We are now three track meets down and eleven to go. Last week Juan and I did a little dividing and conquering. Mary sang with a combined choir from several Catholic schools at a festival celebrating the arts in Dayton area Catholic schools. She had to miss the her first track meet. She was less than devastated.
I took the bookends to the arts festival, and Juan took all of the middle children to watch Natalie compete at the meet. Natalie did very well and had a blast. She was ready to go soon after Kate, Mary and I arrived at the field. This track thing is not so rough, I thought.
Friday, Julia had her first Munchkin meet. I took her and left the others at home. She finished third in her first race, the 100 meter. Then, came the 400 meter. She came in at the back of the of the pack. Everyone gets a ribbon, which is great if your ribbon is blue, red or white, but Julia was not happy with the three pink 6th place ribbons she got. She was an absolute bear after the 400 and her remaining events. We had a little heart to heart on the way home about being a good sport and striving to her best without worrying to much about beating the other runners. I am hopeful that she will turn it around and have more fun next week.
Today was Mary's first meet. Juan had some work to do today so I took all five children with me to track. We had lunch before the meet and packed snacks and water bottles so our needs would be met. I knew there was a possibility of our being in the stands for five hours. Mary and Natalie had to be there by 11:30, and by 12:15, Julia, John, and Kate were hot, thirsty, hungry, bored and dissatisfied with life in general.
After the 100 meter heats had been run, we wandered around by the field events. John, Kate and Julia got absolutely filthy. There was not a rock or piece of dirt they didn't touch. Their legs, arms, hands, faces were covered with dirt.
After Juan arrived, the day seemed to moved a little more quickly. Natalie and Mary had finished three events each by 3 p.m., but Mary still had to run the 200 meter, the last event of the day. John spent a lot of time running up and down bleachers and lying on his stomach playing with a little figure he brought along. Julia entertained herself with Bitty Baby and an orange ribbon. Kate played with her Madame Alexander baby doll that Santa gave her (and that I had to pull over and confiscate and keep in time out on the way to the track because she whacked Natalie in the head) and was a pretty good girl for the rest of our time in the stands.
Kate made a friend at the meet, another four-year-old girl. At first, Kate ignored the other girl, but when the girl sat down with a bag of Cheetohs and started handing them to Kate, they were fast friends. Nothing finds its way to Kate's heart like junk food.
When the bag was empty and Kate came to find her baby doll, I got a different picture of how the deal went down. Kate said, "I am giving her my baby." I think she had promised her doll in exchange for the Cheetohs. I apologized to the little girl and told her that Kate couldn't give her the doll that Santa had given her, but the "pretend lipstick that isn't real" that Kate brought along with her was a suitable toy for giving away. Kate was unwilling to part with it. After all, along with bubble wrap, it was all she asked for at Christmas. Thankully, Kate's new friend was understanding.
At 4:45, I loaded 4 sweaty, dirty, sun-kissed children into our van, and Juan took Natalie in his little car which he has running again after 3 years parked on our driveway. We should have come home and showered, but instead we dined in at City BBQ followed by Graeter's (THE best ice cream shop for those of you not from Ohio) for an early celebration of Natalie's birthday.
Next week, I think we will divide and conquer again.
