Knowing When To Call It Quits

When Braeden was seven, he played soccer.

See how cute he looked in his uniform?

That was the only good part of the experience.



I had my suspicions that I wouldn't make a good soccer mom and that sort of confirmed it.

As for Braeden, he liked the uniform and he loved the snacks and that was all. At his last game he said, "I hope I get hurt so I don't have to play."

When I considered the time and energy spent on all those practices and games it was sort of demoralizing to hear that but I took heart in the Knowledge. At least now I knew.

No soccer. No. Never. I can give the kid a snack every Saturday if that's his favorite thing.

And then there was Mark.


He is in a new swimming class and it's going MUCH better but he's such a Mark.

And by that I mean, he's swimming away, head under water, while his teacher is giving instructions. It's frustrating to watch. I'm paying money and dragging us to the pool and he's not even listening?

He's not learning the strokes very quickly. Then I remembered, he's six.

Oh yeah.

It's hard to remember that because I always either see him as a baby or I see him as the same age as his siblings (who I also struggle to remember are not the same age).

Why is age so hard to remember?

Anyway. He's six. He doesn't need to know all the strokes. He doesn't need to be Mr. Attentive.

Then I remembered Braeden and Emma at six. They couldn't even really swim back then.

Maybe I don't need to be doing this with Mark yet. Maybe I need to put a post it note on Mark's forehead, reminding me.

He's six.

So last night I took Mark on my lap (it was one of those he's-still-a-baby-moments) and I said, "Let's talk about swimming."

He said, "You want to know my favorite part? Taking a long shower afterwards."

I remembered Braeden and soccer and snacks.

I said, "What if we took a break for awhile?"

He said, "That would be won-der-ful."

This morning I found Mark sitting in my shower (he loves to sit and turn the heat up as high as it will go). I said, "Have you emptied the dishwasher?"

He said, "I will."

Then he added, "This isn't a shower for getting clean, this is a shower for fun."

At least the swimming has helped him hone in on his interests.