One Boy at a Time

NICO

Nico's latest hijinks involve charming cute girls and then taking advantage of them. Everyday for pre-school, we (mostly Carma) pack Nico a bunch of food for snacks throughout the day to complement his school lunch. This apparently is still not enough food to satisfy his insatiable appetite. 

No, now Nico has resorted to charming the girls in his class to share their lunches with him too.

We found out about this recently, as we usually ask Nico how his lunch was. We've found all sorts of interesting things (like the foods he'll eat at school, but not at home) this way, but this is the most alarming (so far). One day he told us "I had four chicken nuggets. Then Julia shared her nuggets with me too." Today, we found that Saranya "shared" her pizza with him. Other days, other foods, other girls. For all we know, he's left a trail of broken hearts as well as crumbs in the cafeteria. I'm sure we'll hear more about it at his parent-teacher conference next week.

The other reason this really worries me: if he eats this much now, imagine how bad it will be when he's a teenager. I may have to get a second job at the grocery store just for the discounts.

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THURMAN

Thurman may not be breaking hearts or swindling food, but he is having another rough time on the sporting front. He's now in the Hoboken basketball little league (unsure of the exact name of the program), and they've played two games so far. Both have been ridiculously crushing defeats where the opposing team has scored at least 25 points, and they have only broken double digits once (10).

Given the losing season he endured for soccer last fall, I feel sorry for the kid. On his team, he's literally one of four players who are able to dribble and walk at the same time, much less actually make a basket or play defense. Unfortunately, only one or two of the others that can play show up on any given week. Compound this with the fact that so far the teams they've faced are taller, better coordinated, and can dribble, shoot, run, and defend, it just seems like the entire league is rigged against them.

I'm not sure they'll be able to win any games this season, and I'm sure it will be an exercise in frustration to watch. I'm not sure how else to show my support though. It's not like I have any pointers or advice I can give to Thurman, I suck at basketball worse than some of his teammates. 

I do have to give Thurman a lot of credit though. He hustles to the ball, and does his best. Last week he scored 4 of the team's 10 points, getting a bucket and sinking two foul shots. I can only hope that the rest of the team tries as hard as he does. Hopefully perseverance will pay off for them.