The Young Referee...

Not much exciting has gone on around here since the escape of our son's snake last week, which ended in an exciting and lucrative capture. We enjoyed our weekend activities as a family and our Monday night without practices, games or scheduled activities - it's our one night off!  Around here lately, Monday night has come to mean football and the biggest football fans in the house are the two smallest boys. Not only are the boys sports-crazy, the little one is extremely loud, having perfected a shrill, natural whistle that pierces the ear and spears the brain. He's just wired differently than the rest of us and besides being loud, he's always on the go.

Just this past Sunday morning, at the exact moment we were supposed to be leaving for church, Colton ran past me in his underwear. "Where are the clothes you were wearing for church?" I asked.

"I forgot where I put them," he yelled as he ran past, whistling and clapping. While everyone else in the family waited impatiently in the car, oblivious to the fact that there was a half-naked child whose clothes had gone missing, I quickly searched for the missing duds. About to just get new clothes, I spotted them in a heap on the back patio, where he had thoughtfully removed them so they wouldn't get wet as he washed the mud off of his legs after the sprinklers brought an early end to his Sunday morning soccer game.  

And this morning, before school, I had him dressed, fed and brushed when he rushed by me, without the shoes and socks he'd been wearing only moments before. I threw my hands up and told him to find them and meet us in the car. I was so busy with the other kids, I didn't notice what he wore as he climbed in. Just as he was dismounting from the back seat onto the school curb, I heard his brother say, "Push your socks down, Colton, so it's harder to tell that one is white and orange while the other is red and grey." Perfect.

Last night, after my husband and I divided to concur errands for the kids, we came back together to settle in for the Monday Night Football game.  My Broncos were playing, so I was looking forward to watching at least part of the game. Colton, literally flying around the room, is physically unable to watch a game without acting out the roles of players, referees and coaches. On a normal day, watching a normal game of any kind, Colton would yell, run, jump, cheer and whistle the whole, ENTIRE time. Imagine my horror last night, as I sat down to peacefully watch my Broncos play, when Colton came into the room with both a referee's whistle and a stop watch around his little neck. I shot my husband a desperate look that said, how could you have bought him a whistle while the two of you were out running errands? My husband smiled and said, "It's okay, he'll have so much fun with those."

Sure enough, he did. As we sat down to relax and watch the game, Colton perfected his referee skills - thanks to the addition of his new whistle, courtesy of a dad who obviously has a full time job outside the home. I tried, I really did, to enjoy his high-spirited celebrations and the shouting matches he had with the TV when calls did not go his way.  Amazingly, while Colton whistled every penalty and timed each possession, Audra worked quietly on her math while both Buck and Sierra read their books.

I couldn't even think and managed to slip away into my room, carefully shutting the door behind me so as not to give away my secret, quiet location. I curled up alone to watch the rest of the game, grateful for the second TV. And, just to ensure a peaceful end to the game, I got up and locked the door.  Here's why....

The young referee... from Sheila Pettit on Vimeo.