Entry #61

Entry #61

Friday, April 27

11: 45 a.m. According to the kids, school on Fridays consists of three hours of drama practice for the upcoming play (Peter Pan), only Noah’s not even in it and Aidan has only one line, “Ha ha! Look at my terrible tattoos! Arrh!”

Last week Noah was instructed to make rocks out of newspaper and boxes—props for the play—but failed miserably (he comes by this honestly—I can't wrap for beans), so he was dismissed to return back to his classroom and spent the remaining hours drawing. As for Aidan, he had to stay in the drama room and wait until it was time for his line. Still, there is humor to be found here: The drama teacher's name is Miss Cherish. Alas, my kids do not...

Saturday, April 28

12:30 p.m. Aidan was so nervous about his first football game today, he couldn't eat for fear of throwing up. I assured him everything would be fine, that he should just have fun. Turns out everything wasn’t fine. Not one person threw the ball to Aidan, “even though I was open the whole time!” Plus, he stood on the sidelines most of the game. Not an uplifting start, to say the least. After the game, Aidan was almost in tears.

I wrote to his coach and asked if we could possibly meet with him. Aidan was heartened to learn that it wasn’t so much his skill set as his lack of experience (i.e., not knowing the plays) that kept him out. “He has very good hand skills. All I would say to do is go over his routes with him...Once he grasps the concept of those routes, he will do quite well.” This made Aidan feel much better.

After the game, we went to the Academy to get a junior-size football, since Aidan said it’s much different to throw and catch with than a standard size one. Even if this wasn’t the case, I had the feeling it would lift his spirits to get a new ball, so there we went. 

Picking out a ball took about ten seconds, so we wandered back to look at possible football cleats. Aidan didn’t feel the need for them, so we just looked around at the nearby sandals. There was a large Crocs section, including an array of camouflage-patterned varieties. “That’s what all the boys wear here,” said Aidan. The women’s section included a host of flip-flops adorned with rhinestones. “That’s what all the girls wear,” Aidan added matter-of-factly. One pair had a camouflage print with rhinestones on top—for the girlie hunter in you.

We stopped for lunch at a nearby place called Freebird Burritos, which we’d never been to before. It’s the closest thing I’ve found to a classic burrito place, where you stand in line and choose your fillings, only it’s very Americanized (as opposed to authentic Mexican). There were plenty of vegetarian options for Noah, which was great.

The first thing one must decide is which size burrito you want—a Hybird (kids’ size), Freebird (standard), Monster (large), or Super Monster (which weighs almost seven pounds). In addition to the standard fare, they offer Pot Brownies for dessert. Totally legal, though decidedly decadent, they’re actually just regular brownies displayed in a black pot. I especially liked the condiment station, shown below. Totally groovy.

Sunday, April 29

1:00 p.m. With the aid of my handy zoom camera, I was able to watch a baby bird being fed in the nest near the pool. This is the same spot where another baby bird fell last week, only to land in Izzie’s mouth, and then our living room carpet. I was glad to see that this baby bird was healthy, thriving, and chirping for whatever its mama was going to plunk in its wide-open beak. It's amazing to see the intricate nest close-up, too—a natural work of art. Seems it's even softened with a few strands of Izzie fur. Nice touch, mama bird.