Amazing Race: Season Maddux

Guess what is about to start again? The Amazing Race, a/k/a the best show on television.

Cort and I have loved this show since the first season. But last season, we introduced Charlie and Joe to it. To say that they are hooked would be an understatement.

In fact, they love it so much that they have taken to making up their own version themselves. Many Friday nights, when everyone gets home, we all have to play a leg of the Amazing Race.

Detour: Choose one of two tasks to complete.


Route marker


Road block - who's going to do it?


This way to the pit stop (Joe usually plays the part of Phil, by the way. He's got all the lingo down.)


The pit stop sign in made by Joe. I came in last. Fortunately, it was a non-elimination round. Whew.

When he sets his mind to something

Joe started writing--proficiently--at age 3. Letters, then whole words. Lists, lists, and more lists. (He's still a listmaker.)

Problem is, he held his pencil in his fist. Not unusual for a 3-year-old. But then he turned 4, then 5, then 6, then 7. And he still held his pencil in his fist.

His preschool teachers tried to get him to hold it correctly. Use "alligator fingers," they said.

He didn't want to.

His kindergarten teacher got him a special pencil grip to use. And when it came time for the class invention, she steered his class toward making an invention to help kids hold a pencil right.

He was interested, but he didn't change his grip.

We discussed the issue with his first grade teacher, then his second grade teacher, at parent-teacher conferences. His second grade teacher told us that, statistically, if he had not started doing it right by second grade, it would probably be very difficult to get him to change.

We knew that. The kid writes everything down, fast. And he was comfortable with his fist grip. Change was uncomfortable, and slowed him down.

And really, in the scheme of life's problems, "incorrect pencil grip" seems to be pretty far down on the list.

He holds his pencil incorrectly. So what?

Except.

Now he doesn't.

The other day when I picked him up at school he informed me that he had held his pencil correctly all day. He came home and did his homework, then addressed all of his Valentines--all the while holding it correctly. He has never looked back. He always holds it correctly now.

His teacher told me she reviewed the mechanics of pencil grip in preparation for learning cursive writing. We don't know if it was the mechanics review, the anticipation of learning cursive, or just what was in the air that day that made him change.

It has confirmed two things: (1) it is very difficult to make Joe do something that he has no interest in doing and (2) there is no stopping him when he does set his mind to do something.

A changing of seasons

We are in changing of seasons right now.

Not winter to spring, though.

In the Maddux household, it's basketball to baseball.

Since December, Charlie and Joseph have been playing basketball at the Y. I personally was dubious, but it's been fun. The Y is very laid back, so it's nice to just play and not worry about standings for while. The boys both did very well, and their whole team (the Heat) really seemed to improve over the season. It was fun to see them start learning to pass and play more as a team.

Charlie was great from the beginning, and was probably the most accomplished player on the team. Joe was a solid defensive player from the start, but his offense really improved toward the end of the season--including one stellar game with several points. (Charlie, I think, scored in every single game.)

They won some, and they lost some, and they even tied some. But they had fun the whole time. (Well, almost. Competitive Charlie got upset after one loss, and some rule-breaking by his opponent, but ultimately he handled things just fine.)


A particularly good game for the Heat. Many points for both Maddux boys at this one.

But now, basketball is over. We've got this week off, and then . . .

it's baseball season again!

Charlie and Joe will play coach pitch and be on the Red Sox again. They've got several returning friends on the team, and are excited to get started.

And Will and Helen are playing t-ball for the first time. They are on the Rattlers, Charlie and Joe's old t-ball team, and what they lack in t-ball skills they make up for in enthusiasm.

Mom and Dad are gearing up for much time spent at the fields. Cort will help coach both teams, and I'll be the Red Sox "Team Mom" (and undoubtedly will help with t-ball too--because a LOT of parents are needed to help with t-ball).

Practices start this weekend, and games start in a little over a month. Here we go . . . play ball!

Multi-tasking

Tonight, in a little over 45 minutes, I--

Supervised preschool homework
Helped with corrections to second grade homework
Addressed a homework-related meltdown
Cooked dinner
Set the table
Helped a 4-year-old take two trash cans to the curb
Listened to a second grader reader for his required 20 minutes
Cleaned wax out of four ears
Supervised two 4-year-olds taking a shower at different times
Combed tangles out of wet hair
Solved a word scramble (designed by second grader as part of his homework)
Signed required forms for elementary school
Addressed many, many grievances
Wiped one butt

This is progress?

