Jesse's last basketball game

My son, Jesse, has been sick with a chest infection since last Monday and he had a rough week. He got to a point of being too sick to go to school and he ended up missing 3 days of school. Fortunately, he saw a doctor on Saturday, and we are giving him the right medicines that he needs for treatment.

And while I definitely want to encourage a child to rest and limit activities while being sick, it would seem that Jesse was not going to be able to do that this weekend.

Yesterday was the day the team pictures for his basketball team were being taken and today was their last game. It was not like we could reschedule these things and this was the only time those things were going to happen. And while Jesse was feeling pretty crappy, I knew he had to go to both games. If he didn’t go, he would miss out on both of those things. He might regret that later and also get really upset. My husband didn’t want Jesse to go to either games, but these were the last two – the first with team pictures – so I told him that Jesse had to go despite being sick. (And anyway, I wanted Jesse to learn that sometimes we have to do things even when we are sick. Heck, when I was sick for all of last week, I still got up early in the morning and got the kids to school! Life doesn’t stop just because we get sick!)

I explained to the coach that Jesse was sick so Jesse was allowed to sit out Saturday’s game. However, Jesse was feeling well enough to play today, so he got to play with his team for their last game. I am so glad that he got to play, too. It WAS the last game! His team didn’t win but they still had a good game. And Jesse played pretty well, despite being sick.

So he got to be in the team pictures and he also got to play for his team’s last game. This season has gone by so fast. Jesse did miss a lot of practices and games, unfortunately, because of sickness or because we were out of town, but he had a great time playing basketball. I am glad he has good memories of his first experience of playing basketball. He will cherish those memories for a long time. His teammates were awesome and he got along with everybody. And his coaches were awesome, too!

It’s gonna take me a while to get used to not having to schedule things around his practices and games, and even not taking him to practices or games anymore! But there’s always next season. He is looking forward to playing on a basketball team again. Meanwhile, he’ll be shooting hoops off-season when he gets the chance!

Here are the pictures I took from today’s game. Jesse is #40.

Basketball, at last!

Last year, I signed Jesse up for basketball through Kidsports. Unfortunately, because I didn’t have transportation, Jesse missed the first practice. I was worried about Jesse being cut from the team but I let the coach know ahead of time about the situation and he assured me that would not happen. Jesse was very upset that he missed the first practice but he looked forward to going to the next practice.

Unfortunately, the next practice did not happen too soon. We had some inclemental weather so practice was cancelled. Of course we were upset about this, but looked forward to going after the new year started.

Well, basketball practice in the new year got off to a rough start! We had more severe winter weather this month (though not as bad as in other areas) and basketball practice kept being cancelled.

When the snow fell last week – which interfered with children going to school – I decided not to drive unless I absolutely had to. There was snow and ice everywhere. Also, I am not used to driving a minivan in the winter (it’s only been a year since we got the van!), so I put off driving for a while there. Then the weather lessened in severity and kids got the okay to return to school.

And yesterday was the first day and the first time I drove the minivan in the winter. A lot of streets were cleared of snow, but there were still snowy and icy areas. There was also a lot of slush. I was super cautious when driving yesterday and also drove a little slower than normal. I also made sure there was ample room for stopping. It went well and today was much better because a lot more snow and ice melted away. The temp was actually higher than my age for once – I was happy and pleased to see that it was 45 degrees today! (It had been in the 30s and lower 40s for a while there.) And today we even had some sunshine and it was nice to see some GREEN again! Jesse and I spent time on the driveway today removing patches of snow to make it easier for us to walk on it. I was glad to get rid of it!

I had a good feeling that meant there would be basketball practice today. And guess what: There was! Jesse came home feeling bummed thinking that basketball practice would be cancelled and I smiled and told him that it wasn’t. He was very excited about finally being able to go to basketball practice today!

He had a great time at basketball practice, too. His coach is the same coach he had for the first time he played baseball. Well, he has this coach for the first time he is playing basketball, too! Awesome! (And the coach is a great coach!) So now Jesse is playing basketball. This is the third sport that he is playing! 

I enjoyed watching Jesse at basketball practice. I took some pics at first, of course. I also sent out a couple of tweets. But I soon realized that I needed to not only watch Jesse at practice but also my surroundings, because this happened:

Yep, you gotta watch out for flying basketballs at basketball practice. There was one time a basketball almost came flying down at Jesse but he ducked out of the way.

The first basketball practice was awesome and Jesse gets along with his teammates. We look forward to going again soon and Jesse is very happy to officially be playing basketball now.

Here are pics I took:

I'm a baseball mom again!

I loved being a baseball mom in the past. It was so exciting to watch Jennifer first take up T-ball at age 5 then move through the groups as she repeated one year after another of baseball. She had a lot of fun and she enjoyed the sport. Even though some bad things happened, she still liked playing baseball.

That love of baseball never left her even after she stopped playing. She still had her heart in the game and her face would light up when watching movies like The Sandlot and Rookie of the Year. (One of these days, I’ll get her to watch A League of Their Own.)

Unfortunately for me, however, I stopped being a baseball mom after Jennifer stopped playing. I could no longer identify myself as a “baseball mom” but I also still loved the game. I often grew wistful seeing pins about Little League baseball that I pinned to my Baseball love board.

For some time, Jesse was not interested in playing baseball. Soccer was his sport. I was fine with that. Fine with being a soccer mom. Then he lost interest in soccer and went into gymnastics.

Recently, however, he told me he wanted to play baseball. That just came to me right out of the blue! And, unfortunately, it came at a bad time too: A couple of days after the deadline to sign him up for baseball. Still, I told him I would look into it and see if he could still play.

