Category: Kids & Cute Stories

Knucklehead

I’ve told Jill, official oldest daughter of NewMexiKen and the mother of three boys, that I intend to get the book Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka so I can read it aloud to her boys my next visit.

From the review:

Scieszka gets children, and he gets their humor. Especially boy humor. He tells the truth about what really goes on when parents aren’t looking. (Chapter 34, “Fire”: “There is something about boys and fire that is like fish and water, birds and air, cats and hairballs. They just go together.” Good thing Scieszka’s mom was a nurse.

The book’s design is also inviting. There are 38 chapters of two to three pages each, with titles like “Who Did It?” With the timing of a stand-up comedian, Scieszka writes in “Watch Your Brothers”: “That’s what my mom used to tell me and Jim — ‘Watch your brothers.’ So we did. We watched Jeff roll off the couch. We watched Brian dig in the plants and eat the dirt. We watched Gregg lift up the lid on the toilet and splash around in the water.”

As someone who grew up with three brothers, I am familiar with boy knuckleheadedness. Scieszka makes the case for certain truths of boyhood, like why nothing beats a good game of “slaughter ball.” “One guy would throw the football up in the air. The rest of us would try to catch it. Then once you caught it, you had to run around and try not to get ‘slaughtered’ by everyone else. It was a great game because you got to smash into a lot of people and then end up in a giant pile.” Did you know it takes only seven pounds of pressure to break a collarbone?

One more thing while I was away

Mack Nears Finish

Sweetie Mack, as noted elsewhere, will be 8 tomorrow. Last Saturday he ran his last distance race as a 7-year-old, a 5K with 4,473 other runners, the Reindeer Romp. He finished 252nd overall (that is, he finished ahead of 4,222 runners).

Even better, he took first place among all boys and girls in his age group (7 and under).

Indeed he finished better than any of the 8-year-olds in the race. He ran the 3.1 miles in 29:10. 

That’s him in the photo a few blocks from the finish. Click image for larger version.

Cross Country Sweetie

Mack Near the FinishSecond-grader Mack, who’ll be eight in a few weeks, ran in the Regional Junior Olympics cross country meet Saturday morning against kids his age (born in 2000 or later) from Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Mack had been home from school two days during the week, sick with the flu, and unable to work out. The temperature was in the 30s.

Jill, Mack’s mom, sent this report on the 2K race:

[Mack] struggled during the race and ran about 25 seconds slower than last week, and both times I saw him on the course he just didn’t look himself. He just looked tired and like he couldn’t pick his feet up like normal. Usually I love to watch him run. But today I actually felt like hopping the rope and pulling him off the course. He did have a pretty good finish where he was seesawing with another boy on the way in and he beat him to the line.

Jill sent this report a little later:

I was looking at the race photos with Mack and showing him how he just didn’t look like he was having fun except when he was battling that kid at the end. Turns out that, as that kid passed him earlier in the race, [the kid] said, “See ya!” as he went by. So Mack came after him and found him and beat him by .25 second.

Mack ran 10:27.73. That’s him in the photo as he was passing the “See ya!” kid (not shown). Mack passed eight kids on the way to find him.

The winner, from South Carolina, ran a phenomenal 7:59.89.

The first Thanksgiving and the ‘Made Up Americans’

Reposted from 2006:

This is Mack’s first Thanksgiving in school, so of course he’s hearing the public school version of the First Thanksgiving story. Some teachers don’t use the correct name for the indigenous people near Plymouth — Wampanoags — or even the preferred generic term — American Indians. No, they use the presumed politically correct name — Native Americans.

That’s what the teacher says, but what do the children hear?

Mack’s mother Jill reports:

“At school, Mack is learning about the first Thanksgiving. He came home today with a short story about it, which I asked him to read to me. It went well until he got to the first reference to what he called the ‘Made Up’ Americans.”

Champion

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).

