We had practice last Friday night…in the rain…and Jack did nothing. For 2 hours. He warmed up, and then the coaches worked on one offensive play. Jack’s not on offensive this year. So for about an hour and 30 minutes he tried to stay out of trouble with the rest of the defensive team…while it rained…and he was on antibiotics for tonsillitis…I digress.

We did win the game Saturday. The team is now 1 and 1. It’s nice to win. You don’t have to hear the other parents bitch loudly about the refs…or the other team cheating…or our coaches being inept…or the refs… Last year, at our championship game, which we lost, a group of the dads were yelling at OUR coach BEFORE the game even began. During warm up. Wow.

They play 10 or 11 games plus the tournament. I pay $4 dollars a game…just for me. If Sarah comes, or any of our family, that goes up a bunch. We paid close to $100 for registration, pads, and uniforms. Then throw in the extra $50ish from me alone to see the game…plus the $50 from his mom…plus the $50 from his grandmother who’s at most of the games…you see where I’m going? It is a money pit.

Jack does like it…which I guess counts for something…but it still is my least favorite sport.

ROLL TIDE!!!

Tony loves his brother. It’s reciprocated, just not in as visible of a way. Jack asks about Tony all the time, about his foot, if he’s walking yet, if he talking yet, so on. He always seems interested in his brother, but not like Tony is with him. Tony lights up when Jack’s around. He’s like the little terrier in the cartoon that follows the Spike the bulldog around like he’s the messiah. Tony is fascinated with all things Jack. And Jack is pretty crazy about that little Binja as well.

I worry that Jack is going to start to resent Tony…the fact that he “gets” to live with us, and Jack, only part time. So far we haven’t seen evidence of that, but I’m waiting. Hopefully Jack will prove me wrong. Maybe they will always have a great brother relationship. It just seems unlikely to me.

I leave you with this cartoon…I’ll let you guess which one is which.

P.S.
This is one of the few Sylvester cartoons I like…No Tweety Bird.

Ok, actually we found one at Hibbitt’s, but we went to Dick’s first. Jack needed one for football. He plays rough, and needs to protect the Comer line.

Now the closest thing I have ever worn to a cup is a dance belt. And, FYI, they are very different.

It’s football season, again. Jack wanted to do the cup shopping with me. Seems he was too modest to talk about it with his mom.

“He needs a new mouth piece and…he wants to get something else…” his mom said with that “you know” sound in her voice.

“Ah…”said I, understanding, ” we will take care of that.” I figured this would come around soon.

He’s hit an age where his modesty is kicking in. It’s kinda cute. He was changing the other night while I was in the room and ask that I turn around. I can’t imagine what he asks his mom to do…probably leave the house.

So we went in search of the athletic protection device. It’s not required at this age, but I would think it would suck to take a helmet to the groin without some padding there. Again…I didn’t have to worry about that in “Camelot”, just hiding my panty lines in my Kermit the Frog green tights. Do you know how hard it is to find a youth ball barrier? We went to 3 stores before hitting a home run at Hibbitts. Now, hopefully, we have protected the boys from harm.

He’s standing pretty well if helped and has pulled up a few times. It’s kinda cool to see him climbing up his brother or one of the dogs.

Which brings us back to the lucky foot. He has an appointment with the pediatric orthopedist in September. We’ll see then what straightening his bones have done. It’s kind of scary…ok, it’s really scary. We have this light hearted approach around the house about it, but it really does worry us for him. I had glasses, and was about the only kid in my class who wore them. I thought that was bad. But Tony will have, at the very best, a limp. I really don’t know what he’s in for…but I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as I would like it to be…or have been trying to reassure Sarah that it will be. I guess I don’t want us to stress about the what ifs, until we know what those are.

So I leave you with an example of the lightheartedness. Sarah was with friends discussing the Olympics and what Tony could compete in to make us famous. Swimming was the conclusion.

“I mean, his foot is kinda flipper like already.”

“But he’d have to do synchronized, because with that foot, he’d swim in circles.”

So it got me thinking. Why on earth do they have to drive to school. I say have to. It seems to me like there are alotta pluses to cutting this privilege out and not a lot of negatives.

Let’s just look at the state of the economy. Gas Prices. What would happen to oil demand if the roads were absent of teen drivers from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm? And the air quality? I mean, we have about 7 high schools in the county I live in. figure an average of 100 students driving per school that 700 ish cars added into the mix every day. That’s in one county. Some have more, some less, but that adds up fast.

Schools would have more space to expand. I’ve heard, on more than one occasion, that one school or another “just doesn’t have room to build new classrooms”. They would if they didn’t have to have student parking. That’s a whole wing of space that’s wasted.

What about safety. It’s almost a mob mentality at 3:30 when hormonal teenagers hit the road. Not all of them, but I have seen many a “street race” happen between car loads of teenagers. And, remember what started all this.

Insurance rates. I would think less time on the roads to have accidents would equate to lower rates…eventually. That one is a reach.

And, finally, attitude towards mass transit. A bus passes almost every house…or would if students couldn’t drive to school…and we teach our kids that as soon as you are old enough, get the hell off that bus. We are training our kids from the moment they learn to drive that public transportation is somehow debilitating. Your status is so much great when you drive to school than ride the bus…which also sets up social discrimination. The haves and have nots. Here’s an article about Cornell University’s attempt at public transportation…College kids…doing without cars.

