Happy Friday, my fellow humans! The NBA Playoffs are here! The Stanley Cup playoffs are here! Donald Trump is actually for real this time no I mean it standing trial for a crime he probably committed!
Life is wonderful. First, a programming note: the Lewis family is headed on a weeklong vacation tomorrow, which means your humble blogger is going to try to kick back, relax, and not type for a bit. So there shall be no new Wide World of Stuff posts until Monday April 29, at which point I’ll probably give you a 2,000 word opus on airplane bathrooms. Or something like that.
OK, on with today’s show. It’s been far too long since I’ve done a Daddy Chronicles, and as always the two humans who live with us and look like us have given me lots of material.
So let’s get into it, starting with the 9.5 year old who got a big future date announced this week…
— So Nate’s been going to Hebrew School for two years now, and at the end of fourth grade a major event happens: Kids and families get told their bar mitzvah dates. Sure, it’s years in advance, but never too soon to know when the big day is! So a few days ago we were told that on Oct. 9, 2027, our blonde boy will be going before the Torah. Pretty exciting. And yes, we’ve already called our family photographer who takes gorgeous pics of us every year and told her to save the date. Shockingly, she was free that date so far.
— Another large development in Nate’s life: After a few years of trying, and four unsuccessful tryouts, he finally made a travel basketball team! We were stoked and quite frankly, I was surprised since I was prepared for disappointment after the last few tries. But starting in March he’s been on a squad and it’s been… an experience. I’m thrilled he’s playing for a “real” coach finally, and playing with other boys who are good and will make him better.
The practices are twice a week, and one of those is about 45 minutes from our house, so it’s taken some schedule adjusting (Fun fact: The route to get to the gym at the “far” practice takes me right past the street where my ex-wife’s parents still live. Good times! Should I drop by and say hi, or nah?).
Then there are the tournaments: At the start of the season we were given dates for five tournament weekends. But no locations, or times.
For weeks leading up to our first tournament I was told “you’ll find out soon” and “we’ll have it a week or two before.” Forty-eight hours before our first game, we were told where it was, and what time it would be played.
Two days! This seems insane to me. I’ve asked around and a few travel basketball leagues do this in our area, too. There’s no way every travel league is like this, right? How do parents plan their lives?
— Nate has also been flourishing musically, continuing to excel at piano and now starting bells (percussion) at school. He did NYSSMA for the first time this year (that’s a New York state individualized music competition) and performed really well. He’s growing up before our very eyes.
— The one big issue for Nate the last few months has been sleeping. He’s been having a super-rough time falling asleep, and we’ve tried most everything: melatonin pills, meditation apps, different music, reading before bed, not reading before bed, staying up a little later, all of it works for a few days and then doesn’t. It was getting to a point where it would take 3-4 hours for him to fall asleep some nights, and he would literally make himself sick, being so upset at not being able to fall asleep.
It’s 100 percent a psychological thing, where Nate can’t get his mind to turn off, and unfortunately it appears to be partly genetic, as my father and me both have had major falling asleep issues for periods of our life.
We’ve gotten connected with a psychologist who specializes in sleep issues, and things have started to get better lately. Hoping we’ve turned a corner on this.
— OK, onto the smaller yet still significantly louder small human. Last Daddy Chronicles I alluded to Theo falling in love with hockey. Well, he’s now gotten obsessed with the sport, watching it and playing it. He’s still in the Junior Rangers program, playing 1-2 times per week, and his skating, stickhandling and shooting have gotten better. He is all hockey, all the time, playing street hockey in our driveway, and watching the Rangers as much as Nate and me do.
My wife believes she’s now a “hockey mom” and she’s kind of right; packing up the equipment, noticing his improvement from week to week, getting the equipment put on in less than 10 minutes, she’s got it down pat. Also, when Theo is told if he gets undressed, showers and into his PJ’s quickly, he can stay up to watch the first period of Rangers games, he turns into Clark Kent in the phone booth. Amazing how his sloth-like nighttime routine can get sped up when watching Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider are involved.
— I’m also starting to think Theo has a bit of an addictive personality. After his first lacrosse clinic (my children are Long Islanders, they are legally required to at least attempt to play this awesome sport), Theo went to his school library and took out lacrosse books, and wanted to know everything about the sport. He was that way with hockey and a few other things, too.
— Theo continues to love school, and he and his first-grade buddies adorably write letters to each other saying things like “Dear Austin, you’re my third best friend. Love Theo.” And also “I won’t ever forget you.” (what are they, lovesick teenagers over here?)
— My little guy is very excited about the upcoming Wackadoo Zoo play at school in two months, and I’m convinced he has a theater career ahead of him. He can be shy sometimes but he does love a good stage.
— A strange skill we’ve discovered about Theo: As scatter-brained and distracted as he normally is, when it comes to packing for a trip, he has a Zen-like concentration. The last few times we’ve packed for trips, we give him a list and boom, he goes about putting socks and pants and shirts in neat piles with a focus he uses for almost nothing else.
It’s like watching someone inhabit his body for a few minutes. It’s mesmerizing.
— Finally, my boys continue to look out for each other in all ways, even when they’re fighting. For a long time Nate was always the nurturing, caring one, which is normal for big brothers, I think, but ever so slightly we’re seeing Theo show real compassion for his brother, and not just always wanting to be around him.
It’s such a joy knowing they’ll have each other their whole lives. That is, if Theo doesn’t push Nate down a manhole cover one day before yelling “sorry!”
Wide World of Stuff 