Can this count as 4 posts?

A couple weeks later and here we are. This is what has been happening.

EVERLY:

• has started calling her brother "Cotlan" instead of "Totlan."
• wore jewelry to school three out of five days last week; one of those days, she got her necklace taken away because she wouldn't stop playing with it, even when her teacher asked her repeatedly not to. She's not allowed to wear that one to school anymore.
• changed her clothes three or four times this morning before leaving for school. Ultimately, she wanted to wear a sweater. As soon as we got to school, she took it off anyway.
• has been getting out of her bed regularly at night. I finally told her that I am going to start marking down how many times she gets out of bed, and there are going to be consequences if she gets too many marks. (I have yet to figure out how many is "too many.")  Last night, she didn't get out of bed until 11pm, when she woke to go potty. (She won't get a mark for that.)
• loves cutting and gluing, is very good at recognizing her letters and letter sounds, and is very motivated to learn.
• thinks that she can spell, because she keeps randomly spouting off letters and asking me what that spells. For example: "Mommy, what does 't-t-t-t-l-p-l-r-y' spell?." Usually, I sound out what she spells and then tell her it isn't a word. Once, though, she said, "Mommy, what does 'e-a-r-l-y' spell?" I had to give that one to her. Cortlan was amazed she could spell "early".
• doesn't care much about saving things. When she is done, it can be thrown away.
• started gymnastics and loves it. Though, she needed to be sure to have the ponytail holder that matched the leotard she wore.

CORTLAN:

• laughs and says "You kicked me?? No you didn't!" when his sister clearly means "tricked." He calls her on her mispronunciations all the time...maybe that is why she has started to say his name right.
• was on "yellow" three out of five days last week at school when we picked him up. This isn't as bad as red, but he should be on green. His teacher said, "He was being way too silly with his friends."
• has been doing a great job at getting himself dressed in the morning. For the most part.
• seems to be taking advantage of his color blindness (for John's benefit: his color vision deficiency). Several of the worksheets that he has had lately have required him to correctly identify colors. For example, he was to color all of the pictures that rhymed with "boat" blue and the ones that rhymed with "jar" red. Other worksheets had him using as many as eight or ten colors. I asked his teacher how he has been doing with those activities. She said that his friends help him tremendously, giving him all of the crayons, telling him what color they are. "Here, Cortlan, this is the brown one! This is the red one!" I can just picture it.
• went to the allergist in August and found out that, among the things for which he was tested, he is severely allergic to grass, ragweed, two other weeds that I can't remember, oak, and cat. He did not show a response for crab, lobster, or shrimp. He is on a nasal spray, a liquid allergy medicine, and eye drops. Yesterday, at the follow-up appointment, we found that he may have to get his adenoids removed. An ENT appointment is up next to find more information about that.
• must save everything. It is driving me crazy. Every piece of paper. Every bottle cap, paper towel tube, even the used dixie cups he drinks water out of at school. He sobbed when I told him we were going to have to throw some of it away.
• started soccer again. He got a goal in the first game and was thrilled! The second game didn't go quite as well, but he did seem to enjoy it. He is really liking gymnastics.

JOHN:

• has been working hard and doing a great job at what he does. I am proud of him...it isn't easy to deal with as many people as he does with the grace and respect in which he does it. He is very appreciated at work and at home.
• has been able to experience the "gymnastics thing" this year which involves listening to a whole lot of moms chatting away in the viewing room. He is driven as crazy (or crazier) than I typically am.
• washes dishes like nobody's business.

I:

• have been wondering how I got such a high maintenance daughter.  Seriously. 
• can't believe that I spelled kindergarten incorrectly in two posts. And my mom had to call me to let me know about it.
• have been running regularly (though half the time not getting home until after 9pm) and finally was convinced to sign up for my 3rd half-marathon.  I have a running buddy that I get to run in the evenings with most days, and I have been loving the opportunity to chat and have some social time while exercising.  Often, it is the only socializing I get to do.
• have had some very stressful days at work lately, but I am kind of proud of myself in how I handled them.
• am somehow calmly appreciating my life.  I have alone time (kind of); I have time when it is just me and the kids; I have time when it is the four of us; I have time when it is just John and I...and I appreciate and enjoy all of those times for what they are.  I realize that I need all of that, and that it is all good.

Soccer 2012

Last year, we asked Cortlan if he would be interested in playing t-ball in the summer or soccer in the fall.  He responded with a convincing "no" and we didn't push.  Afterall, he was only four and there were no signs that he was ready for organized sports.  Over the winter, I noticed that Spring soccer registration began in January, and towards the end of December, I mentioned in passing that we would sign him up if he was interested.  In early January, he let us know that he wanted to try.  I was surprised, in a way, but also hopeful and a little bit excited that he was asking to play soccer instead of us trying to convince him to give it a shot.  I waited a week and asked him multiple times, just to be sure, before shelling out the nice chunk of money and suggesting soccer gear to relatives for his birthday.  He got a new ball, water bottle, gear bag and shin guards/socks for his birthday, and we registered him for his first experience at a team sport.

That was January.  His first soccer practice/game wasn't until the second week of April.  That is a lot of time to lose interest, and as the day approached, it was hard to tell if Cortlan was excited at the prospect or nervous and dreading it.  Knowing him, I knew that we could expect anything from standing on the sidelines frozen in place and not participating in the least to going out there and giving it his best try, laughing and joking with his teammates. 

A completely clueless newbie soccer mom, I googled exactly what we were supposed to do with the shin guards and socks on that first day, and got him dressed in his uniform.  I was expecting the worst and hoping for the best (and admiring how cute he looked in his gear) as the whole family drove to the field.

Cort meeting his coach.  He did switch and shake hands with the correct hand; unfortunately, that isn't what I got a picture of, however.

To our surprise, Cortlan showed a surge of confidence as he met his coach and shook his hand.  John went out of the field to kick around with him a bit, but it wasn't long before he was kicking the ball around with his teammates.  The team warmed up, practiced for about 20 minutes, and then met the team that they were going to play.  Cortlan ran up and down the field and even got his foot on the ball a few times.

John and I juggled and multitasked throughout the season, with only one of us attending the event at a time.  The cold and wet days went to John, while Ev and I grocery shopped; the sunny days went to me, while John mowed the lawn.  On those cold and wet days at the beginning of the season, John would come home and tell me how impressed he was with Cortlan...not once did he complain or refuse to do anything and he always got out there and did his best to do what the coach told him to, despite the cold weather or rain.  It was rare that the entire team was in attendance, but Cort never missed a game, and sometimes (on the coldest and wettest days) he was on the field practically the entire time, as there was no one to rotate in to replace him.

There were clearly kids on the team who had played on the fall team and/or had older siblings from whom they had learned.  Cortlan may have been the only one who really never played soccer before.  His personality is not a competitive or aggressive one, so going after the ball was not really a strength of his.  Especially when there was someone else on the field who was a soccer superstar, Cortlan would tend to back off.  But he ran up and down the field in the group of kids, laughed, listened to his coach, gained some confidence, and had some good fun (while occasionally watching the butterflies).  Despite my frustration at times (like when the ball hit him in the foot and he didn't kick it), thinking back, Cortlan did exceed my expectations and I am proud of him for trying.  Who knows if he will do it again, but at least he gained some valuable experience and learned a lot this season.  I did, too.