Category: Grandpa’s Sweeties

Mack, oldest of The Sweeties, took third overall and third “Sub-Bantam” boys this morning at the USATF Virginia Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships. The distance was 2K.

In other words, third at the state meet.

Mack claims to like the longer distances. He says when he starts hurting he knows every other runner is hurting too.

Next week Mack competes against against qualifiers from D.C., Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia at the Region III championships. There is no national championship for Sub-Bantam kids (kids born in 2000 or later).

… when the candidate is late to the rally. Three of The Sweeties crash.

Photo taken tonight at Obama rally in Virginia attended by “well over 90,000” people, most of whom stayed awake.

Nearly 100,000 people at 10:00 on a Monday night in the suburbs.

Fired Up! Ready to Go!

Alas, so far I only have Halloween photos for five of the six Sweeties, but here they are.

Top row, Reid as Darth Vader, Alex as Captain of the Love Love Boat, Aidan as Iron Man.

Bottom row, Kiley as Laura Ingalls, Mack as Michael Phelps.

    

You may click each image for a larger version.

When you have three boys you need several sizes of Superman pajamas.

You may click the image for a larger version.

Three of the Sweeties won medals in a regional cross country competition in a pouring rain Saturday.

Second-grader Mack took second in his age group and third overall. His pre-K brother Aidan took second among boy kindergartners.

And Kiley won first place among kindergarten girls in her first-ever competition.

All three ran one mile; 33 kids competed in the K through 2nd age group.

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen and mother of two of the competitors, reports:

It was so cute. They had flags, like little landscaping flags, laid out to mark the course in places where it was indistinct. I watched Mack finish, then ran back over and cheered Kiley up through this muddy, slippery hill. Aidan was about 30 seconds behind her. He was coming towards me and running kind of weird and I was thinking, “Is he struggling? Is he okay?” Then I realized he was running around each flag, in a little slalom, like you do with cones at soccer practice. He did it all the way up the hill and down past me, as everyone around me chuckled and I yelled, “Honey, run straight! You can run straight!”

Probably cost the little guy first place, but he should prove to be a good skier some day.

And an update. The 39-year-old was disqualified from the K-2 group so Mack won his first-ever 5K last week.

The oldest Sweetie, Mack, has added competitive running to his sports lineup this fall.

Saturday he competed in his first 5K (3.1 miles), coming in second in the Kindergarten-Grade 2 (K-2) class. He finished in around 27 minutes, a great achievement.

So he went and played baseball, getting two hits and driving in two.

Then he went to another running competition. (I can’t imagine where this kid gets his obsessive-compulsive behavior.) There he won. As his mother wrote when sending this photo she took at the finish line last evening: “You think this kid was tired of coming in second?” (Click image for larger version.)

But the funny thing is, Mack may not have finished second in the morning 5K after all. It turns out the winner in the K-2 group was a 39-year-old man (all these things show up on the internet after the event). I suppose it’s possible to be in kindergarten, first or second grade at age 39, but it seems awfully unlikely. Results pending verification of age and school.

For his part, Mack is 7 and in the second grade.

The second of the October Sweeties birthdays is today. Lovely Sofia turns five.

Returned to her native Colorado, Sofie has her skis and boots and is ready to hit the slopes later this fall.

Happy Birthday Sofie!

There are two Sweetie birthdays in October, one today and one coming up Monday.

For six days until Monday, The Sweeties® are 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2.

Happy Birthday Kiley!

Five-year-old Sweetie Aidan ran in his first fun run Saturday, a half-miler. Older brother Mack ran a mile.

That’s Aidan. Click image for larger version.

Jill, official oldest daughter of NewMexiKen, reports on Aidan (he’ll be five one month from today):

Byron’s office had his summer picnic today at a waterpark.
 
Aidan was somewhat discouraged because most of the slides and water activities were set up for people 48 inches or taller, and he isn’t quite there.  After we stood in line for a ropes course only to find he couldn’t reach the rope, I suggested we walk over and join [his brother] Reid in the “little kids” area.
 
We walked over to that section; Aidan took one look and said, “Oh I can’t go in there, Mommy.  I would feel foolish.”

By the way, Aidan and Reid’s older brother Mack competed in his second full triathlon Sunday and placed fourth. Anyone who finishes a triathlon gets my applause, especially a 7-year-old. And the distances were longer this week than previously, so a real achievement. Awesome little guy!

Jill, official oldest daughter of NewMexiKen, reports:

Mack and Aidan went to Fair Camp this week (at the county fair). Part of the week is creating a potato scene and entering it for judging in the fair. At Mack’s urging, his group did an Olympics swimming theme and dressed the potatoes in little caps and swim suits. They won third place and all the team members got ribbons. So now Mack and Aidan have 4-H county fair ribbons. I think they should tell people it is for raising hogs.

Jill reports on 7-year-old Mack’s first official attempt at a triathlon.

Mack did great.  I am so proud of him.  He swam well and passed seven kids before he even got out of the pool.  He also ran so hard and passed several kids.  His bike was his weakest link, which is understandable.
 
He did not medal.  We don’t know his place or time because they only announced the top three.  But when they post the times I’ll let you know how he did.  He was aiming for something in the 13-14 minute range.
 
He has another one next Sunday and then we’re going to reevaluate whether he wants to continue with these.

Debby, NewMexiKen’s official youngest sister, became a grandma for the first time early Saturday evening when her son Josh and his wife Beth gave birth to nine-pound, eight-ounce Kyle. All are well.

Five of The Sweeties attended the Washington Nationals game last night — and three were tossed balls from the field after the between innings warmups. That’s some mighty cute kid appeal!

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen reports that, “The balls are cool. They have a special logo … that says inaugural season of the Nationals ballpark.”

Oh, and Emily, official younger daughter of NewMexiKen, caught one of the T-shirts shot into the crowd. (She’s pretty cute too!)

Jill brings us up to date on 7-year-old Mack’s training for a (kids) triathalon August 9th:

Mack did a good job at his swim meet. He got new personal bests in both of his events, smashing his backstroke time by almost ten seconds. . . .

Following the meet we came straight home and he rode his 1.3-mile bike loop around the neighborhood. He smashed that time by four and a half minutes. The training continues…

The kid who was still learning to ride early in the week is now doing 1.3-mile loops.

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen, filed this report on Aidan, who will be five in September:

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This morning, Aidan came into my bed at about 6:00am and woke me up by saying, “Aidan, reporting for duty.” Snuggle duty.

We took coloring books to the pool, to watch Mack’s swim team practice, and didn’t wear our bathing suits because it was so cold today. Since we didn’t get suited up, we forgot a hat for Aidan. He was so concerned, and although we sat in the shade at the pool, whenever he got up to go to the bathroom or go say hello to someone he held a coloring book across his face as a sun shield.

A few days ago our electricity went out in a storm. We played and watched the storm for about half an hour and then Aidan announced he was going to watch TV. I laughed, “Aidan, the TV won’t work. It uses power.” He replied, “The TV has powers?!”

Yes, magical, magical powers.

Aidan a couple of days after he walked into a moving aluminum baseball bat May 24th. He does all his own stunts.

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen, reports on Aidan, who’ll be five in September. Ah-Dee’s been having some reflux issues.

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Aidan had an upper GI this morning, which is a test to try to identify certain problems in the stomach and diaphragm. He had to drink a bunch of barium (which the tech flavored with Hershey’s syrup for him, but which still was pretty gross), then stand and lie in a variety of positions on an x-ray table, sipping the barium the whole time, as they photographed him.

He did a very good job. The doctor told me that he didn’t see any obvious ulcers or tumors, which is good news. Apparently, ulcers in four years olds are more common than you’d think.

