Our Basketball Star

Sometimes I think I know my kids pretty well, and then they suddenly materialize with new talents and interests I didn't know about. On my way home from work one day in Pennsylvania, I saw some kid zipping down the road on a bike near our house. I knew the neighborhood kids pretty well, since our kids played with them so often, but I couldn't tell WHO this kid was. He was wearing a shirt that looked like one of S's shirts, and he looked like he was about S's size. But it was a regular bike WITHOUT training wheels, and S had never been taught to ride one of those. I remember thinking, "If I didn't know that S can't ride a bike, I would swear that's him!" Then, as I drove slowly around the kid, I glanced over and noticed that it WAS him, zooming along on his bike like he'd been riding for years. I couldn't believe it!

Something similar happened this week. S came into the house one day and announced that he wanted me to come see him play basketball outside. He said he had made about 20 baskets on Grammy and Grampa's basketball hoop in the backyard. I had seen him TRY to make baskets out there, but he can't really get the ball up to the basket with any degree of accuracy, so this was sounding like a bit of an exaggeration. Still, I went out and watched him play, and in the few minutes that I watched, he got the ball in the hoop OVER AND OVER AND OVER. In fact, he made it in almost every time! I have absolutely no idea when he picked this talent up!

He certainly did not get it from ME!

From 2008, Summer and Fall

From 2008, Summer and Fall

Click below to see him in action, though I think his estimate of the total number of baskets he's made might be slightly inflated. One thing that is NOT inflated in this video is the ball he's using!