First things first. This week's photo of Say Jon...
He is much more interested in grabbing toys and holding things with his hands than he was even just two weeks ago. He is also learning to scoot around on the blanket to get something that is out of his reach. The babies at the Home are exclusively fed formula until they are at least 11 months old. This makes me sad and I think it is most likely because there just aren't enough nannies to feed all of the babies. Since I think Say Jon should be eating solids and drinking less formula at this age (almost 6 months), I bought a jar of baby custard with me on Monday and gave him a few spoonfuls. He quickly mastered eating from a spoon and gobbled down about 1/2 the jar. I didn't want to give him too much in case it was a shock to his system. When I go on Friday, I think I will try to give him the custard again as well as applesauce.
As far as the aches and pains are concerned...Last night I played netball for the first time in almost 4 years. Even though I took a couple of Advil before bed last night, yikes, was I sore this morning! I decided to skip my run for today - although my legs were fine, my forearms and shoulders were hurting and my ankle felt a little wonky. Both Cailtynne and I played on netball teams in Australia (almost all of the females do) and totally loved the experience. We were happy to hear about a woman in Nichada who was organizing a team for the schoolgirls as well as an women's team and we both signed up to play. The woman who is coaching the teams hopes to have us play until the end of school and then resume in the Fall with the intent of getting good enough to play some "friendlies" with different teams from downtown. I had no idea netball was even played in Bangkok, much less that multiple teams existed.
Caitlynne's team practices on Thursday afternoons and my team will practice on Tuesday evenings. Last night we had enough women turn out so we had two complete teams (7 players each) as well as an umpire. As expected, I was the only American - most of the women were from Australia, Britain or New Zealand. We started off with warm-ups and then moved on to a few drills before splitting into teams and playing actual games (with very loose adherence to the rules). Once I got on the court, I was surprised at how much I remembered (although there were some things I totally forgot). We are all at different skill levels - a couple of the women were pretty hard core and some women had never even played before (or played when they were very young. We have a long way to go before we can play a legitimate game of netball and be competitive but it will be fun to be a part of a team again.
Netball began in England in the 1890's and was based on early versions of basketball. It is most popular in Commonwealth nations and is predominantly played by women. Netball games are played on a rectangular court with raised goal rings at each end (very similar to a basketball hoop but with no backboard).
Players are assigned specific position and, based on their position, their movement is restricted to certain areas of the court. Each team attempts to score goals by passing (not dribbling) the ball down the court and shooting it through its goal ring. Players can hold the ball for only three seconds at any time and the ball must be released before the foot they were standing on when they caught it touches the ground again (so no stepping). A player with the ball can hold onto it for only three seconds before shooting for a goal or passing to another player. It is a very fast moving game and there is a lot of running and jumping involved. It makes for a very good workout. The winning team is the one that scores the most goals within the 60 minute time (four 15 minute quarters).
Netball is not supposed to be a contact sport and contact between players is allowed only if it does not impede an opponent or the general play. No jewelry is allowed to be worn and, before the game, the umpire checks to make sure everyone has their fingernails closely trimmed. That being said, the game is VERY physical and I have a few bruises to accompany the aches and pains. It was a great time though and I am really looking forward to next week's session.
I finally got around to making Chicken Parmigiana for dinner earlier this week. When the week begins, I have such good intentions of cooking two or three nights but, between all of the activities and sports, it never seems to work out that way. Why cook if no one is there to eat?
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