Basketball

Maddux just started her winter season of rec basketball. Although she's only played one season before, she really enjoyed it and (of course) picked up the game fairly quickly. Her athletacism comes into play a lot with games that require speed because my girl can sprint!

There have only been a few practices and a few games, but already she's made some baskets! She got one basket in first game, and three in 2nd game! Maddux has shown great blocking and speed on the court, and this season we've seen an increase in her reaction (and action) time. When she gets the ball, she already has a plan for it this year, which is such a vital tool out there!

Nine Lives

Another year gone in the blink of an eye.

You had a great year in third grade; your teacher was a he! Your love for reading was as obvious as ever as we often heard from your teacher in conferences or notes home that you were 'sneaking' reading instead of doing your classwork. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree as that was a constant battle for me as a child. We could not be happier that you are happy to stick your nose in a book. And you've started reading more non-fiction, usually about the civil war. Daddy loves that as he has always been very interested in history. That love for history translated into you dressing up as Abe Lincoln for Halloween.

Best. Costume. Ever.

We had our first bout of lice this year, starting with you. (I think you had half the kids in your class lice-ing at one point.) Smart boy: you opted for a head shave instead of incessant lice combing.

You sat the season of fall ball out. Between some behavior issues and our 'new normal' with Ruby, it was not something we could justify doing. That left great 'holes' in our schedule for after school play and family time at night. It was REALLY nice. This also allowed for us to not be burned out in November, which meant you could try basketball for the first time. You were a quick learner and you seemed to really enjoy the season.

After the holidays you also picked up skateboarding. We bought you a board for Christmas and you've gone to the skate park several times. It's not your strength to take chances with a 'risky' sport like that, but you've done well and seem to really enjoy it.

Back on the field in the spring; baseball for the last time in the Pinto league. You had a great season, catching several line drives and stepping up your fielding ability. More games than not, you were found at first, helping to anchor the team. You even showed some leadership on the field during some of the games, reminding the younger players where the play was as each batter came up to the plate.

As always, summer found you swimming, this time at the height of your age group. Your favorite event at the meet (the IM) is the dreaded for most other swimmers. We took you to county again, and even though you didn't finish in the top 10, you improved your times so much over the summer.

Your eighth year ended with you attending two really cool camps. One was a history camp in town; very opposite of the usual sports and active type camp you normally gravitated towards. You loved it though, and you learned a ton. The other was overnight camp. You (and Drew) went away for almost an entire week. You were definitely nervous when we dropped you off (even more so because you and Drew were staying on completely opposite sides of the camp), but it was obvious through the pictures we saw online that you warmed up quickly and had an absolute blast.

Nine whole years under your belt...where does the time go. I love that you're still so innocent, so naive, so willing and interested in just being a kid. I love that you ask, or beg, to go on one-on-one dates with your dad or I. I love that you still want me to read to you before bed. I love everything about you, Eli.

Hurt

Every kid gets hurt in sports at some point, and tonight was by no means the worst it will ever be. But now it's starting to feel worse than it did when he was younger, even though he probably got hurt more then....

Eli took a really hard fall and got piled on by his entire basketball team towards the end of practice. It was all I could do to not run out onto the court and scoop him up into my arms. When the coach pulled all the kids off of him, he laid there on the ground, crying into his hands flat in front of him. It broke my heart, but I still hesitated to go out and get him.

Why? WHY did I hesitate? How silly is that?

But there are always those moments in parenting that make you second guess your initial instinct. For me, I felt frozen between my desire to make sure he was ok and comfort him and the realization that he's in that weird place the boys always end up in where it's no longer cool or even ok to show pain or to allow your mom to comfort. In the end, I jumped up right away, but took a step and stopped, took another two and stopped...continuing this silly pattern until I was at his side. I convinced him to go over to the sidelines with me to sit out for a few minutes. First he told me he wanted to go home, through tears, but once I realized that his injury was not from a broken bone, I encouraged him to stay and support his team for the remainder of practice, which was only another 10 minutes or so. He ended up going back on the court and playing a little bit, but then returned to me because his wrist was still bothering him.
When we got into the car we talked about it; the fall, the pain, him going back out. I apologized to him for not rushing out right away, as much as I wanted to. Then I asked him if he would want me to also, and my heart melted when he told me yes. Oh how I love that sweet sweet boy. I love love love that he wanted me out there helping him. And I will not hesitate next time..I will NOT. Eli still wanting and needing his mother's comfort when he's hurt reminds me of how 'young' my growing boy still is, even for his age. Eli has always played well with older kids, but he is younger emotionally and in wisdom of the world. How my heart already breaks for the many times that his innocence will be lost through teammates teasing him or kids at school or just life.... I love how 'protected' he has been so far from those rites of passage, but knowing they will come (because that's real life) makes me sad. Some hurts I will not be able to fix...

Basketball

We've talked about some of the perks of an 'off-season' that we've realized in our family, but now Eli is enjoying a different kind of perk: a new sport. By the time we are done with baseball most Novembers, we are so ready for a breather that basketball is not even up for discussion. This year, however, we decided to let Eli give it a shot.

The church up the street has a great league that only has one practice and one game/week AND the schedule is totally laid out at the beginning of the season. Eli's never played formally, but he does a lot of one-on-one (with next to no rules) and shooting in the neighborhood.

As expected, Eli is not in line to be the team's center, but he can dribble and shoot at least as well as all of the other boys. Practice has been great for him, teaching him some of the positions and strategies....and he always looks forward to the next practice. This afternoon was the first game. Eli was point guard 3/4 of the time and did fairly well. The sense of urgency of the game took him a bit by surprise the first time down the court, and he had the ball taken from him by a few more seasoned players, but he loved every second of it.