Many thoughts on the Olympics.

So, before I crawled onto Graham's bed last night, I rummaged through my sock drawer and found my two medals from the Gay Games III and IV (soccer, both). I brought them into Graham's room and we talked about the Gay Games and my (participatory) medals. Of course, he asked to wear one, and chose one carefully. Asked me why one had my name on it (because I paid the extra money to do that). I cried when I realized how much it had meant to me. I had an ID tag that said "Athelete." This is a big deal for a relatively non-athletic girl. (I was always in the Band instead of P.E.) I told him about my friend Wendy, who won Women's Singles (Division B) in GGIV, and that she got a gold medal. We talked about gold, silver, bronze medals.

We talked about what sports are in the Olympics (and I had a hard time coming up with more than 5 winter sports). We talked about what the Olympics means--that you're the best in the world.

He crumpled. He bawled. He wailed, "I want to be the best in basketball! How can I be the best if I'm not in the Olympics?" Another Parenting Moment where I struggle not to laugh as I put on my Understanding Face and explain that 5 1/2 is very young to participate in the Olympics, and that he can work very hard on his basketball and see if it's possible to be an Olympian later.

Then I talked about the Knitting Olympics, which starts tomorrow. I told him what it's about, and that I'll be knitting in it. He gets excited. "Can I knit too?" Sure, I tell him; you can knit on your knitting spool. "I want to make a sweater," he announces. Um, the spool just makes a 1" tube. I encourage him to make a snake or a worm. He's not that interested.

So tomorrow night, I'm going to try to teach him to knit (garter stitch) with the biggest needles he can hold (IOW, not the size 50s I got for my birthday!) and see how he does.

It should be exciting! Let the games begin.