Resistance is futile

We had an epic day yesterday. First Connor had a game at 10AM. It's sort of a mixed bag with him at this point. On the one hand, there is no question he is improving. He's got a great, firm stance at the plate whereas last year he was really all over the place, standing on the plate, facing the wrong direction, etc. He has also made the conceptual leap that takes many of them a long time, namely that one has the bat with the purpose of hitting the ball, which is approaching. As often, but not always, with this conceptual shift, comes the physical ability to actually do it and sure enough on Saturday Connor was three for three on hitting coach pitches and actually hit them pretty hard. In the field he can be really good at pitcher. This is because a) you're in the middle of the action there and a lot of balls come to you and b) because there is no dirt mound. Dirt is the biggest obstacle at this age by far. Virtually no child is able to resist its siren call for something as abstract as the (often remote) possibility that a ball might come in their direction. So when he wasn't at pitcher he lost focus pretty badly, whining about being hot, hungry, thirsty, etc. At some point as I tried to get him to stand ready and watch the batter, he brushed me aside and said "Daddy? How does your heart pumping make you be alive?"

Jamie played at 12 and the Aggies got their first victory of the year 10-3. It wasn't the best we can play, but for the first time we sort of put everything together and played a pretty complete game. And little James continues to be a real contributor. He was 2 for 3 at the plate, both hard hit balls and both contributing to the two rallies in which we scored most of our runs. The second one was great because it was late in the game and although we'd been in control the whole time we were still up just 5-2. The first two batters in the inning struck out. As he was on deck he said to me "Dad, after I score can I go to the restroom?" Sure, I said, though this seemed a little optimistic. But there he was at first and thus began a two-out rally that got us to 10-2 and pushed the game out of reach. He also made a couple of plays at pitcher in the last inning as we snuffed out any possible comebacks.

So then Sarah and I had to go volunteer at the concession stand. The boys were actually very helpful there, getting drinks and candies for people. I had to close up the facilities afterwards, and then we came home and working in the yard and then made dinner. By the time we got them sorted and in bed it was 9 and we were all exhausted. Connor was asleep in seconds. Jamie, however, who does have a tendency to resist at precisely the points when things should be simple, seemed literally to be fighting sleep, coming up with one reason or another to call to us into the room. After he asked me to change the temperature, I went in there and asked for one last hug (sleepy boys hugs are great). He said no, because he was too tired to even sit up, but rolled towards me and said I could pat his head. I did and I think he succumbed before I even left the room.

Catch phrases

We had a great trip to Florida and I'll update some of the fun in a bit. But a couple of small notes to come from it. One of the things that will stick out in my mind is that Connor started making this sort of disco sound when he was excited or impressed by something. It's sort of a hands-raised "ooo-ooo-oooooooo". Must have heard it a hundred times over the week.

Jamie continues to be a wordsmith, but in this case he proved that he's got some Italian in him. At some point, impressed by something, he said "Holy Cannoli!" I'm pretty sure he's never heard the term cannoli, let alone the phrase "Leave the gun take the cannoli," though you can be sure as he comes to be Godfather watching age he will.

States of mind

When we drove up to New York for the holidays, one of the big themes was license plates. Nana and Pops gave them a portable map that you can track license plates on for the car ride and that got Jamie's attention in a big way. So we watched for plates the entire way and made it back having missed only Wyoming and Hawai'i. Jamie got a little obsessed, as is his way, and would ask at the beginning of every day whether I thought we would see Hawai'i that day. So now as we drive around Houston he is still doing it and more or less every day brings a list of interesting states he has seen. This often prompts him to wonder what all those people are doing here in Texas. This then prompts me to wonder sometimes what we're doing in Texas, but that's a different story.

Connor's interaction with this is a little less intense, but he's into it because Jamie's into it. But he can't recognize/read the plates as well and this leads to frustration, which in turn leads to fabrication. Connor basically just makes stuff up, so he'll claim to have seem some obscure state that none of the rest of us saw. He also makes up state names. He came home from school claiming to have seen a "Sensake" license plate. Even Jamie has learned most of the time to just go along with it, because if you try and question Connor about whether he really saw this, he becomes an ANGRY bunny, and nobody wants that. Connor hasn't quite tried it with Hawai'i yet, I think sensing that the stakes are too high there and that Jamie is likely to be unable to resist calling him out on that one.

