Saturday Evening Slump

Okay, what is this, my third post today?

My son and I played a friendly game of Monopoly this evening. We finally quit because we were hungry for supper. Well, that and the fact that he owed me about $2500 in accumulated rents from landing on properties of mine that had hotels, and only about $6 left to his name. He did have two houses each on Boardwalk and Park Place, but I only landed on Park Place once. That's why he ONLY owed me $2500 (I shaved $500 off his I.O.U.s).

We just finished watching Robots, and I'll let you in on a little secret - this kid can dance. He's got no sense of self-consciousness at all. He just moves and has a good time. And he's finally getting a bit of rythmn, too. We've been practicing with the "We will rock you" clapping, and he's finally getting the idea of rythmn and beat. When he hears a song he likes, he just gets up and dances. And so do I.

He finally decided to join an after school club. Friday, they had to come up with a skit by drawing subjects, places, and actions out of a box. Sounds like improv to me, and he had a great time with it. He really had fun with the kids on his team, and is anxious to go to the next meeting. I asked him in the car, after he was excitedly telling me about it, why he didn't join the drama club, as I thought he'd enjoy that because they do very similar things. "Oh, I'd get stage fright," he said,"all those people watching." I tried to explain how having to get up in front of a lot of people can actually help you get over stage fright, but he was still a little dubious. Besides, the drama club is already working on a production, and I am not sure that he'd have time for both clubs (and he was not impressed with the play they are putting on, "The Princess and the Pea". "I'm not being in something with the word 'princess' in it!").

It's interesting, though. The fact that he had no problem whatsoever helping to write and act out a skit in 45 minutes, with two kids he had never even met before (and one of his good friends, who had invited him to join). He was so excited when I picked him up from school.... It's not all they do, of course. Writing and acting out skits, I mean. The club does other problem solving exercises, too. I just think that if he was involved in more activities, he wouldn't sit around watching TV and playing video games all of the time.

He loves baseball, but it's too competitive, and we can't afford Little League (time or money), so that's sort of out for the moment. They are not offering the chance to go out for sports to the sixth graders, even though they are in middle school. They don't have recess anymore, and a good twenty minutes of gym class is devoted to getting on a bus and driving to the old middle school, because the gym at the new middle school is not yet finished.

Okay, I just noticed how long this post is getting...

I think it is time to close this post and get back to my awful book that I am forcing myself to read. Or maybe I'll clean out my desk drawers... I apologize for all of this rambling today. I just honestly don't have anything else to do.