I'm Officially a "Soccer Mom"...

Carson attended his "free trial" soccer class last night. I can sum up the experience in two words..."Oh, my." Don't get me wrong, he's a good kid...and a typical four-year-old boy...and a VERY enthusiastic scorer. There were six kids in the class...unfortunately for Carson, this was their 12th class and it was his first. The other kids have had three months of practicing, listening, and learning the routines. Poor Carson was new to the whole deal.

He did not cooperate very well at all, at first. I tried not to be a clingy mom. I handed him over to Coach Nicole and headed out to the table area with Daddy. Their first activity was to play "Red Light, Green Light" to get across the field. Carson decided to play "Green Light, Run Like a Wild Man" across the field. Ugghhh. Then Coach Nicole wanted the kids to walk backwards back to the other side of the field. Carson stood against the wall, shaking his head like he didn't understand the directions. Miss Nicole -- the absolute saint she truly must be -- kept trying to convince him.

Then Mommy got involved.

I marched onto the field and yelled his name. Carson's head jerked in my direction, his eyes got as big as saucers, and he immediately spun around and high-tailed it across the field backwards. In fact, he got there before a couple of the kids who had a HUGE head start on him.

So Mommy decided sitting at the tables with Daddy wasn't going to happen. I parked myself right there on the edge of the field...with another Mom whose daughter wasn't in the mood to participate and kept running off the field sucking her thumb. Misery loves company.

Daddy and Carson have been practicing soccer in our unfinished basement. Well, to be more accurate, they have been practicing scoring goals. So, when Coach Nicole wanted the kids to dribble the ball across the field and stop it with their foot, Carson was doing this...
...scoring goals. When Coach Nicole wanted the kids to assemble in the center of the field for stretches, Carson was doing this...
...still scoring goals. It was beginning to get embarrassing!! Fortunately, Coach Nicole makes the class really fun and incorporates silly games to teach skills, so he eventually ended up paying attention and cooperating.

The lighting in this indoor soccer place was so odd and I had to zoom so much to just get Carson in the shots, which explains the awful quality of the pictures. This one, I didn't zoom as much...tried to get an action shot...
...and here he is getting ready to -- you guessed it -- score a goal!
At the end of class, they lined up against the wall and sat on their soccer balls listening to Coach Nicole's directions. Carson was pretty sweaty at that point and looks a little tired, don't ya think?
All in all, he showed quite a bit of promise and is actually quite good at dribbling the ball down the field with a decent amount of control. And, of course, he's pretty awesome at scoring goals! I think this session of indoor classes is going to be really good for our little soccer star!

Totally off topic, but I think this picture is cute. I occasionally stop by my department at work with Carson when he has appointments at the hospital. He is always a big hit and causes quite a ruckus...such a ruckus, in fact, that I've been asked to stop bringing him in. (Oops!!) His favorite thing to do is sit at the nurses' station and look at pictures of Ultraman on the computer. All of my friends at work know of his love of Ultraman, so when they see us coming they immediately get on Google to show him pictures. Here he is, enjoying the Ultraman show...
While his hands are resting on the keyboard, he really isn't typing! But maybe we can work on that and I can let him blog once in a while....hmmmmm.

'Bye for now!

Soccer Balls, Bicycles, and Dancing Feet...

As we anxiously awaited the start of Carson's first soccer season, I got an unfortunate bit of news...the local soccer organization he would be playing for will not let him wear his AFO splints during games. What?! He needs those things for gait correction (he's not quite as pigeon-toed when he has them on) and will surely trip himself and others without them!!

The coach's wife who informed me of this rule also told me about an indoor soccer clinic offered for little kids...they get classes on how to play soccer, then scrimmage at the end of the class. There are no strict rules and the AFOs will be allowed. I checked into the program and decided this will be better for Carson right now. Besides, it's indoors (no sitting out in the rain and muck) and always at the same time and location (no seeking out obscure soccer fields), with no need to purchase expensive shoes, uniforms, or team pictures. Sounds good to me!! He's attending a "free trial" class on Tuesday, then his classes start March 11th and go for 12 weeks. I'll (of course) post pictures! We'll get him back into the local sports organization once he's out of the AFOs.

On another note, physical therapy for Carson is becoming a pain for Mommy. His therapist, Miss Courtney, probably means well but comes across as a snooty know-it-all and has offended me multiple times...even asking me once, with all the sarcasm you can imagine, "Do you ever HUG your son?" (Her intention with the question was that hugging will require him to bend his arms. Duh! We KNOW that, but he still can't bend his arms...our hugs from him are quite straight-armed.)

