Some Last Minute Thoughts

After all the kisses and all the silly sayings and bedtime rituals last night, the much argued over music selection was playing, but Ben had just one last thought as I was backing out the door:

"Hey mom, know how I know that I'm really into music right now? Because I know every song and I know all the words and I can sing along with all of them! Even when they aren't on, they get stuck in my head and I am singing them all the time! I just really like music..."

The last thing I heard as I was finally shutting the door was Mitchell mumbling, "Oh yeah? Well, I'm really into skeletons and I know everything about them!"

What Language Am I Speaking?

Matt and I are both thrilled to be discovering that our biggest two boys can definitely sing - on tune, that is!  They have a talent for quickly learning a tune and also learn the lyrics to just about any song almost immediately, it seems.  It is so fun to hear them not only singing along to songs they love, but also singing them on tune without any backup music!

Well, this morning, after singing one of their favorite songs about a hundred times in a row, they began to get bored with the same old lyrics and decided to write their own.  Let me describe it a bit better than that:  they each came up with their own lyrics and both sang these lyrics at the same time, each getting louder and louder, competing with each other, trying to out-do the other.  It got a bit... well, loud, to say the least.  

We adults tried to not to let this drive us crazy, reminding ourselves that we were happy they love to sing and focused on the humor of their made-up lyrics, rather than go insane by the competitive loudness of the situation.  Remember, they were both singing the exact same tune, and Ben's lyrics were real words with a bit of a story to go with it.  They at least made a bit of sense.  Mitchell's were a bit more nonsensical.  He was just speaking his own language and coming up with some pretty silly-sounding lyrics.  

When things began to wind down, as they inevitably do, even without parental intervention, Mitchell stopped his song and turned to me and said, "Mom?  Am I speaking Spanish?"

At Last, I Become a Track and Field Fan

Matt is a long-time lover of track and field, but I have never been a true fan, I admit.  So far, it has really just been a distraction from fatherly duties, as far as I am concerned (sorry, Matt.)

But today, Ben participated in his very first track meet, and I, his mother, became a fan of the sport for the very first time.  I packed my kids up, despite nap times and dinner times, drove way down south, and suffered the heat to watch my oldest son do the long jump and 100m.  

I have been waiting for something like this since my very first baby boy was born - sitting in the stands or crouching on the sidelines snapping pictures while my kids try their hardest at their chosen activity.  I love it.  I have never been an athlete myself, but am loving living vicariously through Ben.

The excitement began when he received his very own number to pin on his shirt - making it all feel very "official."  He was so proud of that number - we actually still have it hanging in his room.

For me, the best part, by far, was his warm-up routine alongside daddy.  Watching Ben excited about what his daddy is excited about and mimicking his every move was far more entertaining and touching than the actual events.  They skipped, jumped, high-stepped, side-stepped, stretched, river-danced (ok, maybe not, but it looked like that to me) up and down the track, warming up for their events.

His first event was the long jump.  I have no technical knowlege of the event (I should, with how much I have listened to talk of it) but it looked like he rocked it to me!  He had such a look of supreme concentration on his face before his take-off: he really seemed like he knew what he was doing!  He hit that white line and launched into the air, feet out in front of him, landed in the sand, rolled, and then sat there as if he deserved a break after such a performance.  Mitchell and I were close by, cheering him on, which brought on the biggest smile from him.  It must be nice to have such a devoted following :)

Next up: 100m race.  Now this is the event he was most excited for, but it is a bit of a long race for a first-timer.  He lined up with all the other boys his age, "shook out his muscles," got into position, then proceeded to miss the start.  He started a good 3 or 4 seconds behind the other boys, then ran from lane 7 across to lane 1, which lost him even more time.  Let's just say he didn't finish first, but by the look of triumph on his face, he beat the other boys by a mile!  By the time I caught up with him, after packing up the other boys and all the junk we have to carry everywhere we go, he was still jumping up and down in celebration of his awesomeness.  

I just have to say, I am so overjoyed to see my oldest son having so much fun competing in something that is so important to my husband.  I hate to write this, in case Matt is reading, but I may have become a track and field convert overnight.  I hope this is just the first of many things they do together and get excited about both personally and together.