Someday my children are going to have little Golter's of their own. My prayer is that they will then realize how much work parenting really is.
Right now, my children don't know the half of it, I tell ya.
It is exhausting, non-stop, always second-guessing kind of work. Kind of like walking a tight-rope, blind folded and the Ring Master just let everyone know that you are going to be juggling fire in 3 seconds or as soon as he gets his torch lit.
I had the naive thought that surely as they go older, I would have less to do. I wouldn't need to stay and watch every single practice. I could drop them off and run errands or heaven help me, even go home for a little while.
Not a chance, people.
I only got busier.
You see I found out that as the kids get older, my responsibilities grew as well.
With each sport or event, I have had to travel further, shell out more money, and horror of all horrors - branch out of my comfort zone by the sidelines. I could hang out over on the sidelines like a boss. I would pack my bag with snacks, drinks, nail polish, a book or three, a cooking magazine, and a hat for sunny days and a blanket for cold ones. Practically a professional.
I could cheer my children on from the sidelines easily. I am a great yeller and a natural encourager and my piercing screams can easily outpace the other moms so I really think my unique talent benefits my children greatly. Hence the reason I am always yelling at them while they are playing. I try to tone it down but before I know it, I sound similar to your car when the timing belt needs to be changed. I won't be asked to enter any singing competitions any time soon but if you are trying to track down your dog, I'm your gal. My holler can carry for a half-mile radius at least.
This year Caleb joined Robotics. Now he is pumped I tell ya. Puuu-mped. He little Lego-building heart beats in double time whenever he talks about it. He now has practice twice a week and a tournament every other Tuesday. The tournaments start at 4 and last until 9ish. At the first one, my plan was to drop Caleb off, run some errands, and come back for the good stuff around 6.
Didn't happen.
I pulled up the Hot Mamma and was shoving Caleb out the door when another mom I know asked me if I had a little bit of time. She told me all the parents were expected to help and that she had the perfect job in mind for me. I asked if it was easy and if it took very long. She assured me that yes, it was very easy and that I would be done by 5:30. Hmmm... I totally fell for it and before I knew it I was dressed up in nerdy safety goggles with an official title of "Robot Inspector".
Seriously.
Ha!Ha! They wanted ME to help inspect ROBOTS! Funny, right?!
I was thinking this would be a laugh a minute until the first group (first group of 20!) that brought their robot up to me. They had a checklist for me, 2 pages mind you, that they expected me to read and understand. I glanced at it and it was like my Spanish final in high school all over again - I had no clue. I looked around in a panic and luckily a nice gentleman came over to help me. He is a guy who installs speaker systems and other things for people = super smart and he spoke Robotics. We made a good team. I would read the sentence from the checklist and he would check for it. Most of the time I had no idea what I was reading but it didn't matter! As long as I "sounded" like I knew what I was doing, it all worked out swell!
Here are some photos of the night: Caleb with some of his nerd crew checking to make sure the robot is moving the way they have coded it to.
When they are battling it out inside this ring, one of their goals is to have their robot touch these light panels around the ring. They get 10 points for each light that is showing their colors. While the time is going though, the other team can steal their light and turn it to their color and thus capture the points. It's a non-stop battle.
Caleb's team partners up with another team and they work together to try and defeat the two teams that represent the other color. The kids keep working on the same robots throughout the season and by the end, some of the robots will be able to pick up those large balls and put them into the containers at the top. Those will be some fancy robots, I can tell you that much! I can't wait to inspect those (just kidding!). Those ones are totally above my pay grade!
Caleb was nervous before his team was up and I tried to get a picture with him but he had his game face on. Side note - safety goggles must be worn at all times if you are back by the robots. My van now has 2 pairs that live in the consul so that we are prepared for anything Robotics related.
Caleb and "Hammer Head".
Mark made it to Caleb's last tournament and asked Caleb to explain to him some of this Robotics stuff.
Silly man! Caleb talked his ear off and was as animated as a used-car salesman who really needed a sale.
Mark did a really good job listening and pretending like he understood what Caleb was saying. He only sent me looks for help 2 dozen times or so. I totally ignored his pleas and laughed in my sleeve at him. Sucker!
Mark and I are becoming fluent in the art of Robotics and while it's not something we EVER saw ourselves doing, we are excited that Caleb is doing something he really enjoys. I am excited for all that he is learning and whether or not Caleb ends up doing something more in this field of engineering I am hoping that he will someday think back about this time of his life and remember how loud his parents were cheering him on! Especially his mom with her banshee-like shrieks.
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