Pressed in a book

Round 35: June 2041 (Winter)

last update/next update

Clarke 2 household profile

Aaron and Calvin Clarke are 38, Amy is 6, Natalie is 4 and Curtis is 2. 

(Lake is 84, Kendal is 65, Josie is 39, Troy is 38, Jude is 9 and Andrew is 5.)

Narrated by Calvin Clarke

I thought I’d miss playing when I retired but I've been coaching for a couple of years now and I just don’t.

It helps that coaching means I'm still in the basketball world, so I haven’t really had much of a chance to miss it.

I coach a really great team and it’s nice to be on the other side, after so many years on the court.

I'm still under pressure but it’s a different kind of pressure nowadays.

Of course, the pay bump was nice too. It let Aaron and I buy this new place, with a fourth bedroom for Curtis.

The bedrooms are all pretty small, especially Curtis’s room, but we all make it work.

When we decided to adopt again, we’d planned on moving Amy and Natalie in together but in this house, they each have their own rooms.

Not that that has meant they spend much time alone. They’re in and out of each other’s rooms constantly.

Amy was pretty thrilled about the idea of sharing with Natalie but I think there will come a time when they’re both thankful to have the option of some privacy.

I hope they stay close like they are but who knows what will happen when hormones hit? For now though, Natalie idolises Amy and Amy is quite content to let her.

The girls are both very good with Curtis. Even Amy, who was so insistent that she didn't want a brother.

Curtis is very quiet but so far, Natalie’s in-your-face-ness doesn’t seem to be bothering him too much.

She knows she has to be gentle with him and leave him be if he looks like he’s had enough for a while.

Curtis has fit right into our family. It’s just like he’s always been with us.

Having three children under 7 is definitely difficult at times. We feel like we earn every second of sleep we can get!

Fortunately, both sets of grandparents are more than happy to babysit when we need a break.

We don’t like to impose too often but Mum and Lake did come over and watch the kids for the night recently.

Aaron and I were both really worn out and needed a night off but we also think it’s good for Curtis to have time away from us.

He’s very clingy at the moment, so we’re trying to get him used to being cared for by people other than Aaron and me. It’ll have to happen at some point anyway, so he may as well learn to cope early.

So the kids had a great time with their grandparents, while Aaron and I got to go out to eat at a new-to-us restaurant.

It was fantastic to talk without being interrupted by one of the kids needing something.

Aaron’s so happy at the paper right now but this was the first chance we've really had to talk about it in quite a while.

He was reporting on sports for so long (which is not a passion for Aaron like it is for me) and he’s so excited to be doing the kind of stories he really wants to do now.

I’d rather be on sports than the investigative stuff, personally, but I'm proud of Aaron and thrilled for him.

We really needed a relaxing night like that and I'm glad we got it.

The next day wasn't quite so relaxing. My brother Troy came over with Josie, Jude and Andrew.

Any time Andrew visits, I'm basically guaranteed to end the day with a headache. He’s very full-on!

The four of us spend the whole time scolding him for one thing or another, not that he seems at all bothered by it. He just shrugs it off and does what he likes anyway.

I don’t get it. He seems keen to play with Natalie but he always ends up making her cry instead.

We try to keep Andrew and Curtis separated, at least for the mean time. Even when he’s behaving, he’s very rough and Curtis is a little young to deal with that.

When he does get near Curtis, he’s usually snatching toys off him and dangling them where he can’t get to them.

He thinks it’s hilarious; Curtis doesn't agree and neither do we.

Jude is Andrew’s polar opposite and gets along famously with all our kids.

It’s amazing that two boys raised in the same house, by the same parents, could turn out so differently.

Jude's nature was a bit of a surprise to Josie and Troy. They were always expecting a kid more like Andrew, not that it makes him any easier to deal with.

Apparently, the teachers at school think Andrew might need to see someone about his “issues”, an idea Josie isn't particularly keen on.

Aaron and I both think they should probably just go ahead and hear the school out but there’s not much we can really say. Hopefully, the school can change her mind. If Andrew could get his aggression in check, he might actually get to build a nice relationship with his cousins.

Notes:

• Title is from Pressed in a Book by the Shins.
• I know basketball is five-a-side (more accurately, I was pretty sure it was but just looked it up then to check!), so ignore the fact that there are only four guys pictured on Calvin's team. Let's pretend there are other guys off camera. ;)
• Andrew is truly this obnoxious without any prompting for me. I had Jude talking to Amy, only to swing around and find him making Natalie cry. Then I was thinking "Aaron and Calvin would probably want to protect little Curtis from Andrew, only to spot Andrew dangling a toy rocket over Curtis's head, completely autonomously. Little brat. Wish I had a school right now, so I could write it in, lol!