Highlights
- We get a new kitty on Easter Sunday!
- We have a nice send-off for Calan’s basketball mentor and friend, “Coach Mark”
- Evan starts his first class ever (tumbling)
Meet “Princess Hera Seraphina”!
The biggest “event’ this month came when we finally decided on getting a cat for the family. Mama and the kids had gone to the library to look at some animals during the local shelter’s visit there. We also visited the boys’ dula at her home where she was fostering some young kittens. The boys had a chance to interact with them, and loved it. As it turned out, the library visit didn’t offer much opportunities to engage with many animals, so we had the crazy idea of making a special family trip to the large animal shelter in town. We’d never been, so it would a nice, new adventure for the family. In summary, the entire dog section proved to be too noisy and obnoxious, as countless dogs barked and jumped at their respective kennel gates as we strolled down the walkway around the outdoor shelter area. There were a few sweet and quiet ones, and while we felt bad for all the homeless doggies, the kids were definitely more interested in finding the kitties. We walked through a few rooms where the cats were housed (an instantly much calmer experience!), when suddenly we spotted a cat that looked very similar to Cole. The long, black fuzzy fur standing out behind the thin metal bars of the cage. As we approached, this cat’s own personality took over and she quickly impressed us with her loud and incessant purring. She was always really interested in the boys, peering out and pacing back and forth along the bars that held her in the eye-level kennel. At that moment, we thought “hmm”, IF we were to consider another cat, this would be a good start. We inquired about the process just to “see” how it worked in terms of adopting. We took some photos and got some more information about this cat, “Hera”. We would have to wait several days to adopt her though as her situation warranted family getting a first right of refusal before she could be adopted out. This was actually good as it allowed us to think about things during the week. By Easter Sunday, the day she was to become available, we took it as a positive sign that the shelter was actually open and we could go down again and officially get to know Hera. She picked up right where she left off on our first visit, purring affectionately with the boys’ attention, and accepted pets, rubs and kisses. She really “showed her goods” as one shelter worker phrased it. Without really thinking too deeply about it, everything just made sense to go ahead and adopt her. The boys were really excited, and watching the experience through their eyes helped erase all the emotional reservations that us parents had about getting another pet given we had lost two in the last 5 years in very difficult ways. When we brought our new kitty home we realized she is the perfect mix of what we really need right now in a cat, and a pet for that matter: Affectionate, but also a bit skittish and alert to her surroundings. Kind of a blend of Cole AND Desi… a cat that would cuddle up, but would also not enter into danger. Hera’s own curiosity seems to be overshadowed by her trepidation and concern for loud noises, fast moving objects and things coming at her that are bigger than she is (basically a description of Evan most of the time!). We were very happy to welcome our new pet and witnessing Calan, especially, take to her as his own in such a caring and loving way.
Aside from the big event of adopting a new kitty, Easter Sunday was just right this year. We kept the “festivities” low key. The one egg hunt this year was outside, where the kids had fun finding all the places sneaky Mama had put the eggs. Dada took the kids to the park to play with their new RC cars they each got while Mama did the hiding. The boys, Calan especially, had been asking for an RC car for some time. We went with a couple of starter models. They may not last long but they captivated each guy for quite some time after they received them. We also had a good family dinner, rounding out the memorable day.
This month brought the end to Calan’s private basketball lessons with Coach Mark. They had a great little relationship going during the past few months, Mark often connecting with Calan on the court philosophically and intellectually. For example, the why and what you’re doing as you develop your basketball skills and love for the game. Calan always quietly soaked up Mark’s words of wisdom and Mark regularly pointed out his appreciation for Calan’s mind to be attentive to such detailed instruction and deeper insights during his training. Sadly, Mark’s family needed to move back to their home state of New Jersey this month. As a send-off, we invited the Campbell family over for dinner with the getting a chance to get together. We had a great night, with the kids enjoying each other and the grown-ups hanging out. It made it that much harder to see them leave. Mark also loved interacting with Evan (and even gave him a few pointers on shooting and holding the ball). Evan always looked forward to seeing him at the end of lessons or around the Y. When we said goodbye at the last lesson, Evan showed sadness to the situation that we hadn’t really seen before. Mark handled it well and assured Calan and him that he would return to CA in the future when the time was right. With Mark’s departure from the Y, the “new guy” stepped in to run the weekly conditioning classes. A recent college grad named Kyle; we’ll see if he can take over for the private lessons as well.
