Ry Ry's Vancougar Olympic Recap

Like everyone else on the planet, we've been watching the Olympics for the last week. Ry was excited to hear that the Olympics were in "Vancougar", because he played for the Cougars hockey team last spring.

We noticed that after every event, he would mimic that event. So I decided to grab my camera and ask him to demonstrate each event that he's seen so far.

We added our own touch in the middle, re-enacting an interview that Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer gave to NBC. You can see the original interview here.

Don't you want to win?

Even though my schedule is already overbooked, I decided to take on coaching Ryan's Kindergarten basketball team (I'm also coaching Karsyn's girls team) this season. We played our third game on Saturday, earning an exciting tie with a last second basket. We're now 2-0-1 after three games.

One thing that's become very clear, is Ryan is physcho about basketball. He's been hanging around the gym since he first learned to walk because his older sister has played for 5 years now. So he's been around a basketball before.

He loves it. He's actually a bit obsessed by the whole thing.

What's more amusing is that he HATES losing. I can't imagine where he gets it from, but I digress.

So last Saturday, he's not showing his best behavior after the game. We're driving home, when I tell him, "if you can't behave yourself, then I may have to bench you for the next game."

He immediately shrieks, "What?!?!?!?"

Then he reaffirms my fears that his early season success is starting to go to his head.

"Don't you want to win?" he crys.

I can't respond, and looking at Sonya laughing doesn't help matters much.

Uh, No It's Not!

So Ryan comes home from school the other day and tells Sonya that his teacher made the following statement.

"Coming to school is much more fun than staying home and playing with your toys."

Ryan then shakes his head, holds his hands out to the the side and retorts, "Uh, no it's not!"

An Olympic

We're sitting at dinner the other night and Ryan declares that he's going to, "be an Olympic!"

"A what?" I ask.

"An Olympic," he says.

I had to think about what he was trying to say, but before I could put two and two together he fills in the missing pieces.

"I want to be an Olympic, like in China on TV last summer!" he declares.

"Oh, you want to be in the Olympics," I say. "You know, you have to compete in a sport in order to be in the Olympics. What sport do you want to compete in?" I ask, waiting for swimming or water polo (the sports I competed in in high school and college).

He thinks about it for a second, then let's me have it.

"Ping Pong!" he confirms.

Ugh.

We Been There Dad!

From the “kids say the damndest things” file…

We’re driving down University Avenue in Palo Alto on Saturday afternoon, and hang a left onto El Camino Real, right in front of the front gate to Stanford University.

“The one dream I have in life is to have my children go to Stanford someday,” I say as I drive past the twin columns that guard the front of the school.

“We been there dad!” bellows Ryan innocently.

Sonya starts laughing, turns to me and says, “dream fulfilled!”

Nothing. Absolutely Nothing

It’s pretty customary for me to ask the kids how they’re day went while we’re all eating dinner. On school days, I’ll also ask how school was. Last week, I run the question by Ryan.

“How was school?” I ask.

“Fine,” Ryan responds.

“What did you do today?”

“Well, we made…”, he begins to respond before throwing his hand over his mouth in a clear demonstration that he almost spilled the beans on something important. His eyes are as big as saucers, thinking he's already said too much. From the sound of it, perhaps a Christmas present for mom & dad?

“Why are you covering your mouth?” I ask.

“Cough, cough, cough,” is his reply. “I have a cough.”

Sonya and I look at each other in amusement. I’m more amazed that he was able to conjure up the coughing excuse as quickly as he did.

“What was that you said you did at school today?” I probe.

“Nothing,” he says with unconvincing conviction. “Absolutely nothing. We did nothing at school today.”

“Oh,” I respond. “OK.

My Cough

So I come down with this cough that lasts a few days. We're sitting at the dinner table the other night and RyRy starts coughing.

"Oh, I see you've caught my cough," I ask him.

"No," he replies. "It's my cough!"

Kids.