This is what we got on Helen's monthly progress report from school:

In the past during freework time, Helen usually would do independent work or something with Will. Lately she's choosing to spend time aggravating others in some way. When they tell on her, she shows a smirk. . . .

Yep, that's pretty much what she does at home, too.

She always gets her way, one way or the other

Yesterday, Cort took Helen to the grocery store with him.

Upon arrival, she got down on her hands and knees on the floor of the grocery store. Cort told her to get up. This led to arguing, because of course she questioned why. He told her that the floor was dirty, and finally gave her an ultimatum requiring her to get up.

So she complied. Sort of. She crouched down with her hands poised about an inch from the floor. "Can I do this then?" she asked. Cort told her no. She asked why--again--and he told her because he said so.

So she stood up. But then she bent over and placed her hands on her knees. "Can I do this then?" she asked. Cort, exasperated, said sure.

And she proceeded to walk this way the entire time they were in the grocery store.

The good and the bad

One of the really cool things about having a big family is that you have enough people to do things like split up into teams and have a 3-on-3 soccer game.

One of the down sides is that as your kids get older, they become harder to defend are more likely to cause you injury.

This "small" bruise on my leg is a result of trying to block Charlie's shots.

Ch-ch-changes

Since this little blog is a chronicle (sort of) of what is going on with our family, I thought I should mention a couple of recent big changes.

First, last month, Cort took a new job as a partner at the law firm of Jones Walker. This wasn't something he was really looking to do, but a former colleague heads the Houston office and approached him. Ultimately, we decided it was a good career move for him and a good thing for our family.

The best things about his new job are (1) he is back downtown and therefore closer to home (we've even had a lunch date too!) and (2) he is back to receiving a regular income (his old income wasn't bad, it just wasn't consistent - and we aren't that great at budgeting without a clear picture of what is coming in every month).

The worst thing about his new job is that he is no longer near the grocery store we use for online orders and pickup. I tried going back to regular grocery shopping, but I am not a fan. I'll just find time myself to drive over to pick them up from now on. It's a small price to pay for having him back close by.

Second, possibly bigger news, is that as of this afternoon, we are the proud owners of a new house! Again, not something we were really planning on, and we certainly weren't planning on owning two houses ever again, but here we are.

When we found out we were having a second set of twins, we decided to build our current house. It is big, brand new, and very nice. It was supposed to be forever. But somehow, we are not in love. Several months ago, we started discussing the possibility of moving eventually.

As anyone in Houston knows, that's the first step to becoming addicted to har.com. One day on a whim, I suggested that we go look at a particular house that had been on the market for awhile (but the price had recently been lowered).

The house is a ranch style and needs some updating, but that was what we were looking for. We had decided that we really don't like new houses -- we would rather take an older house with some character, and remodel it to our liking.

So we went to look, and we really liked it. Original hardwood floors in most of the house. Lots of light. Over 3000 square feet and move-in ready if need be, but still with a lot of good "bones" to remodel and make it a really neat place. It's just west of the Heights, but still very close to downtown, which is one of our criteria. Best of all, it is on a 24,000 square foot lot--which is almost unheard of in inner city Houston.

But we decided it wasn't the right timing for us, and said no.

About a month later, the sellers came back to us with the proposition that they lease the house back. That opened up the door to us buying it as an investment property, with the idea that we would move in at a later date. So we did it. We closed today.

So now comes the fun part. We are planning what we can do. We know we will build on a new master suite. The original rooms can be divided to allow each of the kids their own room if they want it (currently, two of them do, two of them don't). We're going to put in a pool! We're searching online and learning more about the mid-century modern (doesn't that sound better than "ranch"?) style -- apparently, mid-century modern is the new bungalow, or so a friend told me.

We're still not moving for a little while, but it's fun planning the possibilities!


Here's the new house!

Wordless Wednesday

Kids can embarrass you in so many ways

Cort took my car to San Antonio last week and discovered that my car was making a bunch of noise while turning and was driving really rough. So we took it in to the dealership this morning. Cort drove it there and the service guy took it around the block to see what was going on, while I waited in the other car with Will and Helen.

I was so glad that it was Cort and not me dealing with the service department, because he was the one who got to be embarrassed when the guy returned and informed him that the only thing "wrong" with my car was that one of the kids had put it in four wheel drive while we weren't looking.