Chess Team

Michael participated in a schoolwide chess tournament a couple weeks ago. It was structured so that he played against other 1-3 graders. Each child played four games and (not to brag but I'm going to) Michael won all four games. Two things impressed me about Michael's performance. Hmmm.... Actually more than two things impressed me. Let me say instead that two things now seem noteworthy.
First, Michael was significantly behind during his last game. Nevertheless, he stayed focused on the game and did not give up (and in the end, he won, so there is a lesson there both for someone who is in the lead and for someone who is losing). That aside, I found the last game very stressful. Too stressful in fact to check on the progress of the match. Instead, I remained in the general waiting room. Periodically Spencer would report on how the game was going (usually something like, "Michael lost three more pieces" or "Michael lost a pawn"... stressful).
Second, at Michael's first tournament (about two or three months ago), Michael lost the three games he played. In his defense, he never played chess at home. We did not talk about it. Although he enjoyed being in chess club and thought it was fun, he did not really work at it. However, in the months between the first and second tournaments, he played chess on the computer, he played games against me and he played games against Jon. He beat Jon one time (the implication there is that he has not beaten me, although I am sure he will soon). I like that Michael has taken on the challenge of improving his chess game, rather than giving up because winning did not come easily to him.
At the second tournament, both Michael and another boy (Ryan) won all four of their games. For the tie breaker, the judges look at the win/loss records of the the kids that Michael and Ryan played against. Ryan won the tie breaker, so Michael got second place in the tournament and a very nice trophy. Go Michael!!

Chasing Pavements

One night recently we were in the car and I was feeling rushed and not very happy. Spencer managed to turn that all around for me. All it took was him singing along to one of his favorite songs. He sang with such enthusiasm and joy that it completely changed my mood and brought a smile to my face (and Jon's). The song was "Chasing Pavements" by Adele.