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Adam and the other kindergartners sing at the PTA meeting (Adam is in light blue second row from top second from left)
We finally got around to setting up the Wii Friday night

Derek puts the finishing touches on his Mii (the little character you design to represent you in various games)

Adam and Ryan compete against each other at the school carnival (Starnival)

Helen slowed Derek enough to get a quick picture

Last Monday, Adam skipped his baseball game to sing with the other kindergartners at the school PTA meeting. He worked hard with the kindergartners preparing and learning the songs, so he chose the PTA meeting over baseball. Derek wasn't happy that the PTA meeting was the only thing to look forward to and worked himself into a migraine. I left work early so that we could all walk to the school to see Adam, but Derek was in no shape to go so I ended up staying home with him. Helen said that the kids were very cute and Adam had a good time.

We questioned Derek as to why he seems to get headaches mostly when he has to do something he doesn't want to do (e.g. homework and piano). We assured him that we believed that he really did have a headache, but that we expect him to be more aware of what he needs to do to avoid the headaches. We explained that he may have them the rest of his life and he's going to have to learn to take care of himself by controlling his emotions; practicing good diet, sleep, and exercise habits; and being aware of when he needs to shut it down in order to avoid a full blown migraine.

On Tuesday, Helen had her weekly tennis practice\Calcutta round robin. She's usually tired and not fully looking forward to it, so it's good that there are assigned matches. If she doesn't go then she messes up all the pairings. She always has fun when she gets there and is glad that she went. Whenever she complains that she's too tired or doesn't feel like doing something (like exercising), I always ask her to try to remember one time when she didn't feel better after she exercised - even when she didn't feel like it before she started. She doesn't like to make commitments to activities. The thought of having to show up every Tuesday for tennis is constraining to her - what if she's tired or doesn't feel like going?

On Wednesday, I met Derek at piano lessons and took him to his baseball game. Helen stayed for Adam's piano lesson and then met us at Derek's game, so that I could head to tennis practice. I ended up staying for the whole game because it was so good. Derek's team edged the undefeated Mets 10-8.

Thursday was so nice not having any activities. The boys wanted to setup the Wii, but we chose to finish watching August Rush, so we could finally return it (we had rented it for the beach a couple weeks ago). It was a feel good story (albeit somewhat contrived), but we all enjoyed it. Adam said his eyes felt funny and Derek said that he felt like crying for some reason. We always seem to watch movies in halves or even thirds, especially when the boys are involved. We would probably watch more On Demand movies from Comcast if you didn't have to watch the entire movie within 24 hours.

On Friday, Helen made a family favorite, skillet lasagna from America's Test Kitchen. I really like it because the noodles are cooked in the pan and not boiled, so they are al dente rather than soft and mushy. After dinner, we finally setup the Wii. It took some time for me to read everything and set it up, especially with the boys bouncing off the walls. We finally got it setup, but only had time to setup our Mii's before the boys had to go to bed. Helen and I stayed up and played tennis, boxing, and bowling. She took me 2 out of 3 in tennis and boxing, but I got her in bowling. We were laughing and sweating and having a good time. Helen claimed she was sore the next day.

On Saturday, I had my ALTA tennis match and Adam had a 9:00 baseball game. We told the boys the night before that they could not get up before 7 to play the Wii. Adam slept in a little, but Derek was up and ready to play at 7. He and Adam played some Super Smash Brothers before the game. After baseball Helen and the boys came to the tennis courts to eat snacks and watch the rest of the matches. We went into the match tied for first, but ended the season in 2nd place. We're still in the playoffs next week, but we would have liked to have finished in first. Spring Break week cost us with all the lineup shuffling we had to do.

After tennis we came home and had a quick lunch before riding bikes to the school carnival at 2:00. The boys had big fun playing on all the slides and things. Derek's FOCUS teacher, Ms Crumbley, made a point of coming over and telling us all kinds of great things about Derek. We told him how proud we were of him and how we LOVE hearing those kinds of things and to keep it up. He did a decent job of interacting with Ms Crumbley, but not with Ms Brewer. She was the helper in Derek's kindergarten class and just loves Derek. She always makes a point of coming over and talking to us, but Derek just kind of ignored her. We had to have a good talk about engaging with people when they are talking with you.

Derek had a game at 4:30, but we only got an inning in before it got rained out. Helen stayed home with Adam for a nap because he was beyond tired. He told her he wasn't going to sleep and then proceeded to turn over and was gone for a couple hours. Helen's school was performing "Fiddler on the Roof" and we went to the show at 7:30. The school plays are hit and miss. This one was really good. Derek keeps remembering lines from the play to share with us.

On Sunday, Derek spent all day (with some breaks) working on a project for school. The kids had to pick a president to research. Derek wanted to do Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, or Richard Nixon and the teacher chose Richard Nixon for him. The project has been going on for weeks, mostly at school, but the culmination is a "wax museum" like experience where the kids dress up like their president and then stand there like in a wax museum until someone touches them, at which point they are supposed to come to life and give a 3-5 minute first person talk as if they were the president. Derek's done a pretty good job so far, but he's not done yet.