Tennis, t-shirts, and tenacious toddlers

It's been a big day around here for several reasons, and let me tell you why.

Okay, first off, Asher started back up with tennis lessons. This is a big deal because I've been having a really hard time finding a tennis program for him here. He started tennis lessons at age three when we still lived in Bermuda, and continued on until we left the island. Since then, I've been searching for a program for him (i.e. not 45 minutes away, not a million dollars, not at 9:00 at night, etc.)

Here's my tennis star at three years old:

And here he is now:

He had a blast. Thank you, Play Tennis Hanover for offering homeschool classes that fit the bill!

And as a side note, thanks to the sports setting on our new camera, I discovered that Asher makes the exact same face every time he hits the ball: pursed lips, expression of determination.

See?

 And here.

And here.

This is Asher playing right-handed, when in actuality he plays much better left-handed. However, when the coach asked if anyone played left-handed, he insisted he played right-handed like all the other kids. Even six-year olds find it risky to be different! About halfway through the class, however, he rescinded and said it was easier with the left hand. We'll see next week whether or not conformity wins out again.

Anyway, on to the second reason today was awesome.

Okay, so when I ran the Princess Half Marathon a few months ago, everybody was walking around wearing the official race tshirts. Now, I did get a tech shirt in my race package, but the tshirts were something different. I tried to buy one at the race expo but they were SOLD OUT! For the following week, I coveted them. Every time I saw someone wearing one, I felt myself involuntarily giving them the stink eye. I know Matt got tired of me pointing out every single woman wearing one.

Well guess what I found on ebay? You guessed it - a bunch of brand new, still-with-tags race tshirts in all sizes, all available through the same seller. I assume this person bought up a bunch of shirts (is there no quantity limit at the time of purchase?!) hoping to make a little extra moola off Ebay when he/she got home. 

When I saw the shirts, I was extremely excited (because I could finally have one!) and then really annoyed. I mean, come on. But the silver lining is that the seller must be having a hard time getting rid of all the shirts because they're listed about $13 below actual cost. HA! That's what you get!

So I bought one, and today it arrived!

 

The best part of the shirt is the race route on the back :)

Which brings us to number 3.

Can I get a drum roll?

Asa started walking on his own today! At the ripe old age of 16 months, he finally decided to go for it. He's been walking along happily as long as he's got a death grip on someone's fingers, but up until now, anytime you try to wriggle your fingers out of his disproportionately strong grip, he would simply sink to the ground into crawling position. It was pure stubbornness.

But not today!

Which means he's officially a toddler... As my sister said, now I'm really in training for a half marathon!

I will leave you with the video evidence of Asa's new skill Matt caught this afternoon.