Our car

The red Mazda that we bought from Jim and Fran when we came to Houston has officially acquired iconic status for the boys. It used to be, when I had my little Honda 2-seater, that this was the only car they rode in and it came to be called simply "Our car" as if that were the make and model. They've just never cottoned on to the new Mazda-5 and still prefer to ride in our car when possible.

They were particularly loving it last night. I usually take them to McDonald's or Chick-Fil-A one night a week, usually after karate, so Wednesdays this semester. Last night it was sort of drizzling as we left to go home. "Our car" has a sun roof and they are quite fascinated by having a window in the roof of the car especially when it is raining. This time it was light enough that I opened it up entirely and as we started driving the rain blew back on to them in the back seat. They just laughed and screamed with delight the whole way home. This prompted Jamie to proclaim: "Our car should be a mark of our family. When I grow up I'll drive it and then give it to my son or daughter and they will pass it on!" I'd better keep up with the oil changes!

Baby otter

Connor is so cute sometimes it's just ridiculous. One thing that's been really fun with him is his love of animals. Jamie just never really went through a big animals phase so it's nice having this time with Connor. His favorites right now are perhaps otters, though sometimes seals. He was reading an animals book with Sarah the other night before bed and they were reading about how the baby otters would sit on the mother's belly while they floated. Connor had a look of such wonder that Sarah asked if he wanted to pretend to do that. He said yes in ay that suggested he would like nothing more in the world. So now periodically we do this. He likes for us to get get him food which means we have to put him in seaweed while we dive underwater to get him food.

Don't be tacky!

Another quick Connorism. Though it was brief, for a while this year he referred to khakies as "tackies." It is Connor's particular ability to add great humor to ordinary situations. Mornings before school become so much more enjoyable to hear him dashing off to his room saying "Where are ma tackies? Need to put ma tackies on!!!!"

Cultural observation

Jamie is coming to understand some of the ways of movies. This morning he said, "Girls always hate Indiana Jones. But then they end up kissing him."

Game #2

OK, I promise I wont narrate every baseball games this season, but they've been really exciting and Jamie seems to develop from game to game. So maybe I will, actually. You are warned.

Game 2 began promisingly with the first two batters on base, but things fizzled from there and we found ourselves down 6-0 going into the 4th inning. We got a couple and they got a couple so it was 8-2 going into the 5th. Now, remember that one can only score five runs in an inning so we needed to get within that going into the 6th to have a chance. We got two in the top of the inning and so needed to hold them in the bottom, which we did, in part thanks to Jamie, who has turned into a real contributor in the field. Earlier he played first base, which is a very important position at this level and made a great play. The ball was hit to his right and he moved off, stopped it, picked it up and hustled to the bag to get the kid by 1/4 of a stride. In this inning he was at the pitcher position and got the third out with a kid on base, so it was a huge play. What was great was it was pretty routine. Grounder came to him, he gobbled it up, made a perfect throw to first and got him by a mile. Easy peasy.

So then in the top of the 6th we came roaring back and scored 4 runs to tie it. Alas, a couple of close plays at first, including one on Jamie, kept us from nudging ahead. They got a player to second in the bottom of the inning and it went to two strikes on the batter who then hit a high pop fly which our shortstop heroically...almost caught. But there was still a play at the plate and the throw beat the runner there. But the catcher bobbled and he slid in. Game over, 9-8 and another heartbreaker for the Aggies. Can't say they don't give the fans their money's worth though.

Why?

This will be brief, but is an observation that has built up over the years. Namely, for some reason the boys really like stepping on/standing on our feet. Why is this? I happen to have noticed it lately because in two separate incidents I have injured toes on my left foot. And since then, I have found myself spending an inordinate amount of time and effort trying to keep them out of the way of little feet that are intent on finding them and applying maximum painful pressure. I am never fully successful either, they always manage it. What's the impulse? I know that they enjoy causing me pain, they've said so. But, knowing this, I've intentionally hidden the injury from them. I think maybe there is a claiming thing going on, but maybe it's a desire for closeness. Injuries, personal space issues and shoe care aside, there's something pretty nice about 2 little creatures for whom an inch away would be too far sometimes.