Some of The Sweeties vote

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen, reports:

The bad news is that when we went to vote (with wagon, crayons, and bribe candy in tow), we walked right in and didn’t have to wait for so much as a second to either check in or get a machine.

The good news is that, when Aidan hit the “wrong answer” on the page for the Senate race, the machine actually let us back out and fix it.

Also good news, out front there were five volunteers handing out Democratic sample ballots, and only one Republican. Usually that ratio is 0:1, not 5:1. As we walked by, one of the Democrats was saying something to the Republican about how he must be cold without a jacket. The Republican responded that he was just trying to get used to the kind of austerity he would have to live under if Obama was elected. Which is a pretty funny answer (and everyone on both sides of the path laughed).

Mack hit the choice for president, Aidan for senator, Reid for the representative and all four of us hit the “Record Your Vote Now” button together.

Then we went in the hallway and I cried and they ate peanut butter cups.

[The title of this post takes poetic license. In actuality none of The Sweeties can vote. They are citizens and they are not convicted felons; they are simply too young.]

Halloween Album

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.

Reid Alex Aidan Kiley Mack

You may click each image for a larger version.

Then there were three

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.

Child’s play

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.)

Mack Kicking Home

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.

Sweetie Birthday

Sofie

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!

A new runner

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

Runner

That’s Aidan. Click image for larger version.

More information than we need

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen, reports:

There was a time, a gentler time, when, if a woman was…expecting…she would retire to her country home and quietly await the arrival of the child, keeping the news from all but closest family, and never discussing it in mixed company.

Now, when the baseball coach sends an e-mail asking who can come to practice tonight, the whole e-mail list gets this in response:

“We cannot confirm whether [our son] will be able to attend practice this evening or not. I’m dilated 4 cm and might be having this baby at any minute!”

School

The Sweeties® are all in school this year, Mack in 2nd grade, Kiley in kindergarten and the others in pre-school.

Aidan’s teacher didn’t have to discuss his behavior with Aidan’s mom until the second day this year, a new personal best for Aidan.

But let’s keep in mind his older brother’s approach:

“[Mack] also told us about the green-yellow-red behavior system and said that he won’t get any reds but we should expect a few yellows.”

Mack later said that it’s not that he might purposefully break a rule, it’s that you don’t always know the rules. Indeed. It’s difficult to go through kindergarten, or any other part of life, without a few yellows.

In between

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!

Little Farm on the Suburb

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.

Triathlon report

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.

New Grandma

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.

Warming up

Seven-year-old Sweetie Mack, you may remember, was learning to ride a bike in order to compete in a triathlon on August 9th. Lo and behold, there’s youth triathlons all the time in northern Virginia, so Mack got his first taste of competition today.

Jill, Mack’s mom, and official older daughter of NewMexiKen, reports. Click the image for a larger version.

Mack completed his first youth triathlon today. Yay, Mack!

Triathlon

He had fun and seemed to do it with little problem…physically. Unfortunately, this was the first race put on by a new organization and it was a mess. The volunteers made many mistakes. In regard to Mack, [the mistakes] led to him riding extra mileage on the bike (luckily, Byron and I caught him before he rode an entire extra loop, like many kids did), then completely missing the run when they sent him directly from transition into the finish chute.

So he’ll have a great .68 mile time of about 15 seconds!

At first when the error was realized (too late to do anything about it, officially, as they’d already removed his timing chip), Mack was despondent and I wasn’t far behind. Then Mack decided to complete the run anyway, with no timing device on. He did a great job and kicked it home in an impressive time.

So, Mack is really happy with his morning and said, “I actually got to do extra on the bike and run Mom, that’s good.” We are, of course, very proud that he did the run even knowing it wouldn’t count. None of the other kids who were similarly misdirected did so, that we saw.

I’m trying to get over the fact that his time was messed up and that he was therefore unable to win one of the trophies for first, second or third place in his age group. Trying. Trying hard. And I’ll keep trying. At least my seven-year-old has his priorities in line.