December update

Ethan and Kari... not sure who is holding up who.

Look at that stifling defense...
Santa!

A couple months back Ethan started basketball... due to trips out of town and his tubes he wasn't able to play until last weekend. I wasn't sure what to expect with a bunch of 4/5 year olds. But, it was relatively entertaining to watch... considering I hate basketball. Basically, one kid runs, usually not dribbling, down the court, passes to a 'friend' and that friend shoots. If they miss, they usually get 1 or two more tries before the ball goes the other way. That's if old lady ref isn't reffing and tips in all the balls or picks the kids up to dunk and then no one gets to practice. Thanks old lady... Ethan was very aggressive in tracking down the balls. He wasn't timid at all like he was when soccer first started so that was nice. His dribbling was non-existent. The two times I saw him try both bounced off his foot and flew off. Once he gets the ball he races to the other end and tends to 'forget' that whole 'pass to a friend' deal and just shoots himself. I say more power to him... it's clear he's the best and the other kids are just holding him back... :) I have essentially no insight into the game because as I mentioned I hate it.

'Dribbling' and attempting to score...

Forgets to pass... but scores!

After the game I was talking him and noted that he was sweaty and his response was 'um, yeah dad... i just got done playing and running hard.' I guess he's getting to the age where pointing out the obvious brings about a sarcastic response. I'll keep that in mind next time when he's in the middle of asking me 30 questions in a row about absolutely nothing. I swear half the time I don't even know what he's talking about. I would say that somewhere in the neighborhood of 35% of everything i say to him is a lie because I either don't know what he's talking about or his questions make no sense and I just want to move on to the next subject. It's really fun to play 100 questions at 6:45 in the morning too....

Last Wednesday we took Ethan to go see Santa at Bass Pro Shop because according to Ethan 'that is where santa lives.' It was great to take him during the week though. Waited less than 5 minutes and it would have been faster if there wasn't a big group of what I'm assuming were co-workers taking a picture together and apparently getting middle aged adults to all smile at the same time is more difficult than doing the same thing with 4 year olds. But, ethan was very brave. He got a little nervous right before it was his turn, but then he walked right up and sat down and told santa what he wants. Granted, he did this with his hand in his mouth and I'm sure he was mumbling, but he did it none the less. I'd say Santa is probably the only person who lies to kids more than I do.... but, his reasons are legitimate because he can't understand kids, has a line and has to keep things moving. After Santa Ethan and I played with this awesome NASCAR slot track they have there... the car flew and it was actually a lot of fun. I thought it might be something he'd enjoy since the slot track he has now is breaking more each time we play... but it was $200. That seemed a little steep for some molded plastic, metal and a small car.

Yesterday, Kari and I took him skating outside for the first time at Brenton in downtown Des Moines. Outside of his horses..t attitude he did pretty well. Dad learned a valuable lesson that day... if child is up late friday, doesn't nap saturday and you take him skating at nap time on sunday things will not go well. He whined incessantly about getting a snack. He never did more than two laps without taking a break. About the only thing he didn't whine about was the cold. His balance continues to improve. I built him a stand like they had at braemar and he used that most of the time. And for those of you wondering about the safety of the stand because it was something I built you have no need to worry... The stand worked fine, supported him and I had several parents ask me where I got it. But, he tried to skate backwards a couple times. The stand did more harm than good for that. But, he was picking it up while skating on a regular basis so his confidence is definitely growing.

Doing better... trying a wide, swoopy stride at the end...

More skating...

The other night ethan and I were playing with some trucks... when I took my truck and crashed it into his and knocked a wheel off, he stopped, looked at me and ask 'why did you do that, you wienershcnitzel?' I thought that was hilarious and though I already knew the answer I asked him where he learned that word... without hesitation he sold out grandma brett. Though, out of all the 'choice' words in her vocabulary, I have to say that one is about as close to PG as it's going to get. I think we lucked out. Though, I did accidentally teach him 'a-hole' the other night. I got cut off on the way home from school and said without thinking 'thanks a lot, a-hole'. I actually said a-hole and not the whole word... From what had been a quiet backseat for the previous 10 minutes I suddenly hear, 'daddy... what's an a-hole?'. Damn... whoops. It was almost like I forgot he was back there because he was being so quiet. I don't think it would have really matter... the a-hole came out so fast I don't think I would have been able to stop myself. Thankfully he hasn't said it since...