Calan
Piggy-backing from his time with Coach Mark every Sunday morning and some serious one-on-ones with Dada in the backyard, Calan continued to progress and enjoy his basketball season more than ever. With his team all type A and dominant in their aggressive play and personality, Calan didn’t always score a lot of baskets in the game but he played with excitement that was sure to catch everyone’s eye. The best was when he would make a basket, he would run full speed to the other end of the court jumping and shouting with so much joy that you couldn’t help but smile and catch all the happy glances from other parents. He was definitely the most valuable cheerer for the season aside from his great improvement on hustling and playing better defense than he ever has. The kid definitely loves playing basketball, and is extra excited about being on a good, high-performing team as far as 6 year-olds go. One game they dominated, ended in a 29-3 (baskets) route. Also, to help celebrate Calan’s efforts and commitment to the game, we purchased some good basketball shoes for Calan. This was the first time we had made this investment in all these seasons. He selected them at Big 5 (on sale of course), but they are some nice Nikes. He looks forward to wearing them every time, and they always take us by surprise, as they are a size or two too big. This should ensure they get plenty of use in the next couple years. We also got the boys a couple of new basketballs while they were on sale. Calan’s ball that he’d used since his first season had finally worn down and was even taking on an oblong shape. That was its way of letting us know it was time to retire it and move on.
With school, Calan has continued on with mastering basic multiplication and adding more complex quantities of things. He primarily works fun little exercises in his workbooks. He also loves to make up his own math problems, often writing out made-up math problems to try and solve. Some are simple, but others can present a bigger challenge such as when he wants to multiply large numbers by other large numbers…bring out the commas! For reading, he’s been getting into the Boxcar Children series. Both boys hit the library a few times this month too, to take in a story time and small art project afterwards. Calan also continues to pluck on the piano (his Minuet song mainly) almost every day. If he keeps it up, the plan is to have him play in a spot in Mama’s recital next month. And of course this month, there was a focus on learning about cats and cat behavior. This had a lot to do with our new kitty cat family member.
Notable quotes this month:
Most Wednesdays this spring we have been meeting up with Josiah in the park. One week, Josiah’s mom offered to have Calan over for a play-date instead. They had fun playing and jumping on their new trampoline in the backyard. The next day, Josiah’s mom Erica texted us this:
“Calan was such a pleasure yesterday. I told Tyson that he was so polite to me and to Josiah. They had so much fun. Josiah wants to have a picnic dinner in the park now, but he said it has to be with Calan. I know it can feel hard at home when we see their toughest moments, but know that you are doing great and that all your hard work is paying off!”
And then
“I even overheard a conversation about compromise, and he’s the one who started it. Josiah just went along and said, “oh, right, compromise.” I had wished that I had been recording.”
One habit of Calan’s lately is to spell out words when communicating, instead of just saying them. This happens especially if he gets upset and really wants something…i.e. p-l-e-a-s-e…
“Sometimes things in my mind are so loud that other people can hear them.”
“How did they invent the first word?”
Evan
One special thing for Evan this month was starting his very first “class”. Recognizing that he’s like most kids and likes to tumble around the floor at home, we enrolled him in the 3-4 year old tumbling class at the Y. This was a perfect introduction to a mini-class structure for him and in something that involved movement that he would like. That said, his first time out he was a little timid to try the different moves with the rest of the class. As each week continued on though, he gained more confidence and gave the different jumps, crawls and rolls a try. It was fun watching him get in line with other three year olds and take direction from an instructor; something we’d never seen him do before. The hardest part of the class for him was if he had to climb and traverse anything that was high (i.e. more than 18″ off the ground!). Just like he won’t get on a changing table in a public restroom he doesn’t want to spend any time above ground if he can’t easily jump down. His favorite part of the class was at the end each time, when the instructor would play music in the gym and they would move through the little obstacle course and dance around to it. He always chose the Moana theme song.
Evan also continued to show an interest in shooting a basketball. He has this perfect little form to his shot, and when he gives it a go on a short rim (6ft), he really focuses and tries hard to get it in. Surprisingly, it goes in almost every time. Before Coach Mark left, he enjoyed coaching Evan a little on his shot and how to make the ball go in. Evan would always listen attentively and want to show Mark his stuff.
Notable quotes this month:
After eating a bowl of oatmeal one morning Evan got up to go play. Before heading off though, he announced that he needed to take his empty bowl to the kitchen “so it could get clean”. He did this out of the blue, all on his own.
“When I feel taller today I will be older.”
“Sometimes babies are girls. And sometimes mamas are girls and dadas are mans and I’m a boy.” He says with a flirty grin and a dose of cheek.
Going to sleep after reading a lot one afternoon Dada said, “OK let’s wrap this book up… Evan said, “No, no let’s not wrap it up… that makes the book sad!”
Not a quote, but an unfortunate incident for little E caught on camera (he was ok, just a little startled!): https://youtu.be/joT2IrlBZhA