Quick Hitters

I.
We took the boys to a basketball game at RWC on Tuesday evening.

It was J's idea. She found free tickets for a special alumni night, along with t-shirts and hot dogs. Once we told James he talked about it for the whole two days before. He prayed that we would go watch basketball and eat hot dogs on Monday night. It was the first think he asked about on Tuesday morning. When we visited an ophthalmologist on Tuesday he was disappointed that it wasn't time for basketball and hot dogs yet. (Although he did want the doctor to check Clifford's eyes once he found out that this wasn't the sort of doctor who gives shots. Clifford is the new name of that big stuffed dog he carries around, formerly Hundley, formerly Woof-Woof.) He told the ophthalmologist that we were going to see a basketball game and eat hot dogs that night.

"Do you want to tell him?"
"Should we tell him?"
"I don't think it should be a surprise once we get there, right?"

That afternoon, J asked James to come and sit on her lap for a minute.
"James, do you know how we're going to a basketball game tonight?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna eat a hot dog."
"Right. I just wanted to let you know--and this is nothing to be scared about--I wanted to let you know that maybe there might be a mascot there."
"Yeah."
"Do you remember Reggie the Redhawk from homecoming?"
"Yeah."
"Reggie might be there to help people cheer and be excited. Or maybe not. He might stay home."
"I think Reggie will stay at his house."
"Well, we'll see. He might be there. But you don't need to be scared. Okay?"
"Yeah."

About fifteen minutes later I found James sitting alone in his room, curled up in the far corner of his bed.
"James, are you alright?"
"I think Mommy wants to go the basketball game all by herself."
"You don't want to go?"
"No, Mommy just wants to go all by herself."
"James...are you a little afraid of the mascot?"
He nodded and covered his face with Steven Bear.

We did get him out the door eventually, and thankfully Reggie was nowhere to be seen for the first few minutes of the game. James watched the game attentively, and then once the big red bird appeared he just watched him for about 20 minutes or so. He ate his free hot dog, discovered the pleasures of Gatorade ("Can I have more blue juice?") and then was quiet but intent on the game for the rest of the evening.

J and I talked about how much we enjoyed attending a game. It was, after twelve years of higher education between the two of us, the first time either of had ever attended a collegiate sporting event. (Go RWC, Northwestern, and UNCG!) We would do it again in a heartbeat. The smell of beer was conspicuously absent, there was good sportsmanship all around, and the game was interesting and well played.

I think that hockey is next on our list. Does anyone know if the Amerks have a mascot?

II.
I made a pizza successfully last night. I turns out that all I need is to have the dough and the sauce premade for me and to have someone else set out all the ingredients that I need. Then it's easy.

Except that it actually wasn't that easy, because I had both boys alone last night. J and I agreed to feed them early and then eat together once they were in bed and she was back from her rehearsal. Putting Owen down to bed is always challenging, so I wasn't supposed to actually put him to sleep last night. I was just supposed to keep him awake until 8:30.

He's figured out how to hop/bounce, so he spent a good portion of the evening bouncing determinedly on my lap (with the sort of expression that one might use while conducting important experiments in a scientific laboratory) while James played basketball. James wanted to set up a basketball court as soon as we got back from the game the previous night. He had to wait until morning, unfortunately. So first thing he brought his hoop downstairs, had J put it up on the powder room door, and then made a "foul line" from pillows. He's getting steadily better at shooting and passing. He insists that whoever is nearby clap for him when he makes a basket ("I made a score!") and then he runs determinedly across the length of the room and back, since the teams need to switch sides after a basket. ("I am the white team!") George watches him, but George is not a mascot.

So between Owen's bouncing and James' basketball I thought I'd be pretty well set to do my pizza prep. The most important pizza prep of the day happened after school, when I stopped at Wegmans and picked up some naan. Naan pizza is great. It's just the right size, and it means that you don't have to make a crust. For this particular pizza I browned up some spicy Italian sausage and did some red pepper and onion in olive oil. Owen was getting cranky as I worked over the stove (bouncing is hard work) but he held in. The sauce (leftover from one of J's previous pizzas) and the cheese were already thawed from the freezer. I turned on the oven to preheat and took the boys upstairs for some bedtime prep.

James had his teeth brushed, his friends collected, his sippy cup filled, and his prayers said. Once he was tucked away for the night I took Owen into his room and changed him into his pajamas. He was smiling on his changing table when I heard a thundering crash and a wail from James' room. I'm still not sure exactly what happened, but I think he fell out of bed and landed on the bottom part of his marble run, knocking the whole thing over. He was in a sorry state when I scooped him up. He was embarrassed, insistent that we had to build the marble run again right away, and also in need of "a bedtime story and a quick rock in the rocking chair."

He settled for staying up until Mommy got home so he could say good night to her. (I could hear the chime from the oven signalling that it was fully preheated.) No, he could not play any more basketball tonight. He could wait with me and Owen in the kitchen.

I did manage to get the pizzas in the oven, but I spent the majority of the next 20 minutes holding one screaming infant in one arm and one basketball-requesting toddler in the other. J sorted out Owen once she came back, and James managed to stay in bed without falling out again.

The pizzas were great. They had a nice spicy taste from the sausage. I think naan is the way to go.