Posts Tagged ‘hobbies’

Creating Childhood Memories

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

After several weeks of family, fun, and festivities all the excitement has ended.  Today is back to the grind.  Jack starts back to school, my workout routine resumes, and my job as a stay at home mom continues.

The month of January has always been a downer for me — especially the weather and the credit card bills.  This year I’m going to kick my blues to the curb and keep myself busy with something I have been putting off for years.  I want to start digital photo books of my kids.  I meant to start one for Jack shortly after he was born, but the days and months seemed to have flown by.  Now he is three and half years old and I have a slew of pictures that need to be organized.  I will free up some hard disk space once I go through and delete the hundreds of photos that are blurry or duplicates.

I asked Jack if he would like to help me with our new project, and he agreed of course.  I thought it would be neat for him to help me organize and pick out his favorite photos.  Some day when Jack’s kids look at the book they can get a better sense of their daddy’s childhood through pictures.

I do not know how long this project will take. There are thousands of pictures to sort through.  I want to finish it sometime in 2011. I’ll let you know if I can get it done by Jack’s fourth birthday.

Mama’s Athlete

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Every season, I have allowed Brady to choose a sport. We have tried soccer; I am sure you all recall how wonderfully that went. My son proceeded to ask the coach (very loudly) “What is the point of this? You run from one end of the field to the other end. There is one ball and a lot of kids. You kick the ball into a net and then do it all again.” The coach was speechless and just couldn’t stop laughing (along with all of the other parents). We have also taken swimming lessons and Gym classes at My Gym. I try to stick to one “extra” each season, since he will be in school in September and taking Rainbows (similar to Cub Scouts at our church), one extra activity is more than enough.

So as we were driving the other day, I asked him what sport he would like to try: baseball, soccer (again), karate, swimming, or maybe learn an instrument like the guitar, drums, or piano. There are many options this year. Brady said in a proud voice: “Mama, I would like to learn to ice skate.” I have no idea where that came from. But I am not one to discourage my son from trying something new. So the following day I called the local ice-skating rink and found out about skating lessons. Now, I did learn from his lack of interest in soccer that we should “try it before we buy it.” So I do intend to take him ice-skating one time and see if he likes it before I register him for 6 weeks of lessons. But I will keep you updated: I could have a future hockey player or figure skating Olympian – you never know.

Oh boy

Friday, October 30th, 2009

I am – by no stretch of the imagination – a girly girl. I rarely wear makeup and my hair is usually pulled back in a pony tail. Forget fashion. I’m at home in a worn pair of jeans, my law school sweatshirt and a ratty sneakers. I know far more about baseball than I do about barbie dolls.

Yet when I heard we were having a little boy, I completely freaked out. After leaving the doctor’s office, in the safety of my car, I started crying to hubby. “WHAT am I going to do with a little boy?” I sobbed. “WHAT do I know about army men? Or football? Or cars? And I HATE bugs!”

Hubby laughed at me and asked, “Do you think our son is going to come out knowing about any of that stuff? You’ll learn together!” He was right. (Don’t tell him I admitted that though)

I love watching Andrew explore and learn new things. And I am learning with him. This weekend, hubby tried to teach Andrew about football. I laughed because Andrew and I seem to have the same level of tolerance for the sport (roughly a minute).

Andrew is mildly obsessed with airplanes at the moment, which delights hubby and his dad who are both licensed pilots. They talk to him about planes and flying and I try to learn a thing or two…

So we really are learning together. And it’s actually pretty fun.

Except the whole bug thing – I’m never going to like those, no matter how fascinating Andrew finds them!

The Tradition Continues…

Friday, October 16th, 2009

So many of my favorite memories from when I was little involve baseball. My dad had my sister and me playing t-ball as soon as we could hold up a bat without falling over. He coached our little league teams for so long that the town almost named a baseball field after him. My sister and I both played catcher, and I’ll begrudgingly admit that she was far better at it than I ever was. But no matter what else he had going on, dad always came to our games.

Sundays have always been about baseball. My dad started taking me to games when I was 5. I knew how to score a game by age 7. In the beginning, he would bring an activity bag full of toys and coloring books. When I was older, my sister was the one with the activity bag and I was almost as into the game as my dad and uncle.

When I heard I was having a little boy, I couldn’t wait to continue the tradition. (I would have been equally excited to introduce a little girl to baseball.) Andrew has his own little Jeter jersey, a baseball glove, tons of baseballs and a little bat that he likes to swing around like a golf club.

Andrew is learning baseball slowly, excitedly pointing out whenever he sees someone playing. He sat with me on the couch and, like all good Yankee fans everywhere, together we rooted for the Angels as they ended the Red Sox’s time in the post-season.

Traditions are important. Every family has them, no matter how big or small. I still think it’s the most special thing when I get to sit next to my dad at a ballgame. It’s just not the same without him. And I love being able to share this one with him.