He's a Joiner

Boy's school in Estonia wanted us to pull him out at the half-day, hire a new nanny, and sign him up for sports. Well, they clarified, not really sports because he doesn't do well in a group and it would stress him out. Just hire a phys ed major to, I don't know, run him around in circles? He doesn't stop moving and that's a problem in school. We didn't do that, because Holy Childcare Management Nightmare. It would have been too much and not as effective as they thought it would have been. By most mid-afternoons, he's nothing if not overtired. That's not the time I would run him around.

I did get their point about the group dynamic. Boy misses kids, though. He is an introvert and can only take groups in small doses, but between the five or so hours they spend at the gym each week and the occasional playdate with their cousin, they don't see a lot of other kids. He's on the waitlist for swim lessons. He said no to art classes (still working on that one) and no to gymnastics. I'm secretly searching for a chess teacher. When I cautiously mentioned soccer or t-ball, he eagerly yelped, "Yes! Soccer!"

And so soccer it is.

He starts next week. He slept with his new soccer ball last night.

Can I Jedi Mindtrick you into seeing a clean house?

P.S.--In the chapters of Geographic Single Mom, you will find one labeled "The Chapter in which I Buy Him A Cup Because I Don't Know and Then Am Told He Doesn't Need One for Soccer but He Loves His Cup and Has Incorporated It into His Make-believe Play about Soccer."