Hoops and Seva

This evening, after I got home from work, I got changed and immediately went over to the court at 18th & Catharine to shoot hoops.  The weather was pretty nice and I really wanted to do something physical to release some lethargic energy from my system.

When I got there, there was a guy at the other end of the court.  He asked me to play one-on-one right away.  I told him that I needed a few minutes to warm-up, plus I wanted to see if others would come so we could play 2-on-2 or 3-on-3.  He was cool with that.  So I shot around for about 10 or 15 minutes, and without anyone else having showed up, and him having come down to my end of the court (I guess hoping that I would play), I told him I was ready to play.  We played by ones inside the arc, two outside, up to 11, win by 2.  I beat him.  I think the final score was something like 11-6.  I felt good.  I had a pretty good handle on the ball, and I stole the ball from him at least three times.  I shot decently from mid-range, using the backboard quite a bit.

While we were playing, another guy showed up and called 'winner.'  I took a breather after winning the first game.  The second guy was shorter and more rotund that the first guy, who was lean and tall (though not as tall as me).  I went up on him 8-1 and it looked like I was going to rack up another win.  But then he started hitting 2-point shots from behind the arc, about four in a row, then he made another nice shot.  And before I knew it, I was losing 10-8.  I got the ball back and hit a 2-pointer of my own, tying the game at 10-10.  From that point on, the weak, atrophied state of my respiratory system began to level the playing field and I just didn't have as much gas in the tank as I had in the first game against the other guy.  After a long and impressive deadlock, my opponent deservedly beat me 12-10.

A couple other guys had come by in the meantime, and Jeannie and Seva were on the sidelines since about halfway through the first game, so I decided to bow out for a break, thinking that if one more guy showed-up, I'd been in for one more game of 3-on-3.  That never happened, though, so I eventually played a game of horse with Jeannie at the western end of the court, while the other guys played 2-on-2 at the eastern end.  It was nice to shoot around with Jeannie.  Seva started getting a little fussy or impatient towards the end, so Jeannie and I took turns shooting 10 shots from the free throw line, Jeannie hitting 2 and me hitting 4, when a couple raindrops started coming down.  I yelled good-bye to the guys at the other end of the court and we headed home, just in time as some more rain started falling.  Overall, the hour or so at the basketball court served its purpose: I got some air, blow off some steam, worked up a sweat, and had fun for a while.

Just a minute ago, I went upstairs to talk to Jeannie.  She was in Seva's room, trying to calm her down in her crib, hoping that she goes to sleep soon.  I asked Jeannie what she'd like me to write here, to remember how Seva has been doing and progressing these days.  And so I offer the following for posterity...  Seva has been holding her head up more often and for longer stretches of time.  She's now doing much better at recognizing our faces when she looks at us.  As a matter of fact, when I got home from work yesterday and today, I went up to Seva to say hi, and she clearly recognized me when she saw me, and smiled both days!  It made me so happy.  I know there are a lot more developmental steps along the way, but I'm looking forward to when Seva is a little girl who can walk and talk.

Anyway, getting back to her present progress, Seva is becoming more comfortable with lying down for periods of time in the crib and in the pack'n'play, while awake, without crying or being fussy.  She's also developing just a little bit more color to her skin, not as pale as she was when she was born.  I predicted to Jeannie the other night (yesterday?) while walking down South Street that Seva will continue to develop her skin color, especially as we continue to spend time outside.

The only real frustration on my part is that there are times when Seva cries, and even screams, to the point of being inconsolable for reasons that are beyond us.  We can only guess that she's resisting falling asleep for some reason.  It's frustrating for us, because Jeannie is pushed to the max in terms of sleeplessness and I'm, to a much lesser extent, also negatively impacted in my sleep schedule, which effects my productivity and my mood sometimes.  But I think we both know this is par for the course, though we're ready for the time when Seva can sleep through the night.