Hello everybody. As you can see, the pictures are working again. I have done so many of these, I do not remember if I have posted this picture before or not. This is Maeghan's pre-school. She has been going for almost a year now. She still really enjoys it.
She only goes twice a week but she is also going to Ready, Set, Go, which is a program at real school that is suppossed to get kids ready to go to kindy (kindergarten).
You may not be aware of it, but Maeghan starts school in less than three months. Thats' right, less than three months. As much as I thought we were ready for this and she is ready for this, I am beginning to have more doubts.
She will be going to public school. Not something I wanted but we cannot afford to send all the kids to private school and we thought it would be better if she goes to school with them, instead of being at a separate school from the other kids.
Yes, I did say the other kids. Angela's kids now live with us, or two of them do. Anna, the oldest and Jarvis, the next oldest, live with us now. We went and picked it them up about two months ago, or maybe it was three. It feels more like years ago. It's a long story but basically the father called and asked us to come pick them up. Angela has been in Tasmania for about six months and three of the kids had been living with their father in Brisbane. (You know, as I write this, I think I have already written about this, but I cannot be bothered to go back and look, so I will write it all again.)
Angela had not seen them in all that time and we got a call from the father asking if we could take the kids for a while. After discussing it, it was decided this should be a more or less permanent arrangement. So off to Brisbane we went. We were suppossed to end up with all three of the kids there, but the other grandmother pulled some trick where she disappeared with the youngest boy and we had to leave without him.
So, leaving out all the details, we now have four kids. Anna and Jarvis, along with William and Maeghan. Anna and Jarvis already go to school, although in Brisbane, they had hardly ever been going. But now they are here and go everyday. Next year, Maeghan will join them at the school. It is just down the street from us, within walking distance. Not that we let them walk by themselves, but we sometimes walk them to and from school, if we do not drive them.
Maeghan goes to the program I mentioned earlier at this school. It is only one day a week ad she only goes for a couple of hours, but they are suppossed to be learning what it is like in real school. As far as I can tell, they only play and go to the library to listen to stories but maybe that is what real school is like.
Having Anna and Jarvis here is turning out to be kind of hard. Not that I did not think it would be this hard, but Juanita seemed to think nothing would change. I am not saying we did not do the right thing as these kids were growing up in an unhealthy environment and something had to be done. We are doing what is best for the kids but I don't think it is really fair on Maeghan and William. Now that we have all four kids to support, Maeghan and William will miss out on some of the things me would have been able to do if they were not here. There is nothing to do about it now, but some of the things they might miss out on are trips to America or vacations or some of the expensive toys we have been buying them. Where we could afford to take them places before, we cannot now afford to take them to the same places or spend quite as much money on them without having to also give the same type of things to the other kids. They will probably never notice it and it should not be a problem in the future, I just feel kind of bad when thinking about what they might have had if the situation had not been what it was. But I guess that is life and we never know where it is going to take us. Whoever thought I would move to Australia and start a new family after I turned 40. Not that I have actually reached 40 yet, but it will be a change when I eventually do.
The kids all started playing t-ball this past week. Anna, Jarvis, and ever Maeghan. William wants to play but he is still too young. Maeghan is still too young but they said it would be alright. After our first game, I am not so sure. She looks so tiny out there. I know, I go on and on about this, but when she is out there with the other kids and either batting or standing in the field, she is really, really small.
They did not have a uniform small enough to fit her but we have modified some clothes to fit. They are still way too big on her. And she has to wear a helmet when batting and most of the helmets are too big and they wobble around on her head but she does look cute in it.
As I have not mentioned it yet, I am coaching the team they are on. All of them are on the same team and somehow, Juanita voluntered me to coach. I thought it was just something we had to put down on paper to support the organization, but when they were calling out the teams, they called my name and told the players to stand by when when their name was called. No introduction, no instructions, just here are your players, here is your equipement and we start next week. Having never even seen a tball game, I had no idea what we were suppossed to do or what we were suppossed to be teaching the kids.
About three quarters of the players have never played before. A couple of them have been playing for a few years. Of course, Maeghan, Anna, and Jarvis have never seen a baseball glove or thrown a ball the correct way and even though the ball is on a tee in front of them, they have no idea where to stand, how to hold a bat or how to swing it to hit the ball. Most of the kids have sort of the same problems, but at least they have seen baseball before and know the basics.
I could be wrong, but aren't most American kids born with the ability to throw and catch a ball. Maybe not well, but the fundamentals are there. Most kids can even swing a bat. Maybe not hit anything but they can swing it. I have noticed that most australians, even adults, don't have a clue about how to throw a baseball or swing a bat or catch a ball with a glove. They are used to cricket, where they do not use gloves to catch the ball and the bat they use they point down to the ground and try to hit a ball that is bounced to them. It might be difficult to do, not that I really think so, but I have to acknowledge their efforts or I won't be able to get along with them. I have mentioned to several people that the hardest thing to do it sports is hit a baseball thrown by a major league pitcher. They have all scoffed at me but that is because they have no idea what I am talking about. Just a side note, it is really hard over here with the sports they have. I like most of them, although australian rules football is kind of silly and I don't understand why they like it over here, but they think football is a silly game and no one over here likes that. Rugby and cricket are ok, rugby being sort of like football and critket being sort of like baseball, but there are just no sports over here I have even begun to have a passionate interest in. Guess it will take a while longer but then again, maybe I will never really care about it.
