:(

Sad day at the volleyball court today. The Warriors played hard but lost their first match 3-1. Down but not out yet, they tried to recover enough for a second match against a top ranked team. This match was critical--the last state tournament berth was at stake. Winner take all. Game 1 wasn't pretty, and the other team won. The girls rallied back for game 2, pulling out a big victory. Game 3? Well, it had a disastrous start. With the Warriors down by a score of 15-1, things were looking pretty grim. All of a sudden the fire alarm rings! Surprised, I looked for my little guys, who had been sitting nearby with some dads they know. I wanted to make sure they weren't too frightened. I didn't like what I saw.....

My curious, inquisitive child, the one who can't keep his hands off anything, looked nervous. More than that, he looked guilty. When I asked him what happened, he burst into tears. With that, I knew. The fire alarm was ringing because the temptation to pull the lever was just too much for him. Torn between wanting to cry, wanting to laugh, and wanting the a hole to crawl into, I decided that I might as well laugh. Here is a child born half way around the world and he's just proven without a doubt he's related to one of his sisters. A brand new reader, one of the girls couldn't resist the temptation to do just what the little handle said: "Pull." So she did. Now I have TWO children who have pulled fire alarms at 5 years old. Hers was a bit less dramatic, only requiring the evacuation of the music room at school. His? Well, yes, we had to stop the match mid game. Evacuate 2 teams, all the officials, and all the fans. Then, we got to stand outside in the cold to wait for the fire truck to come and give us the 'all-clear.' Hopefully NOW he'll have a better understanding of why Mom and Dad insist that he keep his hands to himself, that he not touch everything all the time. Somehow I doubt it. We talked about it. This was a great object lesson, an opportunity to really SEE why we insist on it. I can still hope. In the meantime, we'll get a good laugh out of his inquisitiveness.

The Warriors never recovered after the fire alarm and ended up losing the second match 3-1. Heartbreaking? Yes. I wanted to see my Emily able to play at the Sundome. Her older siblings have had the chance. It was her turn. They played hard and have no need to hang their heads. For most of the girls on the team, this was their last chance. But the growth, the improvement of skills, and the final record of 16-4 are not things to be ashamed of. Even without a trip to state, it was an awesome season. So we take a deep breath, enjoy the day tomorrow, and watch Emily switch gears on Monday to her new adventure: cheer.

Sometime later I'll post pics of Logan at his sleep study. He's such a trooper! I cannot imagine sleeping all wired up like he was. But he did. Now we wait for 4 to 5 weeks to get the results. Hopefully we'll learn something helpful.