News From Home

I haven’t shared many stories about or quotes from my kids lately, so I thought I would do that today. Please note that The Moose is now 8, Pedro Tulo is now 5, and Luigi is 19 months. Some of these quotes are from way back when The Moose was 7 and Pedro Tulo was 4.

* From Pedro Tulo’s preschool teacher:

Reasons why he gets up at nap time
1) he needs a hug
2) to tell me he just really likes pizza
3) to tell me dogs eat dog food and cats eat cat food

Love this kid. Gonna really miss him next year.

It’s such a nice feeling to drop off your kids at a place where you know the teachers truly care about the kids and the kids enjoy going. Luigi starts at the same preschool in the fall, meaning that it will be the start of the seventh consecutive year that one of our kids will attend there, but with no children ever overlapping.

* You may not be familiar with this version of the Bon Jovi song as sung by The Moose, but you are now!

"Oh, we're half way there. Oh, standing on a chair."



You know, standing on a chair really could fit into this song.

* The Moose's Mom: Are you going to take me to the movies tomorrow?
The Moose: I don’t know how to drive.

* Pedro Tulo: The Steelers are playing the Captain Hooks. (Sean's note: This might have been the New Orleans Saints.)

* Me: Have fun. Be good.
Pedro Tulo: I don’t want to be good.

* The soccer season has started, and for the first time, The Moose is in games with a referee. In the game, there was a foul called on his teammate, and The Moose organized himself and his three teammates (it’s a 4 on 4 game) to create a wall (or a fence as he called it). His head coach and I (as an assistant coach) never taught him this, but I guess he picked this up from watching soccer on television. I was really impressed. (Granted, the opponent smartly passed the ball to a teammate on the side of the wall, but the kid missed a wide open net.) I should also mention that The Moose definitely scored a goal and possibly one or two more during the first game, but he insists on telling me and everyone else that he scored 8 goals in the game.

* Meanwhile, Pedro Tulo had his first organized soccer experience over the weekend. The way it works is that the teams have 30-40 minutes of “practice” time followed by 20-30 minutes of 2 on 2 games against an opposing team. The kids are 4 and 5, so it’s quite amusing. The entire goal is to make sure the kids have fun. I’m the assistant coach, and it was quickly clear that the head coach is brand new at this. Before even having the kids go around and say their names, he had them do a toe-tapping activity.



These kids can’t do this! Anyway, I’m trying to figure out a way to delicately suggest different activities without overstepping my role as an assistant. I mean, the parent who was supposed to bring snack wasn’t there, but there was no email correspondence from the coach to ensure that there is a snack schedule. Snack is one of the best parts of soccer for kids this age. It’s too early for a coup attempt, though I may revisit this in a few weeks.

* Luigi is just getting dragged around from field to field, but he seems to enjoy being outside and seeing his brothers and other kids run around. Apparently, he played with orange cones for 20 minutes at The Moose’s game.

* Finally, The Moose also excitedly points to and says "Gee" (pronounced with a hard "G" like former Ohio State President Gordon Gee or hockey player Guy Lafleur) whenever he sees Ziggy. He absolutely loves Ziggy and is doing a decent job of being "gentle" when he tries to pet him.