We had our first game this past week. I have no idea whether we won or lost. I had to volunteer Juanita to keep score and she did not really know how to do it and I did not have a lot of time to show her, so I am not sure she had the scores correct. According to her scoresheet, we lost 19 to 17 but on some innings she had only two outs being made and sometimes there were four are five people left on base at the end of the inning. But it doesn't really matter and she will learn how by next time.
Maeghan only got to bat twice but she hit the ball the first try both times. It only rolled to pitcher and she can't run to first base very fast, so she never got on base. Since she cannot really run all that way and it takes her forever, she might never get on base but the oppossing coach told me after the game that he was going to instruct the pitcher to throw the ball away if she got up again and that way she could have made it all the way. According to the rules, we can only bat 9 players in an inning and she was the tenth batter in the last inning so she was did not get to bat again.
We bat everyone on the team but only nine play in the field. She and Anna were sitting on the bench for the first two innings but they got in the game for the last half. Maeghan played centre field. It was really hot out there and she was only a few fet behind second base but she looked so small and alone out there that I went and stood beside her for most of the last inning. I am allowed to be on the field when we are fielding so I can go anywhere I need to be. We had another first time player pitching for the second half of the game and I had to go help him out a few times and leave Maeghan. He is probably the next smallest player after Maeghan and he tries really hard. A lot of the players only hit the ball a few feet, so the pitcher gets a lot of work runnig in and picking up the ball. He did a good job, although he never actually threw the ball all the way to first. He also had some trouble batting and missed the ball to strike out the first two times at bat. The last time, he barely made contact and almost made it to first, but they threw him out. As I said, Maeghan never missed the ball and could hit it all the way to the pitcher, but she just cannot run all that way to first base. I have no idea what she is going to do if she ever makes it. She then has to run to second base and then third. I think that is going to be our goal for the season is to get Maeghan all the way around the bases so she can score.
None of the kids can actually close their gloves on the ball, even though they have these new kind of gloves that are very flexible. Maeghan can barely get her hand into the one she has and it is the smallest one we could find. She can get it on the ball when you throw it to her, but she cannot close it, so it just rolls out. I have tried to teach her to put her other hand over the ball when she catches it and she can do that if it is an easy throw and she is quick. She scheduled to be the pitcher the next time we play, which is not for two weeks because we have a bye next week. I have already made out the lineups, basically I just rotate everyone around each position. The players who have been playing for a while do not like that but I think it is working out well. Of course, we have only had one game. We have a practice this week and I hope to allow those players that cannot hit to practice as much as they can. The others, I will get them used to chasing the ball down and throwing it to the right base. Not that they will learn anything from that as they need to learn how to catch and throw before they have to think about the right things to do, but some of them will catch on.
William wanted to play the whole time we were out there. He had to stay strapped up in his pram because if we let him out, he would have run on the field. Juanita was keeping score and I was coaching, so he was not allowed to get out. Next time, we are going to take Natalie along so she can play with William during the game.
He loves playing with the ball and gloves. He can't put the glove on and he throws the ball in all directions, mostly backwards, but he love to play. Maybe by the time it is his turn to play, he will be able to do all the fundamentals and keep up with the big boys.
One thing they have us do is award a player of the game for my team. That is really hard as there are several players that deserve the trophy. The problem I see with it is I have about three players who will always win the trophy. Just because they can run and hit and throw. None of them can actually catch the ball very well, but they knwo what to do with it. I am thinking about getting a couple of other trophys for the other kids to win. Something like best effort and most improved. I think that will allow everone to win a trophy sometime during the year. They do not get to keep these trophies as we re-reward them each week, but they get to keep it for a week and then bring it back.
On other news, Maeghan has her ballet concert this Saturday, I think. It might be next week but she is going to try it again this year. Last time, she was tired and upset for the concert and did not perform in it. This time, we are hoping for better but I don't think they are counting on her to be the star like they were the last time. She is still small, but she is with kids who have been dancing for a while and she might not be the best anymore. I don't know how the teachers feel about her this time, I never get to talk to them. Anna is also in one of the concerts. They are not together but Anna has her own program to do. I have not seen anything that Anna is doing, so I have no idea what her role will be. She takes Jazz Ballet or something like that.
I suppose I should be going now. Not a lot more to say. Health wise, William is finally over his problems. We never did really find out what the problem was and he was sick for over a month, with the doctors continually telling us he had a virus and there was nothing they could do. He is all better now but that has only made us all dread the times when he is awake. He is still a real terror and gets into everything. Not always fun and sometimes he gets in a lot of trouble, but he is cute when he is getting into trouble, so he is quickly forgiven.
Juanita still has her problems. She has been sick for basically two years or more. Lots of different things and the doctors never seem to really believe her but she finally got a procedure done that was suppossed to fix the problem. It may or may not have done so. She is still having problems and she goes back to the doctor next week. If she is still having problems, then she will have to have an operation to fix it. We don't know what they will be doing yet, but we will find out next week.
My achilies tendon injury has been acting up. Some days, I cannot even walk but it comes and goes and again, the doctors say there is nothing they can do about it. Guess it is just another thing I will have to learn to live with.
Other than that, we are doing ok. Maeghan goes to the doctor in the next two weeks. Just her annual checkup. She appears to be doing fine and this will be the final word on whether she is allowed to start school in three months. They might give her a wheelchair for school but I don't think she will be using it. Maybe, but I don't think so. She would only need it is she is getting tired walking to classes but I don't think they do all that much walking in kindy. They stay mostly in the same room all day.
I'll be going now. Hope to be back soon. Probably after our next ball game or maybe a report on the concert. We'll see.
Until next time,
Talk to you later
