Hootball Season
Yes, I wrote "hootball". That's how AJ pronounced football when he first learned the word. He is in love with Hootball. We are true blue U of M fans, but Big Brother Jacob's colors are green and white. So, Aron bought this State uniform for AJ. He wears it constantly. He thinks that when we go to Jake's games that they are his games. This morning AJ's first words to Aron were, "Watch me play football today?" AJ also thinks that counting goes... 1, 2, 3... hit. No, it's 4 AJ. But he insists that "hit" comes after 3. He is a complete crack up. His love for football has really helped his relationship with Jacob. He thinks Jake is awesome. He wants to be just like his big Jake. I must say that Big Jake is quite awesome. I'm a little biased of course. He is on the 7th grade youth team. He plays defensive end and guard on offense. He had 7 tackles last week. He is a monster. Aron is coaching his 
team. They are 3-0 now. Aron, in my humble opinion, is a fine coach and mentor. Many of the kids and parents alike respect him very much. He is a teacher and not a yeller, although he can yell if he gets really fired up. But, mostly he really gets down to their level and talks to them and pats them on the helmet. He hasn't even thrown his clipboard yet this year. This is Aron's eighth year coaching young players and he gets better every year. He tries very hard to keep sportsmanship and leadership at the top of his coaching priorities. Now I'm just getting on my soap box, but sometimes kids and parents get their priorities mixed up. If you always win than you are a good coach, but if you lose, you are not. Well, guess what? Everyone loses!! That's life. And, a good coach uses all his players and brings out the best in each one. Of course there are superstars but every kid has potential. A good coach figures out what strengths each player has and capitalizes on them. He had a wonderful compliment last year whan a grandfather of a player told Aron that his grandson had never gotten to play in the past, but this year he is excited about football and school and feels so confident and happy. Yay! Go Aron! That's what good coaching is about. These parents who want the superstars to stay on the field for 60 minutes and win by 50 points. I don't think they get it. That making a good team involves everyone and working as a team and believing that you can win and rising to the occasion. Anyway, Aron's (and Jacob's) team is winning so Aron is great. But, I think that someday some kid is going to remember Coach Palmer and his positive attitude toward them and thank him for making a difference in their life. Now that's a win!!
Yes, I wrote "hootball". That's how AJ pronounced football when he first learned the word. He is in love with Hootball. We are true blue U of M fans, but Big Brother Jacob's colors are green and white. So, Aron bought this State uniform for AJ. He wears it constantly. He thinks that when we go to Jake's games that they are his games. This morning AJ's first words to Aron were, "Watch me play football today?" AJ also thinks that counting goes... 1, 2, 3... hit. No, it's 4 AJ. But he insists that "hit" comes after 3. He is a complete crack up. His love for football has really helped his relationship with Jacob. He thinks Jake is awesome. He wants to be just like his big Jake. I must say that Big Jake is quite awesome. I'm a little biased of course. He is on the 7th grade youth team. He plays defensive end and guard on offense. He had 7 tackles last week. He is a monster. Aron is coaching his team. They are 3-0 now. Aron, in my humble opinion, is a fine coach and mentor. Many of the kids and parents alike respect him very much. He is a teacher and not a yeller, although he can yell if he gets really fired up. But, mostly he really gets down to their level and talks to them and pats them on the helmet. He hasn't even thrown his clipboard yet this year. This is Aron's eighth year coaching young players and he gets better every year. He tries very hard to keep sportsmanship and leadership at the top of his coaching priorities. Now I'm just getting on my soap box, but sometimes kids and parents get their priorities mixed up. If you always win than you are a good coach, but if you lose, you are not. Well, guess what? Everyone loses!! That's life. And, a good coach uses all his players and brings out the best in each one. Of course there are superstars but every kid has potential. A good coach figures out what strengths each player has and capitalizes on them. He had a wonderful compliment last year whan a grandfather of a player told Aron that his grandson had never gotten to play in the past, but this year he is excited about football and school and feels so confident and happy. Yay! Go Aron! That's what good coaching is about. These parents who want the superstars to stay on the field for 60 minutes and win by 50 points. I don't think they get it. That making a good team involves everyone and working as a team and believing that you can win and rising to the occasion. Anyway, Aron's (and Jacob's) team is winning so Aron is great. But, I think that someday some kid is going to remember Coach Palmer and his positive attitude toward them and thank him for making a difference in their life. Now that's a win!!You may have noticed in the first picture at the top that AJ is toothless. Well, he had 7 decayed teeth. He had 3 pulled, 3 filled and 1 capped. Yikes! Poor baby. They did give him some Happy Juice. Well, it may have made AJ happy for the dentist but when he woke up, SCARY! He was a bear. We drive an hour to the pediatric dentist and man was that a looooooong ride home. Thankfully, Aron took that day off and was able to sit next to him on the way home. Now AJ will be toothless until his permanent teeth come in....like 3 more years. Oh well, as you can see, it doesn't slow down his eating abilities. He loves to eat..and he loves the "confession" stand at the football games. Today he consumed popcorn, a sucker and a hot cocoa. I really need to cut him off. He just loves everything about "hootball". Aron says that AJ is going to be the first Chinese born lineman! Wouldn't that be cool? I hope that he knows that he can be anything he wants to be. The sky is the limit! Go for it AJ!!
