Brett's Athletic Side

As the pictures indicate, Brett has gotten in touch with his inner athlete in the last several months. Many of you know that he has been running daily in order to get in shape for his role as an assistant track coach this spring at Argo, but he has also been a participant in some alternative sports of late. A few weeks ago he participated in a dodge ball tournament as a fund raiser for the AP students. His team actually fared very well--they weren't eliminated until the second to last round (there were at least 11 teams). The faculty team was one to be reckoned with--and according to them, in the past they were eliminated in the first or second round. This year, apparently they adopted strategy and used their players well. I don't have pictures of that because although I was there as a spectator, in order to protect Phoebe, I did not venture on the other side of the netting they had up to protect the viewers from errant dodge balls. I could see through the netting to know what was happening during the games, but it was a white net, so pictures would not have been clear at all. The balls were not dangerous in any way, however. They were not the red kick balls we used in elementary school that left red marks on your skin when they slammed into you--these were more nerf style--and apparently regulation dodge balls that are used in actual tournaments. I didn't know there was such a big dodge ball sporting movement. And dodge ball tournaments are much more civilized than what I remember of dodge ball in gym class. In gym, the whole class stood in a circle and a select few stood in the center. The center kids tried to get the outside kids out by hitting them and the outside kids tried to catch the center kids' balls so that they could get into the center and get the center kids out. That's how I remember it--but these teams stayed on opposite sides of a line and threw across at each other. And there were rules and strategy and everything. Fun to watch. Brett enjoyed it. Anyway, you can see in the pictures the basketball game he played in this past Friday. Obviously, he is in a wheelchair. Phoebe liked being at both events. She watched intently and was content throughout the games. She really liked the half-time show at the basketball game because the sparkly pom-pon girls did a dance and had lots of glittery things to look at as they performed. Next month, Brett revisits his musical roots--he'll be playing guitar in the faculty talent show. What a joiner he is these days! On the Phoebe front, she is doing so well. She spends much of her time happy and alert. She is beginning to develop a personality and laugh at things that she finds funny. She makes all kinds of sounds and blows bubbles and raspberries and flutters her lips often. She likes being imitated. It is so much fun to watch her develop. As of her last dr. visit she is 11.8 lbs (probably 12 or a little over now), 23.5 inches long, and her head is 16 inches around. Her head is the only average size portion of her body. The other measurements are slightly lower than most of her peers. But she is catching up!