Maybe She's Been Taking Gymnastics For Too Long...

Give her a bar and she will hang from it...

Officially Summer

The opening of the outdoor pools at the Weymouth Club means its officially summer!! And we finally got there this afternoon! 

Black & Blue Stripe

Charlie tested for his blue stripe this morning. It is a 3 part process where they demonstrate their form, then a series of punch/kick combinations and then spar. The sparring is supposed to be no contact, so they just wear their helmets and gloves instead of full sparring gear. Unfortunately Charlie was on the receiving end of a kick that he apparently ran right into, and received this lovely shiner on his leg. Fortunately he finished up without seeming any worse for wear & his teacher gave us the heads up that he did pass his test -- yay Charlie! I'll be sure to post a picture of him in his blue stripe belt when he gets it on Wednesday. 

May Heat Wave

We will be entering our third day of 90+ degree weather tomorrow, which for us New Englanders is quite a jolt into the summer season. 

The heat has been magnified by Charlie's busy schedule this week; we were informed on Wednesday that he was in fact ready to test for his blue stripe belt on Sunday so this has meant three long sweaty afternoons in a row for him at the Taekwon do studio; I felt particularly bad for him today because he had sparring -- all geared up he is a sweaty mess even on temperate days, much less 90 degree ones. Add to this baseball practice Wednesday evening and a baseball game tomorrow morning and you pretty much have a kid in desperate need of a shower at any given moment all week long :-)

Since the heat wave started yesterday Charlie has discovered that snakes like hiding under trash cans when it gets really hot. He has discovered two snakes this way since yesterday afternoon and he also discovered one in his snake trap, which he had thrown under a bush weeks ago and that I at least had forgotten about. The snake-trapped snake required a thorough greasing up with Pam cooking spray and a careful peeling off from the sticky bottom of the trap, which Mike very patiently accomplished and the snake escaped unharmed. The snake trap, thankfully, was deemed one use only and thrown out so we at least don't have to do THAT again. 

In pet snake news, Checkers is becoming comfortable in his new home. Which means that instead of hiding under  his log or rock 24/7 he now comes out to slither around his cage, which is actually really disconcerting, especially when you are in Charlie's room and catch a glimpse of something slithering out of the corner of your eye. I much prefer him hiding under his rock. 

In other news we are two weeks away from my 5K and I did finally accomplish running 3 miles today, the length of the race.  "Running" is a stretch. In fact "jogging" is a stretch. "Old lady jogged " is probably more accurate. Yes, I old-lady-jogged 3 miles today without stopping. 

Anyway, more updates from our baseball, Taekwon do and heat filled weekend to follow!!

Teaching The Neighborhood Children The Joys of Catching Snakes

7 Year Check Up

I took Charlie for his seven year well visit this afternoon. He measured and weighed in at 52 1/2 inches tall and 73 lbs respectively, which puts him, as usual, off the charts for height and weight. His doctor said he is on track to be at least 6'4" and that I should "teach him to dribble now." She said, as she did last year, that his weight remains fine and that BMI percentiles aren't accurate for very tall children. 

She also marveled that she actually hasn't seen Charlie since his last well visit -- in fact, she noted his last sick visit was the summer before starting kindergarten, when he had a raging case of molluscum contagiousum that required a trip to the dermatologist to sort out. 

At the risk of totally and completely jinxing myself, Charlie has not had a sick day at all this year and in fact the last time he had a fever over 99 degrees was, I believe,  while I was still home on maternity leave with Amelia. 

So here's keeping our fingers crossed for another healthy year!!

Herb Garden

We have herbs! Cilantro, basil, rosemary, parsley and chocolate mint to be exact! The cilantro is already looking like its on its way out though thanks to Charlie dropping it in the store and then my attempt to separate it while replanting it into the pot...