticker bushes and wipe outs. Five years ago, I taught Josiah and Abby to ride a bike when Dale was going to Korea. Now, I’m teaching Gabe to ride with Dale deployed to Iraq. I’m hoping that when Zeke is old enough to learn, Dale will actually be here to enjoy all this Family Fun.
Yesterday was the first day of school for Josiah, Abby, and Gabe. Josiah is in 7th grade and has now attended 5 different schools. Do you think, maybe, we move a little too much? Abby was awake and ready to go at 0430. She hopes one day to be a teacher and loves school. She was ready to go make new friends. When I woke Josiah up, he asked me if he really had to go back to school. A little different attitude than his sister. I sat in the orientation in Gabe’s class. The teacher explained to them that when she called attendance they were to say here or present. She apologized ahead of time if she pronounced their name wrong and told them she would call them by a nickname if they preferred it. Attendance was called and the children said a quiet “Here” or “Present” until it was Gabe’s turn of course. There is nothing quiet about that child. He is “one louder” or as they say in Australia, “full on”. When his name was called he loudly said, “Here!”, followed by “And I have a nickname! It’s Gabe!” Some of the other parents in the class snickered quietly. However, his declaration seemed to have emboldened the rest of the class. After that there were quite a few, “Here! I have a nickname too!”
