February 25, 2004 - Wednesday
For the second time this week I took the boys bowling. We went Monday afternoon to a place that was completely empty and things went pretty well. The lane we used had bumpers in the gutters so the boys were almost assured of knocking down pins. The lane was also true enough so that even Jeremy's excruciatingly slow ball eventually made it to the pins. On his last turn before we had to leave, Harry got a spare!

Well, with that success, the boys were clamouring for more. Today we went to the alley that hosts the local bowling show we watch at lunch on the weekends and that seemed to register with Harry. Unfortunately, the lane we got had a serious slope to the left that effectively prevented Jeremy's slow ball from ever reaching the pins without slipping into the gutter at the end of the bumper. I even took to pushing the ball a little right after it left his hands (I don't think he noticed this, but I don't know for sure) and even that was good enough to hit many pins. That was disappointing.

Harry didn't have as much trouble because he can throw the ball fast enough, especially when he throws it wildly. On the sloping surface, that ultimately meant his balls would bounce off the bumpers and often into the middle of the pins. But, this surprised me from a four-year-old: on the last couple of shots I noticed that Harry made a concerted effort to throw his ball down the right side of the lane. He confirmed that he did that to compensate for the way the ball feel off to the left.


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