I requested to decrease his PT to once every other week as his PT and OT schedules -- when added to my work and school schedules -- are becoming overwhelming. With the reduction in PT visits, I requested she give us goals to meet during the weeks off. We have shown Miss Courtney over the time we've been seeing her that we are VERY compliant and successful with home goals. She agreed to reduce his schedule, but wrote up a report that I was compromising his care by decreasing his PT...even after we had just gone through his long-term goals and proved he has met half off them already!...and made me read the report right there in front of her! This girl is trying my patience...uggghhhh!!!

Carson's favorite part of PT is the bicycle part. They put him on a bike and he gets to ride all over the building...people always notice him and he feels like something of a celebrity, I think. He looks so funny when he's on the bike because they make him wear a hair cover under his helmet to keep the helmet clean...he ends up looking like an elderly woman protecting her hair from the rain.

In this first picture, he's actually riding something called a "plasma car." He doesn't use his feet at all, but rotating the steering wheel back and forth propels this thing forward. With his arm issues, he really shouldn't be able to get it moving. Miss Courtney held his shoulders still, to force him to use his arms instead of his back and shoulders, and he WAS able to get it moving...and traveled across the room and back. Miss Courtney was speechless!
Here he is on the regular bike. Carson's legs are quite weak (hard to believe if you've ever seen him run!) but he gets better on this thing every week. I can't wait for springtime so we can get him outside on his OWN bike!
Lastly in this post, Meggie had her first dance competition of the year yesterday. Daddy had to work (of course!), so Carson was forced to stay with Mommy through the entirety of the day. Meggie had to be there at 9:30 a.m. and that's when our L-O-N-G day began.

Carson, will you be a good boy for Mommy today??
I'll take that as a yes! Mommy came prepared, with a bag of toys, a lunch box full of snacks, and...best of all...Carson's "hot date" Sarah! He is completely in love with Meggie's friend Sarah and I'm confident she helped me get through this day with him. Here they are goofing together...
...and here he is with Meggie. He kept asking throughout the day where Meggie was, but I don't think he understood that she was up on stage dancing. We kept telling him, but he would say, "Oh!" and go back to his toys.
This competition had a Mardi Gras theme, so every time the judges needed a break, they would play a particular song and throw beads out into the crowd. The first time they did the bead throw, Carson just sat with me. His "hot date" (as he called Sarah) asked a young boy who had more than enough strands if Carson could have one -- the boy obliged. Here, Sarah is wearing the beads, trying to negotiate with Carson to keep them.
He wasn't going for it! He took them back and they actually kept him busy for quite a while! The second time they had a bead throwing, I told him to go down in front of the auditorium and try to get some beads. He ran down and was quite successful! (Caught some and was offered some by sympathetic older girls who felt sorry for him being so tiny and getting lost in the crowd.) Here he is with the beads he got on his own:
Pretty impressive, huh?! After we had lunch with Meggie, Carson started getting mean...even to Sarah. I told him he had to sit on my lap and take a nap. I totally didn't expect him to sleep, but I figured he could chill out for a bit and maybe regain his good attitude. He said he wanted to watch the girls dance, so I put him on my lap facing forward...and he FELL ASLEEP!!! I was shocked!!
He ended up sleeping about an hour! This was amazing because the room was CRAZY loud, with music blaring and people screaming and clapping after every performance. What a good boy I have!!

This picture is just bizarre. There was a man sitting behind us that Carson really took a liking to...Meggie said his daughter dances with her studio but she doesn't know her. The guy was friendly and kept making silly faces with Carson. Well, Carson decided he wanted a closer relationship with this complete stranger...
...and ended up sharing his lap with his daughter for about 30 minutes! It was making me quite uncomfortable, but the guy kept assuring me he has four kids and it was fine. I finally had to make Carson sit by me again. He was hugging this guy, leaning his head on his shoulder...it was kinda disturbing that he was so comfortable with a complete stranger!! Definitely gotta watch Carson in crowds, 'cause he would be very easy to abduct with his complete lack of stranger anxiety!!

Here's a pic of Carson and his gals at the end of a long day...this picture was taken around 8PM!! (Remember, our day started at 9:30AM!)
Carson insisted on carrying our lunch box whenever we moved about the competition. Here he is, wearing the lunch box over his shoulder, and waiting to scare Meggie as she came around the corner.
We finally ended up getting dinner around 9PM. Carson was in an extremely goofy mood at dinner, but we could hardly complain considering how well he behaved all day. A few pictures of the slap-happy kids...
Even though Carson loves goofing off with Meggie and Sarah...and while Meggie is choking him in most pictures I took, he loves it and comes back for more...this is my favorite pic from dinner:
Yes, my Little Man loves his Mommy!! No matter what kind of day I'm having, those kisses make it all worthwhile!!!!

