As it turns out, we decided to skip the football game Saturday.  We weren’t feeling well.  The drive was really long.  Yada, yada.

As luck would have it, we missed quite a show.  Apparently our coach got so mad at the other team that the other team called the police on him right in the middle of the game and had him detained in the back of the police car.  Right there on the field.  We are told it was quite a scene.

Classy.

Man, I can’t believe we missed it.  I guess that’s what we get for being fair weather team members. Honestly, had I known this was going to happen I think that scene alone may have been worth the long drive.  But nooooo, we had to stay home.

Granted, these aren’t the kinds of experiences you hope for when you go out of your way to have your child play on a Christian football team based out of a church that prays at every game.  I guess, though, that’s what would have made it all the more hilarious.

I’m no expert but I feel fairly certain God has a higher standard of sportsmanship in mind that one should work towards and model for others.  WWJD and all.

Way to represent.

Jeez.

Rye had 2 events on Friday.  A school dance and football practice.

The school dance came first.  And these are the kinds of events Rye lives for – social, dancing, music, chatting, friends, all of it.  So he went and had a blast.  Unfortunately, he had to leave the dance early to get to football practice. And this was done very begrudgingly.   Nonetheless, he complied and we made it.  However, about an hour into practice, as everyone else is into practice and working hard and  lined up and running plays, Don and I look out onto the field and this is what transpired.

Don: Are you looking out there?

Me: Me? Yes.

Don: What is Rye doing?

Me: Um…I don’t know.

Don:  What do you mean you don’t know?  Look.

Me: It looks like he’s dancing (Rye is out there full blown dancing while everyone else in in position).

Don:  Dancing.  Yes, that’s what it looks like to me too.  Dancing.  Why? Why in the heck is he dancing?  He is supposed to be on the line ready to go.  Everyone else is in position.

Me: I see that.

Don: And he’s dancing. Billy Elliot.

Me:  Yes, that’s what it looks like.  I guess he wasn’t quite ready to leave the dance.

About this time I see one of the coaches completely cracking up laughing  while the other coach simultaneously yells,  “Rye!  Get your butt on the line and get your butt down!  NOW!”

Don:  Oh dear.

Me:  Yea.

Me:   He looks like he’s having fun though, doesn’t he?  He’s a pretty good dancer.

Don: I guess.  He really is just his own person.

Me: Yea.

Me: You know, come to think of it, it’s possible that at some point people may ask what the deal is with him.  I think  I may just tell them he has brain damage from birth.  It’s  just easier.  It pretty much covers all of our bases and I think everyone would understand.   They would get it.

Don:  ( laughing) Yea, sounds reasonable.  I don’t think anyone would question that.

And just for the record, the dance looked a little something like this (you can’t embed the original video so this is the remix):

Well…

Things are going well here.  Rye is heavily engrossed in football with practice every day.  He loves it.  He works really hard out on the field and takes it very seriously but it also having a lot of fun with it.  And we lucked out with finding this team for him.  The coaches are great and very age appropriate.  They are tough but still fun as well.  Which, since these kids are still 12 & 13, seems important to me.  And it works well for him and makes it so he likes to go every day and work hard for them.

Rye is now officially 13 years old.  A teenager.   And he grew again.  In the month since he had his sports physical he has grown an inch.  He is now a week into 13 years old and just shy of 5′10″.  Growing…growing…it’s incredible to watch.

I met with the school this week as Rye will be going back to public school this year.  Not my first choice, but hey, that’s life sometimes.   And he is excited to be with his friends.  And excited for school dances, etc. etc. Much to my surprise, the school has cleaned house on their special ed department.  And I mean cleaned house.  All but one special ed teacher is gone and replaced.  With more qualified special ed teachers (I guess my son wasn’t the only one having issues with their incredibly terrible staff).  This is very good news for us!  Very good news indeed.  They also have a new person in charge of special ed services at the school to replace the short, sassy, suspension happy, sadistic man that was there before.  Yay!  Miracle.  I apparently wasn’t the only one that hated the guy.  I’m hopeful.