After that we went across the street and he had four vials of blood drawn. That was far more traumatic for Aidan, but we had a lab technician there who was quick, no nonsense, and got the stick the first time despite Aidan thrashing as hard as he could, screaming, and having difficult veins because he’d fasted 12 hours for the upper GI. I could have kissed her. (This is the same lab where I brought Reid when he was nine months old, and took my time explaining to the tech that he had difficult veins, and that we’d had many problems in the past, and we’d had to go into his head, and it took many tries, yadda yadda, and she nodded at me, turned around, and had the needle in his vein in about three seconds. I am never going anywhere else.)

Next we have to collect some stool and turn that in. That we get to collect at home, Yay. Apparently, we use saran wrap.

Anyway, maybe something will turn up in these tests to explain his stomach, and maybe it won’t. We have to wait until mid-August to see a pediatric gastroenterologist, believe it or not. But we got a new Zantac prescription, so at least we can make him feel better while we wait to see if they can diagnose him.

I had promised him that if he did a good job at the upper GI, we could go to Safeway and get him a doughnut and a soda. As he’s in the middle of the test, I hear his little voice from the machine, “Mommy, remember, after this I get a doughnut, soda, and candy.” I replied, “I don’t remember saying anything about candy!” The doctor and the tech laughed and the doctor said, “He’s kind of running the show right now, mom.”

Later the tech told me to make sure Aidan got a lot to drink today, “…and things without caffeine.” Feeling like Champion White Trash Mom, I replied, “So, no Mountain Dew, then?” Aidan piped up, “No, I want diet Coke.” And we left, to the sound of dueling banjos in the distance.

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen, sent this along today:

“Here’s Mack starting his kick for home, leaving the other kids in the dust…a 3:57 half mile…in 90-degree heat…after getting up at 6:15 and swimming at a swim meet.”

He’s 7. Amazing how much energy he can get from a diet consisting pretty much of peanut butter and jelly and chicken nuggets.

Click image for larger version.

The oldest of The Sweeties, Mack, not only plays soccer, football and swims for the club team, he runs the mile. He is seven.

His mother reports:

Mack did so great at his race yesterday.  …  He came in second in his age group with a time of 8:09.  The kid who came in first in his age division is the kid that went by Mack when he stopped at the wrong ending line (the kid finished in 8:06).  Which kills me, but doesn’t seem to matter to Mack.  The kid is a second grader, so Mack finished first in first graders and younger.
. . .
 
He came in 19th in the race, of 163 people 18 and under.
 
It would have been nice if he won, because the girl he luuuuurves won the girls 7 and under.  That could have been the spark that brought them together.  Now she will feel superior to him (although he did beat her by more than a minute.)  Actually, I think she already feels superior to him.  After all, he is a boy and she is a girl.

NewMexiKen’s six card Sweetie straight — one-two-three-four-five-six — is broken today as Sofie turns four.

Among Grandpa’s all-time favorite music videos are Sofie’s version of “Chingle Bells,” her fantastic (and athletic!) choreography to “Suddenly I See,” and — best-of-all — her own composition, “Fall” — “Some leaves are orange, some leaves are lellow.”

As always, click image for larger version.

There are two Sweetie birthdays in October, one today and one coming up Saturday.

For six days until Saturday, though, The Sweeties are 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.

Kiley was the Sweetie who turned five today. It’s always subject to change with children that age, but last I knew Kiley’s favorite thing was the Disney princesses. Grandpa thinks Kiley is more of a princess than any of those storybook fictions. This photo of Kiley was taken at her cousin’s recent birthday party — that’s him looking over her shoulder. Looks to me like Kiley was thinking ahead to her own cake today. Click photo for larger version.

Today is Aidan’s birthday — he’s four. Aidan is third in the succession of Sweeties — though sometimes Aidan isn’t quite so sweet.

Grandpa loves him all the more.

Click image for larger, close-up version.