Austin's Field Day

When did Austin grow up?
Today was his 4th grade Field Day. All the elementary schools in the district (four of them), met at the High School track and competed in field events for the right to gloat to the other kids about how many ribbons they won. Parents all gathered around the track fence and screamed their kids into running faster or jumping farther or looking a little more to the right for a better picture. Austin was very excited about his 3 events: the standing long jump, the 50 meter dash, and the long shuffle relay. (What the long shuffle relay is, I (Molly) still don't know). So if you haven't noticed, Austin isn't our most athletic child. We just wanted him to get at least one ribbon- who cares what place it was- to validify his efforts. The ribbon ceremony began. (Yes there's an actual ceremonial presentation of the ribbons; different than when I was at St. Marks and Mrs. Egan used to pass them out.) All the events were called (including long jump and the 50) without a ribbon for Austin. He was next to me biting the sleeve of his shirt and repeating to me, "Are you SURE I'm going to get one??" When they called the last event, he was beside himself with worry. And at last, he scored a ribbon- 2nd place for the shuffle relay! Congrats Austin!
(Here's mountain living for you- we wore sweatshirts, but found ourselves sunburned.)

SO the day's events were over and I asked Austin if he wanted to go home early with me or if he wanted to stay at school and I'd pick him up later. He looked at me and said, "I don't want to hurt your feelings mom. But is it ok if I stay at school and play on the computer?"
"Sure", I said. "It's your day, you choose." "Ok, I'm staying. And can I go sit with my friends now?" "Sure, Austin."
That day of being ditched for my kid's friends has arrived! I thought I had more time with Austin! Caught me by surprise!

And a Micah update:
Micah wouldn't have done well in the wind and sun, so I left him with our friend, Mrs. Frost. He was worn out! When he woke up from his nap he was in such a good mood that he giggled for the first time! I was talking to him and he was babbling back, then all the sudden he broke out into giggles! It was so cute. He's consistantly sleeping through the night now, and I'm beginning to remember what it was like to sleep more than 5 hours a night! Glorious!