So I contacted Kidsports to see if there was any extra room for him on the team. There was! Yay! (They actually ended up adding two kids to the team in all.) I was so glad there was room for him and started the process of signing him up. I had to pay a late fee, but that was okay. At least he’ll get to play baseball!

So I told Jesse the good news and he got excited. We both went to the Kidsports office to complete the registration process.

Today was his first day of baseball practice. He loved it! He told me “baseball is awesome” and that he had a good time. He is pretty sore from practice but his father said he’ll get used to that in time.

The thing that happened at practice, though, is that the ball hit Jesse in the face a few times. It was NOT a hard hit. It was just when the ball rolled right up out of his mitt and bonked him in the face.

Later, while I was cooking dinner, Jesse told me he couldn’t believe that he got hit in the face with a baseball. (That actually happened to me too when I was a kid!) He went on and on about it. Finally, I told him, “You want to talk about getting hit in the face with a baseball, you go talk to your sister. She got the double whammy.” I told him about how Jen once got hit in the face with a baseball so hard, she had blood on her shirt. Later, I showed him the blog post I wrote about it, as well as the pictures of the bloody shirt. After he saw all that, he said, “I’m glad that didn’t happen to me.”

Well, we still love baseball. And so far, that particular horror story has not scared him off from playing on a baseball team. He’ll be heading off to baseball practice again next week and hopefully by then he can figure out a way to catch the ball without it hitting him anywhere.

Here are some pictures I took of Jesse at practice:

The last soccer game

Today was Jesse’s last soccer game of the Spring season. When the season started, I was worried about his seasonal allergies being a problem. There were only a couple of times his allergies were a problem, though. Nothing major happened. No asthma attack or anything. The one time it was at its worst was when I forgot to give him a bath after practice (to wash all the pollen off of him) but that was it. He made it through the season okay. I am very grateful. It also helped that we remembered to keep him on his allergy medicine every day!

He has enjoyed playing soccer this season. It has been quite an experience for us getting to the practices, games, and coordinating a communication system to make sure I knew when everything is supposed to happen. We look forward to the next season!

Here are pictures from today’s last game. (Jesse is #24.)

First day of Spring Soccer

Today was the beginning of Spring Soccer for Jesse. He was real excited about it, as he enjoys playing with this team and has fun playing soccer.  (He also likes football and basketball.) While Jesse was happy about playing soccer again, I was secretly dreading it, because every spring, Jesse has to deal with seasonal allergies. He does take allergy medicine but sometimes it does not work as well as it should. In the past, we have had to supplement his allergy medicine with another medicine (per his doctor’s instructions) as well as use an inhaler for when the allergies triggered an asthma attack.

But despite my apprehension, I knew I could not let this setback keep my son from enjoying one of his favorite sports. That wouldn’t be fair, and that would send him the wrong message about how to deal with roadblocks in life. He HAS to be able to play soccer despite his allergies. Hopefully, this season will not be as bad as the last one. I’ll just have to stay vigilant in giving him his medicine and watching for any problems, as well as keeping his inhaler with me when we go to practice or games. (Kidsports, the sport club hosting this activity, is aware of Jesse’s allergy situation, as well as my neighbor/friend/assistant coach, so we all are aware that Jesse might need to be pulled out if anything happens.) I’ll just have to cross my fingers and hope that everything will be okay!

As far as the first practice went, I didn’t think they’d be playing much soccer, as they did not on the first day of last season, but, yes, they DID go into a practice round of playing soccer! Unfortunately, I had not told Jesse to wear his shin guards, and, well, he ended up getting a shin injury. Ugh. The assistant coach reminded me about the shin guards and I told him I wasn’t sure if he’d need them today. He told me that Jesse would need them every time, for practice and games. (I am paraphrasing him here.) (Fortunately, I can lipread him pretty well!) I was mentally kicking myself over that mistake. #SoccerMomFail

But other than that, it went really well. Jesse did pretty good even though he fell a few times. He also got quite a bit of scrapes on his legs – and here again, the shin guards would’ve been helpful! As well as the soccer socks. (And, yeah, he should’ve worn pants. It was VERY cold! It was also drizzling. So in addition to me freezing as I watched from the sidelines, I also got pretty soaked.)

After practice, Jesse and I were pretty cold, wet and muddy. Ah, spring soccer. Just like last year! (Only this time, I hope I don’t slip in the mud!) But he had a great time and really enjoyed playing soccer today. He is looking forward to playing soccer with his teammates more often!

Here are pictures I took. I couldn’t get a picture of him kicking the ball (wasn’t fast enough):

Happy 6th Birthday to Jesse!

Today my son, Jesse, turned 6 years old. Happy Birthday, Jesse! According to my daughter, Jesse is now officially a "little kid."

We will be celebrating a big birthday bash with friends tomorrow for Jesse's B-day, but for today, we had a little celebration. What's interesting is that, for Jen's birthday, she first had a little cake on her special day (which was on a school day), then 12 cupcakes for her 12th birthday party with friends. For Jesse, we switched things around. Today, he had 6 cupcakes with his family and, tomorrow, he'll have a cake! (I think it's funny that one child is 6 and the other is 12. Kinda like the year they were 10-4 and I often joked they were "10-4, good buddy" when asked about their ages. LOL! This year, I have a half dozen and a full dozen!)

Jesse also got presents. Yay! Here are pictures from his special day, as well ones of him with his presents.

 

The very first present he opened!

Jesse signing that he is 6.

Jesse climbing a tree while waiting for the school bus.

Blowing out his birthday candles.

Jesse has been asking to be signed up for soccer for months. The boy loves soccer! He was excited to get his very first and his very own soccer ball today.

An Angry Birds hat from Mom and Dad. Perfect for the coming winter cold!