Noting Progress on a Fall Day

Saturday morning I drove Kai to his first ice skating class of the season. When we got out of the car, I noticed that one of the tires was a bit low.

Kai did very well in his class. His skating really improved last year and he picked right up where he left off. But more than that, I was glad to see that he was very happy to be back on the ice and skated with enthusiasm.

When class was over, it was time for our weekly trip to the library. But on the way, I wanted to stop at a gas station and fill the one tire with air.

The first two stations I went to did not have a working air pump. And when I finally found one that did, the tire was very low. I filled it with as much air as I could, and then decided to see if I could make it to a tire shop without having to change the tire.

Kai was not happy with the sudden change in plans. He really wanted to go to the library.

But his reaction was so much milder than we have seen in the past under similar circumstances.

I tried to call my wife to meet us at the shop and to pick us up. I did not want to wait there for long, fearing Kai would explode with impatience.

Unfortunately, my cell phone wasn’t working right, and I could not make that call until we had already arrived at the tire shop. We would have to wait there for a while.

Kai enjoyed looking at all the tires on display, particularly taking in the numbers that rated performance for each on things like traction and comfort, as well as the expected mileage. He was in remarkably good spirits.

By the time my wife got there, we knew that our tire had a nail in it and would need to be replaced. And, in fact, all four tires were worn and ought to be replaced anyway.

My wife’s car was also due for the tires to be changed. With Kai being so well behaved, we decided to have them take a look at her car as well, and ended up deciding to go ahead and replace them on the spot.

The shop worked quickly. But we still waited nearly an hour all together. And Kai never made a fuss.

Once one car was ready to go, we drove up to Wisconsin. The library would have to wait until the next day as Kai was looking forward to trying a new miniature golf course that he and my wife had seen on his last doctor’s visit.

But first, it was time for lunch at the Brat Stop, where the specialty is brats, of course. Kai enjoyed his, and then waited nicely while my wife and I finished eating. This is still a work in process, but we definitely don’t feel quite as rushed over meals as we used to.

And then it was on to the mini golf course.

It was a chilly day, and we were very glad we had gone camping last weekend instead of this.

The course was a wild west theme.

There was a canyon.

And a mining cart.

We were having a nice time.

Until about the seventh hole.

With the chilly weather, it was not crowded. But at the sixth or seventh hole, there was a stackup of people and we had to wait. It turns out that there were a group of six adults that were three groups ahead of us.

Kai found a sign that said that groups should have no more than four players. He grumbled a bit that the group was not playing by the rules.

But overall, he maintained his patience quite well. Much better than me, actually.

It was bad enough that the group had too many players, but they really took their time while playing. Seeing so many groups waiting behind them, they could have tried to play faster, or let the others go ahead of them so they could maintain their leisurely pace. But they did not, so we all had to wait at every hole.

One of the other groups ahead of us left, not being able to wait any longer. Another group skipped a couple holes to jump ahead. I knew Kai would want to play every hole in order so we waited it out.

My impatience with the six adults was surpassed by my pleasure at seeing Kai behave so well.

When we finished our round, we had to hustle to get back home as Kai had a soccer game later in the afternoon.

When Kai started playing soccer two years ago, he rarely went after the ball. I had to constantly encourage him to run and try to kick the ball, and often he just got frustrated and wanted to quit instead.

But now, he played with verve. He ran up and down the field. He went after the ball and tried to score. And he was constantly chatting and laughing.

And even when another boy got frustrated and pushed Kai, he maintained his positive disposition.

Other parents noticed.

Several commented to me how well Kai was doing.

I don’t think they were just being polite or encouraging. I, too, saw how much he had changed from before.

During this one day, we had witnessed so many things where Kai showed so much improvement.

Gotta love it.