It's a Girl for Debbie and Brandon!

I know this blog is about MY kids, but my little sister had her baby this afternoon...so today it gets to be about HER kid! Sophia arrived after putting her Mommy through almost exactly 24 hours of labor...and she is so stinkin' cute!! Of course, when Meggie and I went to the hospital tonight to meet her, I forgot my camera! Ugghhh! I'll post pics as soon as I can get some. Until then, you'll have to take my word for it that she is adorable. She weighs 7 lbs 15 oz, is 20 inches long, and has blonde hair and blue eyes.

Congrats to my little sister and her husband...now your life is REALLY gonna get interesting!!

Love you guys!!

And the Hits Just Keep on Coming...

This morning, when Daddy picked Carson up from his Sunday school class...you guessed it, ANOTHER bad report. Apparently, he was playing with some kids and told them all to "Shut up." Yikes. This is getting embarrassing!!

Little Man, I don't know where you're learning all this bad behavior, but this better be a blip on the radar and not a pattern of things to come...you're starting to make your Mommy look bad!!

Ugggghhhh!!!

Uh-Oh...

Every day, Carson's preschool provides a written report of what he learned, how his day was (choices being "Great!" "OK" and "Had a little trouble"), what he ate, how long (or if) he napped, and any additional comments. Since the first day at preschool, his reports have ALWAYS been positive. Always. He always eats most, if not all, of his lunch. And he has ALWAYS had a "Great!" day...until today.

Today, his report told us that he had an "OK" day. He didn't nap...only "rested" during naptime. He ate NONE of his lunch. And worst of all were the additional comments. Brace yourself, it ain't pretty:

"Carson had a little trouble listening for me today. Was not allowed to go to chapel to see a short movie because he chose not to listen (a lot) today."

WHAT???!!!! MY perfect, adorable, sweet Little Man was...was...was a typical four-year-old boy today??!!! Oh, dear.

In Carson's defense, there were a few extenuating circumstances at school today:

(1) Miss Tracy wasn't there. He was QUITE upset to hear that she was sick and wouldn't be coming in. His new teacher, Miss Joan (who just joined their classroom in January), did not appear to have control over the class when I dropped him off...and Friday is their low attendance day. I'd venture a guess that quite a few kids refused to listen today.

(2) I let Carson sleep in today since I was too sick to go to work and didn't drop him off until about 8:45. Which means he was probably eating breakfast until 9:15. They serve lunch at 11:00. He probably didn't eat because he wasn't hungry!

(3) I knew he wouldn't nap...he often won't nap for Miss Tracy and, with her being out for the day, napping wasn't happening.

So while Daddy initially wanted to punish Carson until his teen years for this bad report, we had a stern talk with Carson about the need to be a good boy at school...and we're chalking it up to a bad day. And we all have bad days, don't we?!

Gosh, we are such evolved parents. (I'm betting Meggie wishes we had evolved like this about 10 years earlier!)

Our First Chinese New Year Celebration!

Sorry this is so late, but I started feeling cruddy Tuesday evening...and that led to a full-blown bout of cold/flu with a sinus infection added in for good measure! I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday in bed and haven't been to work since Monday...uggghhh!! I'm on the mend today...feeling a bit better, but incredibly weak. However, I am strong enough to type, so here goes.

Sunday we attended a Chinese New Year celebration at a local high school. Our local FCC Chapter (Families with Children from China) put this on and they did a great job. There was a lot to do and I personally thought it was very neat to see all the families that look just like ours. (This fact was probably lost on Carson this year, but I'm sure it will be comforting to him in the years to come as we continue to stay involved with FCC events.)

We arrived and met up with Chelsie, Alan and Max. Together we found a table by the windows. The first order of business was to decorate their masks for the Dragon Parade. Of course, since this Chinese New Year celebration fell right smack in the middle of Carson's nap time, he refused to color his. (That boy NEEDS his naps!) So, Meggie...awesome big sister that she is...decorated his for him...
...while Carson goofed around with the table decorations.
There was a great attendance at this event, as you can see from this crowd picture.
Here is our scary dragon, ready for the parade. Can you say "ROAR"?!!!
Carson, are you having a good time at the party?
Meggie and I volunteered for an hour of the event, working the registration table. When we were finished helping out, we all headed to the buffet table for some "China food" as Carson calls it. Unfortunately, everything was picked over and there wasn't much left to choose from. I was REALLY bummed by this for two reasons: (1) the food smelled awesome and (2) we paid over $50 to attend this thing, with the food being one of the main draws! Oh, well...lesson learned for next year! (Eat first, volunteer after.) Here is Carson enjoying his food...
...and proving to Mommy that, yes, he WAS eating his China food. Yuck, Carson, close your mouth!
Chelsie and I get Carson and Max together for play dates whenever we can. They are starting to recognize each other, which is so cute! However, posing for pictures isn't something they cooperate very well with. Here, we asked Carson to put his arm around Max...
...and after Carson thought playing with the window shade was more fun than hugging a friend, Max made a slight gesture toward putting his arm around Carson.
Then Max gave up and ran over to Chelsie to look at the pictures she had taken. (Sorry to put your picture on here, Chelsie, but I thought it was a good one of you two!)
There was entertainment throughout the event...puppet shows, dancers, musicians. I missed some of the entertainment while working at the registration table, but here are the things we did get to see while I had the camera.

