Good Sport

For a woman who never played organized sports growing up – unless you count driveway kickball, which wasn’t really all that organized but was highly competitive – I’ve made a real commitment to team athletics for my kids. Like many suburban moms, I drive them to and from practices, bring snacks, cheer for everyone and spend large chunks of my life sitting on bleachers in conditions that are often too cold or too hot to be pleasant.

While it’s nice to imagine that they might turn out to be college-scholarship athletes, I’m not overly concerned that they excel at the sports they play. As hokey as it sounds, I really just want them to learn how to be a good teammate, engage in healthy exercise, develop a few leadership skills, and have a lot of fun.

It’s more important to me that they learn how to be good sports than to be good at sports.

In his most recent basketball season, Junius and his team had a perfect record – they managed to go eight straight games without winning a single one. Coming off an undefeated season with his hockey team, I worried that he might lose interest in basketball – or at least in his teammates – given their apparent lack of success.

During the final game last month, Junius scored a personal best 14 points. But the game highlight occurred when the ball wasn’t even in play.

As he followed his team back into the gym after halftime, Junius ran in front of his team’s bench, launched into a halfway decent cartwheel and burst out laughing as he bounced down next to the other boys.

When I asked him after the game why he did the cartwheel – an unusually showy move for him – he replied simply, “I wanted to rally my team, mom!”

That cartwheel rally didn’t affect the game’s outcome, but it made an otherwise losing season worth every butt-numbing minute in the stands.

One, Two, Three Strikes You're Asleep...

Today was a perfect day in Raleigh for a baseball game -- sunny skies, but not too hot. A lovely Sunday afternoon for sitting outside, lounging in a stadium seat and eating a hot dog.

It was also a great afternoon for an outdoor nap. So Pippi, in her infinite three-year-old wisdom, decided to combine the two activities:

This beautifully plump face is what you get when you take a toddler who only got eight hours of sleep last night and no nap today with a belly full of hot dogs and Skittles, some warm sunshine and a good snuggle in her mama's lap. Even the cheering Wolfpack fans couldn't wake her after she crashed just before the seventh-inning stretch.

On a related note, if you're looking for a fun family outing, I highly recommend an NC State baseball game. For those few faithful readers out there, you may remember our disaster at the Mudcats game. Thankfully, the Wolfpack games have been just perfect for us -- close to home, reasonable crowds, quick concessions, friendly staff and a great stadium.

We may be back again next weekend -- let's just hope Pippi can stay awake long enough to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

Note: I'm not trying to overtake Naps Happen and her fabulous blog -- and this was no top-of-the-stairs nap today -- but it was just too cute not to capture.
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Carolina Hurricanes Bring On the Fun

Sometimes weekends are just as hard as weekdays when you have kids -- maybe even harder if you're used to being in an office all week. It's not that being home with your children is bad, it's just a different kind of exhausting. The trick when the kids are little is to manage your time together so that no one gets bored and crabby.

So a big weekend win around our house involves finding an activity that is:
a) fun for the whole family, and
b) tiring enough for the kids to take a long afternoon nap.

Our trip to the Caniac Carnival on Saturday met both qualifications, plus (unlike our recent baseball outing) it was also:
c) light on the wallet (free admission, free parking and $1 hot dogs -- does it get any better?),
d) easy to navigate (no traffic problems, plenty of parking spaces and lots of volunteers), and
e) quality time outside on a beautiful day (complete with bouncy slides, obstacle courses and a really good band).

And if all of the above weren't enough, we got a super double bonus: Junius and Pippi were selected (by one of the lovely Storm Squad) to participate in a group photo with the team at center ice after practice. I'm not sure who was more excited, my son or my husband, as the kids walked through the home team tunnel and out onto the ice.

As a lifelong Southerner, I never expected to be a hockey fan. It's a cold, rough sport for a Carolina girl who usually keeps her sports time focused on basketball season. But now that I've experienced the Hurricanes' hospitality, I'm thinking I just might be a hockey fan after all.

Note: As I mentioned above, the event was free of charge. Neither the Hurricanes nor any of their representatives (including Stormy) offered me any sort of compensation for writing this post.