Sports, School and Friend Drama

Baseball has been going okay for Luke. He is showing improvement. In fact, the coach said to him at his last practice that he thinks Luke is going to end up being the team's most improved hitter. I think it was a compliment? Practices are two hours twice a week. Now, we've added games into the mix. It is so much more time-consuming than the YMCA sports! The first game was Tuesday night. It was supposed to be Saturday, but was postponed for rain. The game started at 6:30 and lasted until 815. And, the coach asked us to get there at 5:30 to warm up. It was a long time at the park.

They put him last in the batting order and he played outfield for 4 innings and one inning at third base. While at third base, he actually made an out! The kid hit the ball near him, and he cleanly fielded it and tagged him out. He had two at-bats. He struck out the first time and got a base hit, with an RBI the second time. He was excited. After the game, the coach sat everyone down and told them that after each game, he was going to give the game ball to a deserving player. And, for the first game, it went to Luke, for surprising everyone with a powerful hit (another backhanded compliment?)! He was thrilled. Every time he tells someone about it, he says, "they gave me the ball for the game." 

In other Luke news, he read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Jack told him he should read it, and he did. Florida has a system where kids read books, take tests on the books and receive points.  This book is a level 5.7 and worth 6 AR points. A level 5.7 means it is the expected reading level of a fifth grader in their 7 month of school. I wasn't sure how much he comprehended, but he got a perfect score on the test, so he definitely read it. Jack was saying how Luke must be super smart, but I don't know if he is any smarter than the other kids, they just didn't have older siblings encouraging them to try hard things. Oh, while I am bragging, he was also the first in his class to complete the 1000 Frye words. So, we know he knows the 1000 most commonly written English words. 

Anna is also doing really well in school. There are two weeks left in the quarter and she currently has 6 As and 1 B, with no missing assignments. That is a huge improvement! I am really proud of her. And, I feel a little responsible for her B, I "helped" her with an assignment and told her everything was correct and she got 2 wrong. Whoops! She has an 88, so there is still hope for straight As. I am really glad we had the option to send them back to school. Jack and Kara are doing fine with online learning, but Luke and Anna need the structure. I feel bad for friends in other states who didn't have the choice. I am not a fan of our Governor, but I do appreciate that Florida has largely avoided the major shutdowns that other states experienced, particularly since our infection and death rates are about average, even with being more open than other states. 

Because I am slow and have developed a (bad?) habit of writing a bit here and there--Luke had his second baseball game yesterday. It did not go as well as the first. He struck out at both at-bats, but managed to be a relatively good sport. The ball never came to him in the outfield. But, his team won 11-1! In fact, Luke was the only kid on the team not to get a hit. The score likely could have been even higher, but they limit teams to 4 runs an inning. Luke has been really lucky to randomly get placed on good teams. First soccer, then football, and now baseball. 

He also had a football game yesterday. He, and his team, played well. Luke caught a couple of passes and scored a touchdown. He did get the first penalty I've seen this season, it was for "tackling". He was blocking a kid in an appropriate way to keep him away from a teammate who had the ball, and then got a bit overzealous and sort of pulled him to the ground (fortunately, not a violent true tackle, but a take down none the less). I feel the need to add that Luke is a very nice, sweet kid who is not the least bit violent :)

Between football and baseball, we were outside for about 3 hours. It was a beautiful day, but both Thomas and I got burnt! I really need to remember sunscreen! Fortunately, that was our last day with overlapping games. Well, there is one next week, but they are at the same time, so Luke will have to choose. After that, there is one more week with both and then football ends. 

Finally, a note on Kara and Jack--they are doing well, although there has been a bit of friend drama. Kara has a friend in the neighborhood (Abby) who she regularly plays with. Her parents are divorced, so she is here one week and then spends a week at her moms. When she is here, she plays with Kara almost daily. Sometimes, Anna, Luke and/or Jack join in, they ride bikes, climb trees, etc. Well, Jack discovered that he has a lot in common with her. Specifically, they both like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Sometimes, Abby wants to hang out with Jack and talk to him about Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. This does not go over well with Kara. So, we are navigating those waters. I imagine this is just the start, with 3 kids only 16 months apart, friends are bound to overlap. I hope they can better learn to handle the situation. 

Finally, in the last bit of random news, I am not sure if I mentioned this, but the older kids have also been tasting a little more freedom. They have ridden their bikes to Menchis, a yogurt place, used their own money to buy a treat, sat outside to enjoy the treat and ridden their bikes home. I think they feel very grown-up about the whole thing.