These young girls did traditional Chinese dances with fans. Carson LOVED it!
The woman in green was the teacher of the girls in the picture above. She took a few minutes to teach the kids a traditional dance after she performed it as a solo.
This was probably Carson's favorite part, the waist drummers! When they came out, he was at the edge of his seat!
OK, Carson, the party's over. Time to go home! Meggie had to literally carry him out of the building...he did NOT want to leave! Doesn't Meggie look thrilled??
So there you go...our first Chinese New Year! I'll close this post with a picture of my adorable kids...a rare thing to get these days as life gets busier and they are both running in opposite directions.
'Bye for now!

The Ultimate Ultraman Care Package!

While we were in Guangzhou, on the last leg of our adoption trip, we met quite a few people I had previously "cyber-met" on the Yahoo groups. Deb was one of them. She and her husband, Kevin, were there to adopt Lotus (see "Digging a Hole to China" in my favorite adoption blogs list) and Kevin was impressed with Carson's love of Ultraman. Apparently, Kevin has been an Ultraman collector for years and thought it was cool that Carson shared his Ultraman fever. Deb e-mailed me a few weeks ago and said that Kevin was sending Carson an Ultraman care package...it arrived yesterday. I debated between photographing and videoing the unveiling...but since I often cannot post videos, I photographed most of it. A few pictures of the event...

Opening the box after Daddy cut through the tape...
...and FLIPPING OUT that he found Ultraman right on top! He kept repeating over and over, "WOAH! WOAH!" (Kinda wish I had video'd that, it was so cute!)
Meggie is showing him some of the stuff inside...there were books, DVDs, and toys!
He was SO HAPPY to get a "moss-ter" (aka monster) with his "Ulta-man"! Let the fighting begin!!
This thing was so neat. The entire thing is inflatable...thanks, Meggie and Daddy, for blowing up all the pieces. It is a small city and the buildings are all velcro'd in place...so the "moss-ter" can knock them over and Carson can put everything back. He LOVES THIS THING!!!!
Carson, do you LOVE your new Ultraman toys??
I'll take that as a yes! Typically, Carson is a TV-a-holic...major!...but last night he wanted nothing to do with TV. In fact, we wanted to go out to dinner and he was furious. He kept saying, "I wanna pway Ultaman!" We had to DRAG his silly self to the car...and he ran right back to the toys when we returned, while he was still wearing his coat!

As a TV-a-holic, he always puts his toys right smack in front of the big screen TV. "Ultaman," however, rated. Carson put the inflatable city on the floor behind Daddy's chair (he couldn't even see the TV from there) and played with it the rest of the night! I did take a short video to show just how much he loves this toy...


Kevin, I can tell you that Carson will get many hours of fun from this wonderful care package. I feel a bit guilty letting him touch these collectors' items -- but there was NO WAY he would let us just put this stuff up for display. You have made a silly little Ultraman fan VERY, VERY HAPPY!!! Thank you!!

Here's Carson's video "thank you"...with a little "How YOU doin'?" thrown in at the end just for you!!


On a completely different note, my Little Man has decided he thinks he's sneaky and invisible. He is always hiding around corners and tip-toeing around the house...although with his big clunky splints on, you can hear him coming a mile away. The other day, I was sitting at my very messy desk working on a paper for school and he "snuck" in the office to hide under the desk.

I grabbed the camera and came back into the room. This is what I saw...
"Carson, I can see you." (His response was, "Nope!")
"Carson, you're looking right at me. I can SEE you!" He's still not convinced.What a goof!! I can only guess that he does this because Meggie is ALWAYS jumping out from dark rooms or from around corners and scaring him. Guess he's honing his skills to join her. GREAT!! Just what I needed...two goofy kids yelling "BOO!" all day long.

What can I say, my kids are gifted!