Jack and tibbles waking up

A successful day

The day began somewhat inauspiciously as Jack was expecting the delivery of a "Y-Wing Spaceship" and announced he was not leaving the house.

About 11:00, I got him dressed and out the door on the way to a Glenridge playdate at Douglas Playground. I went down the stairs ahead of him and he had no choice but to follow, denouncing me and letting fly with a string of pretty funny and original curses on my person and property. (We had earlier discussed the meaning of a curse in relation to a Hardy Boys book.)

At the playground, we noted that Aron, Theo, Barasa, Emma, Justin, and others were already there, mostly climbing on the structure. Jack asked me to push him on the swing, which I did for a while. Then I announced that I was going to talk to my friends. Jack would not join his friends, not even Emma, but stood close to me while I sat and talked to Jane Pak.

Then I asked Jack what had happened to our ball, which I had placed with Emma's things. Jack spotted it out on the field but refused to go get it without me. So I said I would go with him, but only if we could then kick it around for a while. We had been running and kicking the ball for maybe five minutes when Theo showed up and asked to play. Then Barasa and his little brother, and one other kid. I dropped out and the kids, including Jack played soccer for about 15 minutes. Ultimately, Jack picked up the ball and announced he was going home. The other kids found another ball and continued playing. I was elated because I have never seen Jack play soccer at all and I thought he acquitted himself pretty well. We stayed a short time while Jack interacted with Emma and tried to steal my keys, phone, gloves, and wallet.

At home, still no delivery despite the presence down the street of the UPS truck. We decided to go up to the clubhouse to make the time pass more quickly until the spaceship arrived. Jack did some digging, removing some of that tall grass around the bench. An hour and still no delivery. We read Hardy Boy books.

I got one of the Reader's Clubhouse books and Jack took quite an interest in it. We read it three times with Jack reading the word "hot" and paying close attention to the other words. He can now read the number 25 on the speed limit signs.

Suddenly it was time to go swimming and we hurried out with little fuss from Mr. Stay-at-home-all-day. At the pool, Jack was very active and has perfected his cannonball jump from the edge of the pool. We also swim across the pool with me underwater and Jack clinging to my swimming suit straps and also underwater. I can't really see what he does but he claims he takes a breath to the side half-way across the pool. He stays underwater for a very long time. He also dives down and retrieves rings from the bottom. Initially, he holds his nose, but forgets that after a while.

Theo's mother Judy thinks Jack and Theo are alike and suggested that we coordinate swimming in the Fall. She takes Theo to the Presidio YMCA where they have a pool that is 3 feet deep. I really like Judy and think this is a great idea.