Wrestling

The boys had their first wrestling match last night. Dylan wrestled last year and is one of those kids you just think of as a wrestler. He's all wiry and muscular and loves to be physical but will probably never have the size for a football player (I think he'll top out just under 6', as opposed to David, who is 6'5" at 19). He really enjoys wrestling, although I think part of the attraction just might be that Evan, his best friend, also wrestles, so they get to practice together and they have way too much fun.

This is Dakota's first year. I didn't think he would want to wrestle in a million years because physical contact is just not his thing. When he was a toddler he would sometimes throw himself on the ground screaming that I had hurt him when I tried to hold his hand in a store! It's called sensory defensiveness (oh, if I had only known that at the time) and occupational therapy helped but he still isn't what you would call a physical kid. However, he really enjoys the conditioning part of the practices and it's so good for him that Devin goes so he can help out with the practices in general and Dakota in particular. Dakota doesn't have a good feel for where his body is in space so he tends to have a very narrow range of motion. Here he is, "crouching" at the beginning of the match. This was his first meet ever and, although he was quickly pinned in both matches, he is still enthusiastic, which is a good thing.

Dylan did really well. He pinned his opponents in both matches and won his bracket. So now he has one of those pin-on medals attached to a ribbon to add to his two trophies (from Pinewood Derby and football). He was VERY excited and plans to take it to show-and-tell next week.