Hot-N-Cold

What a day! The kids have swim lessons just after Eli gets off of the bus on Monday. This could send our week into a tizzy with the 'go-go-go', but so far it has really worked well for us. Today we hurried a little more than usual, just because we had Eli's baseball party right after swim was over, but it still didn't cause too much craziness at all.

We had a great few minutes at the house before we left, complete with Eli and Maddux getting along really well. Swim was awesome, as expected. Maddux is starting to goof off a little in class, now that she's comfortable with the teacher and the kids, but she is still flapping her fishy flippers pretty well.

The party was across the street from our swim lesson, so we had a 20-minute cushion of time between. The kids and I had some great conversation, complete with Eli telling me, "Mom, I love you more than you know." It's those moments that melt my heart. First off, how can your child saying that NOT move you to the core. But it means even more to me because it's something I say to the kids often, so it tells me that Eli IS listening and he DOES know that I love him.

Eli's party was fine - some crazy boys and some crazy behavior, but Eli did really well, keeping himself well-behaved the whole time. The kids watched some slide shows of game pictures and some video footage of the season. They ate dinner and received trophies for participating with the team. After that, the coach passed out four "MVP"-type trophies. Eli received one: Most Aggressive Player. We were so proud of him for giving effort at a level that allowed him to stand out in a crowd of many good players. Even more, I was shocked; if you had told me two years ago, even one season ago, that Eli's name would be in the same sentence as 'aggressive', I wouldn't have believed you. But that boy came a long way this season and he did start playing with more sense of urgency than I've seen in him before. It made for great conversations on the way home about how proud I was of his effort and unwillingness to give up. (The two of us were in the car alone; Maddux rode home with Lehr.)

Unfortunately, the great conversation was followed by a monumental meltdown by Eli when we got home. I don't even remember what set him off this time, but he was beside himself, out of control. 100% due to fatigue, still 100% unacceptable. The good news is these crazy 'episodes' are much fewer and farther between.