S is for Spring

S is for Spring.  To me, Spring means packing away jackets and pulling out shorts.  It also means lots of afternoon showers and overnight thunderstorms.  Apollo doesn't like thunderstorms.  The thunder itself makes him very anxious and he gets clingy on nights when the weather has deteriorated - sometimes to the point where he will work himself into a tizzy over everything, anything, or nothing at all. One little crack of thunder and he melts into a puddle of anxiety.  The lightning and heavy rains aren't his favorites, but he tolerates them much better. But of course, with all the April Showers come May Flowers.  Now that it is May and any chance of a cold snap has passed, the boys and I got out in the backyard this afternoon and planted a small garden.  It wasn't done professionally and we used last year's seeds and cheap potting soil, but the boys are already peeking out the back door "watching them grow."  I've tried telling Apollo it's going to be a couple of weeks until we see any flowers, if any grow at all.  Either he doesn't believe me or he has set his beliefs on the notion that those flowers are magical and will sprout up like they do in time-lapse videos.   But it has definitely piqued his interest, so we will see if he will help me water the little garden or not.  I am half expecting not, but between the three of my boys, maybe I can get one of them to help me.   They were sure jumping at the bit to help me put dirt in the pots - maybe a little too anxious.  There are now random patches of potting soil in the backyard where my three year old over-zealously "helped."  Apollo was actually quite helpful transferring the soil from the bag into the 16 pots, but several sets of seeds aren't planted as deep as they should be since he either didn't hear me or didn't understand me when I said to fill them up to a little under half full.  Oh well, if we get flowers, I am going to have some very happy little boys and if we don't, then we'll have a lesson that things don't always turn out as expected.

S is for Sprinklers.  After two weeks of on and off rain and lots of flooding in the area, we have finally seen some sweet sunshine and the ground has dried up - just enough for us to soak it again.   While I am not planning on pulling out any of the major water toys until after school is out, I relented and surprised the boys with one of the sprinklers I got last year during summer clearance.  I am saving the fun and fancy free one for summer, but I picked up several old-school style sprinklers and brought one out last weekend.  Since then, the boys have played in the sprinkler three different times and it still hasn't gotten old for them.  Each time, they went crazy for over 30 minutes, one time closer to an hour and the pure joy was phenomenal.  To see all three of my boys playing together, working together and not fighting was pure bliss.  Like I said, it isn't anything fancy - just one of those rectangular ones that has a silver bar with holes in it that rotates back and forth and sprays water, but they love it.   Think back to your own childhood.  The one at my grandmother's house was yellow.  I remember it fondly, so it must be a childhood thing.  All I know is Apollo truly enjoys the sprinklers and he only got in trouble twice for standing on it, so it was relatively issue-free.  The plus side is that it is something he truly enjoys doing WITH his brothers, whereas he would normally prefer to play without them or for very limited amounts of time.  There's also nothing to fight over, so that could be a big part of why it is so successful.

S is for Soccer.  The big one, the big gamble.  I'm still not completely sure the risk has been worth the outcome.  I have seen a side to Apollo that hasn't shown itself since he was very little - the desire to play with other children.  But it hasn't been a wholly enjoyable experience - actually far from it.  He doesn't pay attention at practice, he wanders away during games and sometimes he would rather play with the other team instead of against them.  But sometimes... sometimes he gets it and it is glorious.  Sometimes he'll kick the ball with stoic determination, he'll share the ball with his teammates and he'll smile and laugh and shine brighter than the sun.  Most of the time, however, it's a battle just to get him to stay IN the game, much less participate.  There have been more times than I can remember that I have had to chase Apollo down and drag him back to the field to play and/or practice.  I cringe every time he gets the ball because I know that if he kicks it out, he's going to follow it...and follow it... and follow it - wherever that may take him.  It's a relief that his little teammate is actually quite a good little player and Apollo is content enough to usually be the one to throw/kick it in to him and then run along with him while the other kid scores/tries to score.  It's a struggle to get his cleats on, he usually can't find his shin guards (which often makes us late - I can't remember the last time we made it to practice on time) and he whines that he's tired/thirsty/hungry/bored/etc more often than he attempts to play.  It has cost a small fortune for him to play this season (over $100 once registration, uniform accessories and gear are considered) and it will likely be his last, as time has shown that at this time, team sports are not the way to go for Apollo.  We have come to the conclusion that, at least at this time, an individual sport like Tae Kwon Do or perhaps an art class may be more suitable for Apollo.  Perhaps this will change once he starts school in the fall and he is around 20 children a day for 8 hours at a time, perhaps it won't change and he will always do better with he, himself and him.  For now, we are going to play out the season and take the good with the bad, because even though the bad can be frustrating and disheartening, there are moments that makes it all worth it - the money, the frustration, the fussing, the time - yeah, I would have to say it's all worth it for my baby to have moments where he REALIZES that he matters. Moments like these: