Thursday, June 05, 2014

Little Boys and Puppy Dog Tales

What a time the last week of school has been. The other day, four second-grade boys played tag football and then dodgeball in my front yard. It was in the 90s and I sat on the porch in the shade, but it was still hot. One of the boys' grandfathers sat with me, as he often does, but every time the ball went in the street, he had to go get it. Even though I just sat there, I was exhausted when we went in the house after an hour. The soccer ball or whatever it was remained stuck high up in a  youpon where it stayed until today when I showed Jacob and Collin how to poke it down without beating the tree to death. Today I just have the two boys and it's much more peaceful--they threw the ball in the back driveway (securely fenced) where I didn't have to watch them all the time. Maybe it's my age but I don't seem to have the energy for four as I did when I was raising my four--except two of mine were girls.
But Jacob proves my three-stages of Jacob theory: with a friend here he's a bit of a smart-aleck with an attitude. Tonight, when he and I build poor boy sandwiches, I'll bet he'll be fun. And when he sleeps he still looks like an innocent baby.
Not only did I have to worry about boys this week, I worried about Sophie. She ignored her food Monday night and Tuesday night--she'd drink and take tiny bits of cheese from me, but no dog food. And I began to watch her neurotically--was she lethargic or was that normal quiet when nothing was going on? By ten o'clock Tuesday I was planning a vet visit the next morning, when she suddenly ate every bit of food and wanted to go out. She's been lively and energetic ever since, so I guess her stomach was upset or maybe the sudden onset of heat got her.
Today all is well, Sophie is ecstatic to have the boys here, and I am ecstatic that we only have two more days of school. Of course then comes baseball camp--pick him up at three--and then swimming lessons right in the middle of the day. Then, I think, a peaceful spell.. I'm ready.

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