Volleyball Begins

Kaemie made the volleyball team! I am so proud of her because she has worked hard this summer, going in every week and conditioning. She looks great and has some muscle definition in her arms and legs. She probably made the junior varsity team, although her coach mentioned she might be fighting for a spot on the varsity team. The games start in a couple of weeks, so I know where I will be every Tuesday night.



The volleyball coach wanted every girl on the team to take a weights class. Kaemie tried it for about a week and then dropped it to take a computer class. I was a little disappointed because I thought she might have hurt her chances to make varsity by doing that. She doesn't think she did. Then I got to thinking about it, and every other day she would have had 1 1/2 hours of weights, then 3 hours of volleyball practice. That seems like a lot of physical activity for someone who is not a professional athlete (i.e. not getting paid). I made her promise to stay on the volleyball team, try out for soccer, and condition and take the class next year.

Kaemie says that volleyball and soccer are not her passions, so she isn't sure if she wants to play either sport the rest of high school or in college. I tried to explain to her that she can get good at these sports and get paid to go to college and play, or she can go to college on her own and have to work to pay for college. I'm not sure it has sunk in with her about how getting athletic scholarships can help. I have a couple more years to work on this.

Tartar Sauce

It has been another long week. Kenna fights everything I say. I'm pretty sure we are on each other's last nerve. We both can't even talk to each other in a nice voice. I hope that since she is spending time with grandma this weekend, we can start fresh Sunday night and try to be pleasant to each other.

Kenna was born with Spina Bifida so she has some medical issues we have to deal with everyday. Her bladder does not work, so she has to catheterize (cath) herself every 4 hours or so. This is not real difficult. I started cathing her when she was just over 1 year old, and she learned to do it herself when she was 5. However, she still fights me about cathing almost everytime. We had a talk last week and agreed that she would rather cath right when she gets home instead of having to take a bathroom break during the after school program.

We agreed that when we got home she would say "hi" to the kitties and go straight to the bathroom. HA! Monday did not go so smoothly. She says she lied about agreeing with me so I would leave her alone. That is how she justified not going straight to the bathroom the first night. I finally hit on a solution. We went back outside the apartment to "practice" coming home from school. Kenna and I went outside the door, shut it, and I said "I'm so glad we're finally home from work and school." Kenna started banging on the door and crying. I opened the door and she took off down the hallway, yelling that she would go! Then she went right on past the bathroom. I grabbed her as she was entering her room, and we went back outside to practice again. This time it worked. She was mad, but she went. The next night I just had to remind her that if she forgot about what to do when she got home, we could practice again. She is a quick learner.

Also on Monday, Kenna randomly uttered the words "Tartar Sauce." She didn't yell it and it didn't make sense in the convesations. I was confused, but I didn't acknowledge it. I didn't want to encourage her. I thought maybe they had fish for lunch at school. Nope. I found out the next day that "Tartar Sauce" is how Sponge Bob expresses his displeasure over something. Hmm. I'm still confused because Kenna hasn't watch that show in weeks. It is amazing to me how random her little brain is!

Summer is Over, and I Am Back

So I haven't posted for a while. Summer has been busy and it went by so fast. We went to the Spina Bifida conference in Tucson AZ in June and visited with my brother who lives there. Pictures and details will follow in a later post. Kaemie conditioned for volleyball. Kenna had fun with grandma. I worked.

School has started and we are still busy. Kenna is still stalling about getting dressed every morning and fighting about bed every night. But she is looking forward to school. She will be in the before and after school program. I'm hoping she will have chances to complete her homework, and also establish some friendships.

Kaemie will probably make the volleyball team. That means practice every week night until 6:30 and also Saturday mornings. She is also taking drama, and she wants to try out for the first musical. She is nervous about starting a new high school, but says the first two days went well and she did know some people. She actually has homework this weekend. Yuck.