So what are the cons? Some kids have to work. Well, if nobody drove, nobody could get to work until a certain time. Set your schedule so that you have time to get home and get to work. Most shifts wouldn’t mind a 15 or 30 minute different start time. Starting at 4:30 instead of 4:00 isn’t that much difference, especially if that’s universal.

One of my co workers said the bus came by her house at 6:00 am…and she wouldn’t have gotten up that early…um…I have nothing on that one. Seems like conveiency makes us lazy and we are teaching our kids that as well. I was one of the first stops on my bus route, and then 30 miles from school, so about an hour bus trip one way. It’s all I knew. You get up when you have to.

Just my soap box for the day…oh, my hip…

I did pick him up after he got home from school yesterday. He rode the bus home for the first time.

“The bus driver’s mean…but he lets us have snacks on the bus…but other than that he’s mean.”

“Yeah, well, my bus driver turned your Aunt and I in for starting an egg fight on the bus…when we weren’t even on the bus that day.”

“well…I guess I won’t do that…”

“What, Jack?”

“Start an egg fight.”

“But, I didn’t, and got in trouble anyway.”

“oh…well does it hurt to get hit with an egg?”

“Never mind…”

He also has to wear his glasses full time now. I tried to lay on the “I wore them at everything was great” lie, but I think he saw through it. I hated wearing my glasses in school. Back then they were the heavy, gray framed, thick ass glasses. His are actually pretty good looking…but it still sucks.

So, the first day went rather well. New teacher. New girlfriend. New glasses. Hopefully this will be a better year. If not, I may have to cut somebody.

Tony has hit a phase where he doesn’t want to go to sleep. He actually has a no holds bar grudge match with the sand man when it’s nap time. He pulled this on the way to the show…Sarah’s show…that we were going to see. We had to get Jack some pants…he’s a growing…grab food and get to the theatre. I also had forgotten Tony’s stroller, which caused a u-turn…while Tony is letting the world know that he shan’t sleep. All the while my mom is blaming herself for a broken van door on their new/used minivan. It was broken, and yet somehow, her not being able to open it was her lack of door opening skills. While dad felt the need to read every sign we passed.

“Ruby Tuesdays”

“Target”

“5 Guys’ burgers and Fries”

“No left turn”

We made it to the show, my wife and Sister-in-law were great. Tony stayed backstage with them during the show. When we got out, the stress began again. The baby was backstage. It was storming outside. I had to get Tony through the maze of folks to my parents, then get the van, in the rain, get the stroller in…with the broken door. It was awesome. I didn’t even have a chance to tell sis how great she was. Sorry…

“No Parking”

“Coca-Cola”

“Dad can we go bowling?” huh, what…oh, that was a question for me. A vote was taken, the Baby was fed, and off we went. Pizza first. Then Bowling.

Did you know that bowling on “Cosmic Bowl” night is 5 bucks a person a game. Plus 3.75 shoe rental. So for 2 games it cost us $55 dollars. Ain’t that crazy? We had fun, but it was about an hour and a half after Tony’s bed time when we got home. It was at this point that I thanked God that my sons are as great as they are. Tony went right to sleep. And Jack followed soon after… I did snap at him. He was following me around while I was fixing a bottle, always where I was trying to go.

“Just go play your Wii…I can’t play right now!”

“um…you said you would get me a drink.”

“I’m sorry; I thought you were just being under foot.”

“Yeah, I do that sometimes.” I Love that little guy.

Until Sarah came home and we decided to move tony from his bed to ours. That way the guest bedroom/nursery could be just the guest bedroom for the night. Tony grappled with the sand man at that point…and almost won. But it was an epic battle…and loud.

So that’s it in a nut shell. Not so bad, but something always unhinges in me when they are around. I’ll be glad when they move closer and don’t stay in our house overnight. I think that would help…I think.

“Weatherly Road”

“First Baptist Huntsville”

“Visions Gentleman’s cl…oh…never mind”

“Your child is sick. He’s projectile vomiting and had 100.8 fever.”

“well…as soon as I fulfill my selfish technology needs, I’ll be there to pick him up.”

So, I pick him up, and he’s being held by one of the workers, being really grumpy. This is not his norm so I know he’s not feeling well. I look at his chart, and he’ eaten almost every 2 hours. Well damn, I think, I’d throw up too. He just, that morning, started eating more in his bottle, so I figure…more food…more frequency…bingo…

Until I read the rest of his chart. “Green discharge from the eyes.” Crap.

Sure enough, we have Pink eye…itch itch…

What the hell is pink eye. On “knocked up” they get it from fecal matter on pillows. Eww.

Conjunctivitis, commonly known as pinkeye, is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, the clear membrane that covers the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids.

While pinkeye can sometimes be alarming because it may make the eyes extremely red and can spread rapidly, it’s a fairly common condition and usually causes no long-term eye or vision damage. But if your child shows symptoms of pinkeye, it’s important to see a doctor. Some kinds of pinkeye go away on their own, but other types require treatment.

Conjunctivitis can be caused by infections (such as bacteria and viruses), allergies, or substances that irritate the eyes.

There’s more to the article, like how to treat and prevent. All I know is that baby is pissed off.