A few weeks ago at Scott’s soccer game, he decided he needed to be a super star. He was playing some hard core defense since their usual goalie was out. He would do a much better play by play than me, but basically he went to block a goal that was kicked at pretty close range. He went to do a header, but the ball got his eye instead. The good news is, he blocked the goal. And I think he knew that before he went down. He was down on the ground for a while before he ran off the field – trying to look like everything was fine, but not fooling anyone since he couldn’t run in a straight line. His eye lid was pretty purple and he said there was a big black spot in his vision. Don’t worry, that didn’t stop him from going back out and playing after a few minutes.
So, after a few days passed and Scott’s vision didn’t improve, he went to the eye dr. They dilated his pupil and found that everything was okay. You know how when they dilate your pupils, they’re very sensitive to light? Well, that’s what Scott was experiencing. So, he wore his sun glasses for a while when he got home, but when he went back to working on the computer, the screen was just too bright for him. He came out with one of my elastic headbands around his forehead asking me if I could think of anything he could use for a patch. I handed him a black piece of paper as he said, “I’m starting to get a headache from this headband.” I told him I had a looser blue headband in the drawer… but apparently he found one even better than the one I was thinking of. What a masculine pirate, he would be!
A few weeks ago Grandma and Grandpa Baldwin came to visit. It was so stinkin’ hot that week that none of us really wanted to go anywhere that wasn’t air conditioned. But somehow, Scott talked us all into going to San Antonio one day. Even though it was a sweltering day, I had a blast because everyone was patient enough with me to let me play with my camera.
At Scott’s last soccer game, I actually got some pictures of him playing! Usually, I’m so busy chasing after Simon, I’m lucky to see the game at all.
This time however, I was a little more focused on the game and didn’t see what crazy Audrey was up to until she was already at the top.
She climbed it over and over and over again….until she ended up with a blister on her toe. I guess that’s what she was mainly using to grip with.
At half time, Scott encouraged her to reach up and grab the top with her hand. What a little monkey!
This month was the annual “Take Our Children to Work Day” at IBM. Simon was not eligible to attend quite yet, but I think next year he’ll be able to. Our kids look forward to this event far in advance and this year we had a pre-event IBM visit while Jeana was in Colorado.
Jeana dropped the girls off at my office at 10am (yes I actually went into the office for once) and we raced to the first events on the schedule. Jeana had them prepared with backpacks of books to read and to color/write in, toys to play with, and food to eat. Of course, I had the backup plan of two DVDs in my backpack just in case of an emergency. The exciting part is that we went from 10am to 4pm non-stop and then they hung out and played for an hour while I wrapped up some work. We left the office around 5:15pm and they didn’t even fall asleep on the way home. I think they have built up the stamina to make it through a full work day now.
Here are some highlights from our day.
The first thing we wanted to do was go to the cookie walk. They must have walked in circles at least 10 times before Audrey’s cookie was called out. She stood at the cookie reward table trying to decide what to get for quite a while. Finally, she chose a bag of three brownies so that she could share – how sweet. Kate’s cookie was never called out, so we decided to leave.
Downstairs in the old library there were displays of countries around the world. They played instruments from Guatemala, declined spicy gum from Mexico, experienced boredom at the USA table, spoke Portuguese at the Brazil table, and met my friend at the Africa table.
What kids event would be complete without a visit from a fire engine? We got to the engine right before they had to leave, but we still got to climb inside and sit in their chairs. One of the nice firefighters (you could tell he either had kids or has been around them lots) showed Audrey and Kate a “magic door” on the back of the engine where the ladders were stored.
We had lunch in my office – you can see Kate’s spread of food above – and then watched a spelling bee for second, third, and fourth grade kids. Audrey was sad she wasn’t old enough yet to participate, but next year she’ll be ready. When the host would call out the word, I would hurry and have Audrey spell it in my ear. She did alright, but she’ll be better off waiting a year to compete with kids older than her.
Professor Sparky gave us a presentation about volts, microvolts and megavolts. He showed us a theremin and let us try it out! Theremins are the devices used in old scary movies to make UFO or alien sounds.
The day ended with a performance by a local musician / story-teller, Staci Gray. Staci was great with the kids and involved them by having them stand up and move around during the songs. She concluded her show by turning on a bubble machine which invoked a sort of kids mosh-pit up front. Audrey and Kate begged me to let them go up. I hesitated to let them, but gave in and let them go. Here is a clip of the hokey pokey to open the show.
Thanks IBM for a wonderful event again, and for helping me spend fun quality time with my kids. We’re looking forward to next year!
My soccer season at IBM ended a few weeks ago. At one of the games near the end of the season I happened to be in the right place at the perfect moment, and with a great amount of luck, shot a goal to the top-left corner of the net. I was so excited, as you can imagine, since I normally play a defensive position, that I was tempted to grab the front of my shirt and lift it up over my head and go screaming up the field. My better judgment kicked in and I left my shirt on. I’d like to say that my contribution to the offense made a difference but it didn’t. Our team has seen better seasons than this one.
In the last game of the season, I had a bit of a collision with the opposing forward and my ankle is swollen, green, and causing a severe amount of whining to spew from my mouth. Poor Jeana has to listen to me complain about it constantly.
