At 3 ½ years old, soccer is not my kid’s thing.
After spending the couple months playing in the county’s outdoor soccer league for 3- and 4-year-olds, he has made it abundantly clear kicking and chasing around a soccer ball is not important to him.
In varying levels, his disinterest has been made clear during every outing and in particular on a recent Saturday morning it was on full display.
In most games, Beckett does not kick the ball. Instead, he plays with the net in the goal, hugs an opponent or two, moves out of the opposing team’s way, runs to his parents on the sideline and has been known to even just sit down on the field.
On this particular day, the ball was kicked to him and Beckett was all alone. I was excited over the prospects of what he was going to do with it. A simple kick would have made me happy and proud.
Well, rather than kick it, he managed to jump over the ball headfirst and somersaulted over it. He did it without even touching the ball. It was quite the feat and pretty athletic if I do so say myself, even if it had nothing to do with soccer.
Surprisingly, that made me happy and proud, too.
It was one of those moments that gives you reason to pause.
It was 3:30 in the morning and I fell off the bed to the floor.
We had been having a challenging night with Beckett as he was not feeling well. Consequently, when Beckett came into our room in the middle of the night for the second time, we just let him jump in bed with us. Of course, he has to be in between his parents, so we just made room for him.
Beckett is a kid who likes to cuddle in bed, starkly contrasting how he is while awake. He’s not much for sitting in a lap or being held. He can even be a little testy about holding hands in a parking lot these days. He and his little brother Carson have aversion to being constrained. I presume this is the case with most kids their age.
Consequently, we find it quite charming when he wants to cuddle in bed, especially if he’s not feeling well.
On this particular night, for whatever reason, I seemed to be the object of most of his affection.
Unfortunately, since he was running a slight fever, he was like lying down next to an open oven, and I’m not one with a fondness for being warm.
When he would reach out and touch my chest, his hands were like frying pans. Of course, I didn’t mind it, so long as it brought him comfort, even if that meant I was uncomfortable.
At some point, in my sleep, I must have tried to wiggle away instinctively and woke up when I hit the floor.
To which, Beckett said, “Daddy, what are you doing?”
When I got back in bed, he clamped on again with those frying pan-like hands and oven-like body.
I like to think he needed me, but all I wanted at that time was the ceiling fan on.
Because there’s so much talking going on in my house these days, the rare quiet moments while the kids are awake stop us in our tracks.
This is usually out of fear, as we are uncertain what they are doing when they are silent, but the rare moments when it’s a good thing are cherished.
Something of late that we have found that keeps the kids entertained and quiet are our home videos.
Carson, nearly 2 years old, has developed quite a reputation for never sitting still, unless he’s in his car seat.
That’s why there are gates and fences situated strategically around our house. Some of which do the job of keeping him contained, while others he simply pulls or moves out of his way.
Carson, unlike his big brother, is not much for watching videos of Barney, Elmo, The Wiggles or anything else like those. However, he does like to watch himself we have found. We feel like we have hit the jackpot now.
Therefore, it goes without saying the home videos have been getting a lot of play around the house when Pam and me need a little breather.
It brings back great memories for us as well, particularly videos of them both learning to walk and their early days as babies.
Carson is a night pooper.
So much so I started keeping track of how many times he wakes up with a messy diaper. I did all this knowing Pam would be upset, as she’s not much for me writing about the topic. However, I can’t help it, as guys do tend to be slightly infatuated with the topic.
Over the last couple weeks, Carson has started his day this way 11 times, including an impressive five-day streak.
What’s amazing to me is these are incredibly messy diapers, and the little guy doesn’t complain a bit about it.
As soon as I open the door to his room in the morning, it’s painfully clear what has transpired, and I am constantly amazed that he doesn’t pitch a fit to let us know he needs to be changed.
The other morning the smell was so overwhelming it made Beckett cry (“oh no, that stinks Carson,” he said as he ran out of the room), which then led to Carson melting down.
Now, that’s one tremendous way to start a day.
