Category: Kids & Cute Stories

Diversity

I had lunch yesterday with 1,000 children.

I decided to join The Sweeties for Thursday’s lunch. Four attend the same elementary school, so this is easier in some ways than it sounds. I drove over to the school just before 11, went through security (they take your ID and give you a badge with your photo on it), and walked across the hall to the cafeteria.

Kiley, second grade, doesn’t really have lunch at school; she has brunch. She and her class poured in at 11. Alex, her kindergarten-aged brother came next, at 11:25. Then cousins Mack, fourth grade, at 11:55, and Aidan, first grade, at 12:30. After Mack a cafeteria lady asked me how many grandchildren I had in the school. “Four,” I said, “but five next year” (if the district lines don’t change).

This particular public school in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., has over 1,000 students, grades kindergarten through fifth. The cafeteria seats 320 and it was close to capacity on each shift, so I got to see (AND HEAR!) most of the 1,000 as they ate (more or less) their lunches from home or the lasagna, corn dog nuggets, or vegetarian chik’n nuggets sold by the school for $2.10, including two sides and a milk. (I didn’t see anyone with the chicken fajita salad.) I understand more clearly now why most restaurants stun me with their noise. The people that manage those places and work there experienced public school cafeterias as kids and think their workplaces are relatively quiet.

A thousand children, ages 5 to 11; American youth in 2010. And they were amazing and beautiful in every shade known, unquestionably with parents or grandparents from all parts of the world — and in many instances with parents from two parts of the world. And, romantic patriot that I am, I couldn’t help but think, e pluribus unum (out of many, one). It was America, as she has always been, richly diverse— our greatest strength.

And it made me quit worrying about the Tea Party.

Oreo

Second-grade Sweetie Kiley wrote a story and really wanted to see it published.

So, Grandpa proudly presents “Oreo” by Kiley.

Cups rattled and colored leaves blew. My purple hat went flying and then my dog turned bright pink and grew five red eyes! His claws grew three times bigger while his teeth became sharper and sharper! My poor little Oreo! (That’s his name.) Oreo’s nose turned dark blue as the wind howled and whistled so hard my blue eyes stung and my hands were frozen in place. Then I looked down…I really was freezing! Oh no, I crack! My entire body has frozen. The monster dog has buried me in the blowing bushes! Oreo stood guard as the moaning wind whistled louder than a train. Suddenly, the sun came out and melted me! Oreo barked and then disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Venders in the street yelled and pink flowers bloomed. A long beautiful rainbow covered the green land. I was happy until the wind barked and a cat snuck up behind me –

To be continued…

I don’t know if this is my favorite blog post ever

. . . but it surely makes the list. Re-posted from last year.

If this story

… makes you feel one-tenth as good as it does me, you’ll have a great day, too.

Jill reports on three-year-old Reidie:

Reid just woke up. He has a cold and he’s also having a hard time adjusting to the new schedule — he naps, and then he can’t go to sleep at night, and then he gets up late, and then he won’t nap and he’s exhausted by 7:00…

Anyway, he just woke up and I asked him (as I always do), “What did you dream about?”

“Darth Vader was chasing me.”

“Oh no! Were you scared?”

“No.”

“Really? I would have been scared.”

“Grandpa was holding my hand.”

Back to School

School began for four of The Sweeties this morning. Shown here are Kiley (2nd) and Alex (K), Aidan (1st) and senior citizen Mack (4th). All four cousins attend the same school, where their mother/aunt teaches.

Sweetie Sofie in Denver has been in school for several weeks already. She needed a break. She’s shown here “fishing” with her dad.

Sweetie Reid begins his last year of preschool shortly.

Making a Splash

Been hanging with some of The Sweeties for this past week — with more to come. That means, of course, that I’ve been in the National Capital Area. Love it here in late July and early August: 95 degrees and a billion percent humidity.

The divisional swim meet was Saturday and three of The Sweeties competed and won a passel of ribbons. On Sunday Aidan (6) and Mack (9) were recognized as their 315-kid team’s most improved (for boys 6-and-under and boys 9-10 respectively). Aidan won the same trophy last year. Kiley (7) should win a lot of points next year when she’s among the oldest kids in her age group. Alex (5) and Reid (4) will compete next year — each has already swum a complete 25 meter lap.

Glad to have such strong swimmers for grandkids, especially after the tragic news story from Arkansas earlier this week. I’m a very poor swimmer myself and didn’t even learn until I was in college. According to a couple of studies reported at Slate, one third of adults claim they cannot swim the length of a pool (25 meters) and more than half of teenagers cannot do more than splash around in the shallow end.

Oh, jeez

“Two parents are suing the Greater Toronto Hockey League for $25,000 because their son suffered ‘irreparable psychological damage’ when he was cut from a team.”

Sideline Chatter

I’m pretty certain the kid has “irreparable psychological damage” but I suspect other causes.

Today’s Photo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Not really. It’s the Sweetie with the Dragon arm painting. Photo of Sofie’s arm taken last Saturday at the farmer’s market in Louisville, Colorado, with an iPhone 3G.

Today’s Photo

Emily, official younger daughter of NewMexiKen, is coaching an 8-and-under softball team this spring. None of the girls had ever played before. They struggled during the regular season — I saw a couple of their early games — all losses and mostly strikeouts — but they got better.

This week the girls entered the championship tournament as the third place team — out of four — but they’ve won all three of their games and go into Saturday in the winner’s bracket. The other remaining team will have to beat them twice.

Go Lime Turtles!

That’s the coach with her daughter, Sweetie Kiley.

Photo taken by Jill a few weeks ago.

Slacker

Last Saturday 9-year-old Mack ran a mile race and took second overall for kids 12 and under. Exactly 30 minutes after finishing the mile, he ran a 5K finishing fourth in his age group.

There were 500 runners altogether in the two races.

(Mack’s brother Aidan won the mile for boys 6 and under. Their cousin Kiley took second among girls 7-8. Aidan and Kiley declined to also run the 5K.)

From the runs Mack went to a chess tournament. He had a draw and a loss before having to leave early (his brother Reid had a playground accident resulting in a dislocated shoulder).

Later in the afternoon Mack played a half of soccer.

Sunday’s football game was rained out.

Photo taken between the mile and the 5K. His day was just beginning.

15K

Three of the Sweeties ran a 5K early this morning — and all three medaled. It was the first 5K ever for Kiley (7) and Aidan (6). They took third in the K-1 age group, girls and boys. Mack took second for third grade boys.

All three play team sports later in the day.