Sunday - First Match

Christopher loves football - and in my unbiased opinion, he's actually pretty good. His Stocksund IF team plays only once a week, no matches, so we looked into a new team that is just starting, IFK Stocksund, which is much more intense. Intense like training 3 times a week, 2-3 matches a week... Intense like a trainer who really makes them train, and takes practice matches as a real teaching opportunity, not just a chance to kick back and relax. Intense like I'm not sure how long we will last...

Since he's only 6-going-on-7 and the team just started, he only has 2 practices a week, so the intensity is still manageable. But at the last training, the coach invited him and one other boy to play a match with the 8-year-olds. The whole family went out to cheer him on. He was so little out there - a head shorter than the others - amazing what a difference a year makes.

And the match... Well, let's just say that if the ref called all the fouls (which he didn't), there would have been a whistle every 10 seconds. We later found out that this particular team (the opponents) is known for rough play - pushing, elbowing, grabbing shirts, etc. And after the third IFK Stocksund player went off in tears after getting an elbow in the face, one of the other side's moms said "What sensitive children!" Right. Like to see how she would like getting elbowed in the face by her son. Yes, football brings out the best in everyone.

Anyway, Christopher did ok, but didn't understand the two most basic concepts - Up and Home - so we will work on that. And he seemed happy to have been in the game, despite being knocked flat on his back one time. His only comment was, "Wow - the other team made a lot of our guys cry."

Saturday - First Date?

Well, I don't know if I would really call it a date... but Annika invited her boyfriend (Felix) over to watch a movie. They sat on the couch together, not touching, not holding hands, through the whole of Titanic. We kept the door open (our new house rule for having boyfriends over - never had a need for such a rule before...), and tried to keep our boys out. I guess it was a success... though I think 10 is a bit too young to start dating.

It is also maybe a bit too young to have a first kiss... but Annika and Felix managed to sneak one in with an audience of classmates and Christopher at the disco the night before. Hmmm...

Friday - Annika's Disco

Annika's class will be split up after 4th grade. Right now, 4A (Annika's class) and 4B are at Stocksundskolan, 4C and 4D at Långängen. 4A (except for Annika) has been together since kindergarten. For 5th and 6th grade, the classes will be mixed up, and all at Stocksundskolan. Annika loves her current class, and wanted to have a final 4A disco. In all the final parties, school picnics and birthday parties, it happened to work out for Friday night.

The disco was a huge hit. We bought Just Dance for Wii, and the kids had a great time dancing together. The girls did a couple of turns, and then the guys got a chance - but the girls picked "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" - and what good sports they were! (It probably helped that there was competition involved...) Check out the video on youtube (and the guy on the right is Annika's boyfriend!).

And the weather cooperated as well, so the 22 kids were both in and out, all evening. It's a great age - one minute sophisticated pre-teens and the next minute on the swings and slides. David bought an outdoor fireplace which was a major hit - the kids thought it was great fun to grill their own hot dogs, though our marshmellow grilling "event" lasted a mere 3 minutes. We almost ended up with too many on the trampoline, but the kids seem to know the boundaries now, so we didn't even have to manage that.

And then the last 5 minutes... one boy was chasing another, and the first fell on his shoulder. He was in a lot of pain, his mom came, and we ended up calling for an ambulance. First time for me to call 1-1-2 (remarkably efficient) and the first - and hopefully the last - time parents came to pick up their children from our house to find an ambulance in the drive. It turned out to be a broken collar bone, so in 2-4 weeks, he will be back in action again.

Of course, I went to the boy's house to stay with his two sleeping little sisters while his mom waited for the ambulance and went on to the hospital. David was left to deal with the rest of the kids, their parents, the clean-up, the ambulance, the crying girls (it got a bit emotional), our boys... Fortunately Leonor was there, as well as one of the other moms who stayed. (Parents who turn up at our parties will be put to work - a warning...)

Aside from the last five minutes (which put a bit of a damper on things) it was a great event. The kids were awesome, we had no problems (until the aforementioned last 5 minutes), the kids had fun - and we did as well. A full set of pictures are here.

4A Disco

A Weekend of Firsts...

What a weekend! And what a lot of firsts... As I have time, I will fill in the details, but this weekend we had the following:

• First time Annika had a boy over to watch movies
• First time Christopher played in a "real" football match
• First time I played brännboll

and the highlight of firsts:

• First time we ended a party with an ambulance...