Parties, Pumpkins and Grandma K

Rocky wanted a "bad robot" so creative Rich came up with this!



That about sums up the last few weeks.. the good parts at least. We all suffered from a nasty bout of the fall flu filled with snot, coughs and infections from facial orifices... that was a mouthful. Fortunately, by the time it hit me, Grandma K was here to the rescue. And she thought she would get a vacation!

Grandma came prepared for fun... with a giant punching bag for Rocky and an exersaucer for Jack (early Christmas). Of course, Grandma had just as much fun with the bag... I caught her tumbling over it like a ninja then bouncing it off Rocky's head, which he found hilarious. They are best pals. Grandma K is also magic... somehow she gets Jack to sleep at night, got Rocky to participate in T-ball (not his favorite thing) and the exersaucer cured Jack's daily fusses. The kid has to be standing to be satisfied. I see perhaps a career as a security guard in his future... or one of those British guards with the giant fuzzy hats.
On Saturday, we attended Rocky's last day of T-ball. Instead of grabbing my leg and begging me to take him to Badonald's instead (see Davidonics post for translation) he actually joined the other boys. Everything seemed pointless (when he ran the bases, he left 1st and skipped straight for home... literally) except batting. That kid loved to hit. If only that was all baseball entailed. Oh well.... we will continue to search for Rocky's talent.

Yes.. he's sporting a Nacional jersey... Uruguay's BEST soccer team.. gracias a la flia. Jara

That night, we headed to the gym for a kiddie Halloween party. Mom is lazy with costumes and relieved that Rocky agreed to be a cow again. He was the highlight of the petting zoo, getting pet as much as the dozen roaming goats and sheep. He then bowled for ghosts, did his one legged hop in the bounce house and enjoyed a popcorn-filled severed hand. He was accompanied by Jack the Pumpkin King.

Also, a couple weeks ago, we joined many Sorensons to celebrate Grandpa Loran's 80th birthday! You would never guess it. He is healthy, well and full of that Sorenson wit and charm. Here are 4 generations of So-So's. Aren't they handsome?

To ease the pain of missing his Grandma K (he cried for her 3 times the night she left), we invited cousin Eli to come play. I told Rocky to put all his toys away in his red box when he was done... I guess he thought I meant Eli too!

Rocky's Community Classes

Yes, that's how he throws the ball...

In the on-going effort to discover what your child likes to do, parents often sign their kids up for short classes through the community. This has proven to be very helpful in determining Rocky's talents and interests but mostly has been a source of great entertainment for us. In doing so, we've learned some things about our son. To expose our child to both extremes of masculine expression, we signed him up for a sports class and a dance class. The dancing started first, and Rocky ended up entertaining not just me, but all the parents present, as we huddled together, peering at our children through a thick glass window. I wish I would have brought the video camera to all of his classes. Though he loved it, Rocky is not skilled at dancing in any way. While the other 3 year olds were walking the balance beam, hopping and pirouetting, Rocky sported his signature move, a one-legged lumber skip with his tongue sticking out. No matter what the teacher told the class to do, this is how he worked the space in the room. Everything else required assistance or else he ended up on the ground. No matter what he was doing, he was giggling though, so it was a parental success. The sports class began with soccer. He preferred to punch things... a true Rocky, and clutched his soccer ball, for fear that if he set in on the ground, someone would kick it. While the group was stretching, Rocky was off to the side organizing the pile of soccer balls. He finally gave up and joined the group as the neat little pyramid he was constructing kept toppling. We also discovered that he is not the fastest runner. He is, by far, the slowest. Maybe the tongue is interfering with his aerodynamics. As the swarm of kids, chased the ball, he bounced along several feet behind, his tongue lagging in the breeze. The pinny was huge, and hung off his shoulders until finally, he threw it to the ground and stormed off the field. The next week, the kids played flag football. Throwing the ball with Dad was fun.. but mostly funny. Then they brought out the flags. Something about kids pulling his flags didn't jive and he was off the field crying, "I don't like this." This week, he tries tee ball. I'll let you know how it goes.

Singing Jack

He does this often, and finally, we caught a little bit of it on camera. He is singing silly songs with a very silly family. We are training them vocally as the family band we are growing will need back-up singers, Rich being the lead of course.