And, I am very excited for school to start.  Although we have had a very fun summer, I’m ready to wrap it up.  I’m ready for a routine.  I’m ready for cooler weather.  I’m ready for some regular time to myself.  I’m ready for Rye to have a set schedule to keep his mind and body occupied and for me not have to be on entertainment duty nearly 24/7.   I’m ready for early bedtimes and fall tv shows.

Ready, I say.

So, one and a half more weeks of summer.

Never in my life did I think I would hear myself say this but…

Bring on the school year!

We say goodbye to the childhood years, hello to the teen years, and hello to football.

Real football.

Get your butt in gear, get in shape, learn how to play well, and look to becoming one of the best, football.  Look to excellence.  Look to scholarship.  Keep your eye on the prize.

Current stats:

12 years old, 5′9″, 170 pounds, size 13 cleats.

Get ready to work.

Well, I would say we had a productive week over here.

I officially withdrew Rye from school and started homeschooling.  Rye is so much more relaxed now that we are homeschooling it is ridiculous.  Not that he is a different kid but it certainly helps to have the anxiety, overstimulation, and frustration of regular school out of the equation.  Whew…

We also signed him up for a week long sleep away summer camp for the first time ever.  He has never agreed to go before but this one is close and inexpensive and it is a Christian based camp but also has paintball as one of the main activities.  Go figure.  But I’m not complaining because I’m thrilled that he agreed to go and he seems excited to go.

We started the boxing classes and they are great.  The trainer worked one on one with Rye for over an hour and Rye was pooped when they were done.  Boxing is extremely physical between the punches and the footwork.  We will now go two times a week and there was a man there with his 16 year old son who was training as well and they said they’d come the same times during the day when we did so the 2 boys could train together (this other kid has been going for a while but was glad to have another kid there).   This young man was homeschooled as well and his family had driven even further than we did to go to this gym.  And this kid was in really good shape so I think that was encouraging to Rye.   And let me tell you, people think of homeschooled kids as weak and mealy but between Rye and this other kid they looked anything but weak and mealy.  This other kid looked like he could do some damage if he wanted to.

We also signed Rye up to play football in the fall for the public school he was going to (he can still play for them because we are zoned for that school).   They start conditioning in August so we’ll stick with boxing until that conditioning and season start.  Rye is very excited to play football and his friends seem really excited for him to play as well.    The guy told us to have his birth certificate handy because since he is so big he said the commissioner will definitely question if he is the correct age and zoning for the school.

And we had a decent weekend here.  Rye had 2 friends spend the night Friday night then Saturday we had an unfortunate incident where one of the kids caused a logistical headache for me and all of them by bold faced lying to me.  Without going into the details suffice it to say I was mad at the kid (we have known him for many years) and I made that known.  We solved that mess and I then took Rye and the other friend roller skating and had a great time.  I roller skated for one and a half hours while they did the whole middle school social thing with the other middle school kids there.  Then Rye spend Saturday night at a different friend’s house.   Right now he’s at the skate park and will be coming home soon.

And, it is now official.  When Rye is wearing shoes and I am not he is a good inch taller than me (I am 5′8″).  I actually have to look up to him.  I can’t believe it.  He’s 12 years old!  Yesterday he was letting off steam about the lying friend incident and we were standing in the kitchen talking and when I realized his nose was a good inch taller than mine and that I was looking up to him I nearly freaked.  I pointed out to him that he must have grown again and he started crying more and said he didn’t want to be this big.  It was so sad.   We pointed out to him it’s a good thing though and that he will grow into it all and be glad later he is so big.  He just kind of has that Marmaduke thing right now where he is so young but getting really big and it’s like he doesn’t quite yet fit into his body.   But he’ll get there.   At present he wears a men’s size 11.5 shoe.  I wonder what size his feet will be when full grown.

And that’s all I can think of for now.  We go to the Neurologist tomorrow.  I hate doctor visits and so does Rye but alas, they are necessary.  And I’m just really glad to finally have decent insurance.  Things to be grateful for, for sure.

I hope everyone has a nice Sunday.