Parenthood: Week 504 - 12/13/22

Ollie went to his first chess tournament last weekend. My wife took him and I stayed with the other two boys. I’m really glad that he had this experience. I don’t remember what got Ollie first into chess, but it was about the age of six-years-old when it clicked. I think he might have started learning he saw a chess set out in my father-in-laws house.

Ollie first started learning chess through some iPad apps that I found. For example, Magnus Kingdom Of Chess is a role-playing adventure game, except you use chess pieces. The game has a story, and Ollie learned how the pieces move through this game.

I played with Ollie quite a bit. This was a time when Ethan had just been born, so it was nice to have an activity I could do with Ollie that gave him attention. I was never that great at chess, so after a couple of weeks, he definitely got better than me.

Ollie’s interest in chess waned, but he did join the chess club at this school last year, and really enjoys it. This tournament was an extension of this club. This event wasn’t too formal. It was hosted at a local elementary school. Ollie had three wins and two loses, but most importantly, he had fun, had some time with his friends, and got to try something new.

*****

It was Lucas’ birthday last week. He turned 3 years old. Yet, somehow, he’s been talking about wanting to be six-years-old for a couple of days now. Ollie revealed that he was helping him count and taught him how to say “six.” So maybe it’s not that he wants to be older. He just likes to use this word he just learned.

Lucas is doing really well. He’s spent his whole life chasing his brothers, so he’s fast, can climb anything, and is fearless. Lucas’ speech is getting stronger and stronger, and he takes really well to us teaching him words and helping him pronounce them with more clarity.

It’s been hard to accept that Lucas is no longer my “baby, baby” which is the what I mostly call him. I’ve been seeing how far he can follow commands and comprehend whan I’m saying, and he’s further along than I thought he was. I don’t think I ever babied him, I just didn’t realize how much he has grown.

I am looking forward to having Lucas as a toddler, but part of me doesn’t want to let go of him being my baby.

*****

Ethan is really blossoming as a big brother to Lucas. He spends a lot of energy taking care of him. When Lucas is sad, Ethan is right there to hug him, and he tries to cuddle with him when they are watching television together.

They do have disagreements when Lucas wants a toy Ethan is playing with, but more often than not Ethan is trying to help Lucas and has a very satisfied look on his face. At least four or five times a day, I hear Ethan tell Lucas that he loves him. Every so often, Ethan will look at me and say, “Lucas is so cute,” I can’t help but smile and hug him for being such a sweetheart.