Don't tell!!

So Connor has this group of 5 and 6 yos he hangs around with at Westbury Little League. One of the reasons we like it there is that they can be off the chain in a relatively safe, consequence-free environment with lots of adults around who know them. From their perspective, the best thing is that they are building a giant water retention/parkscape right behind the fields so there are dirt piles everywhere. Joy! One of the favorites they've named "Mt. Husker" for Jamie's team, the Cornhuskers.

So as soon as we get to WLL, if Connor isn't involved in baseball activities, he finds his buddies and off they go. We call them the Pesky Cat Gang, taking the term from one of our favorite books, Mr. Pusskins. Pesky Cat Gang gets Mr. Pusskins to go places he isn't meant to go, and do things he isn't meant to do.

At one point during one of Jamie's games, Sarah overhears Connor telling the PCG, "Let's play animal habitats!" There is discussion about which habitat, but Connor successfully pushes them towards one of his favorites, the Indonesian rain forest. When they agreed he gave a classic Connor double fist pump and "YES!!!" Off they ran to play. A few minutes later, Connor came back alone. In a stage whisper he excitedly told Sarah that he was being the caracal in the habitat game. "Even though there are no caracals in the Indonesian rain forest!!!!!!!" Then, seriously, "Don't tell Mom!" She assured him she wouldn't but he felt the need to reiterate: "Really, Mom!. Do. Not. Tell!!!" And then off he rain. Sarah, I am happy to report, has said nothing still.

Connor world

We've been talking for a while about Connor world and he himself seems to have embraced it, as well as his "Bunny" nickname. The other day we were walking to a friend's house and more or less out of nowhere he said, "Dad, let me tell you how all the bunnies came to earth from Connor-world. They got in my bunny-shaped space ship with me and flew to earth. Then when we got out, as soon as I turned around they were gone. That's how the bunnies scattered everywhere."

Live like Connor

Basically, I recommend it. It's a way of going through the world living in the present and getting the most out of every situation. Connor was sick this week. Not too bad but a fever and a stiff neck, basically the "Connor virus" we call it. Now, Jamie for whatever reason isn't much into the Zoo these days, but Connor animal lover that he is, most certainly is, so with a day to spend together Tuesday I figured I'd take him. By the time we got there the parking lot was completely full of buses so we had to park in a garage in the Medical Center. Not much opportunity for fun there you're thinking.

We get out of the car, and walk to the elevator and the fun begins.
Connor: "Oooh!! Can I press the down button?"
We get in the elevator.
Connor: "Can I press the number too??!!" Normally in elevators, you see the boys have to share the button pushing so one pushes up/down the other pushes the number, so this was bonus time.
We get out of the elevator and see an escalator.
Connor: "Yay!! Escalator! Dad can we ride it?" I say yes. Connor, with fist pump "YEAH!!"
We ride the escalator up and down a few times. Eventually we get off the escalator and he sees a revolving door.
Connor: "Ooooh, I LOVE these!" He proceeds to attempt to go through the wrong way. So we go around the revolving door a few times amidst much giggling. Then we get outside and we see a...
"RAMP!!!" Connor runs up and down the ramp. So basically just getting out of the building was full of joy. We should all live like Connor.

Cheetah power!

OK, we did it again. We took Connor into a competitive situation and underestimated him. In this case, it was a birthday party at a laser tag place. Connor had never been to laser tag before, so Sarah kind of explained it to him and indicated clearly that it was a competition. I guess Connor got it. There were 14 kids in the party including some older siblings who are teenagers. Connor, playing under the nom-de-guerre "Cheetah" won the entire event. By a lot. I have some statistics to back up my claims of his dominance. He fired 790 beams, tagging other players 80 times, while only being tagged himself 38 times. He seems to have preyed on two other players in particular, getting the unfortunate "Dan" 29 times and crowd favorite "Rainbow Girl" 17 times. Combined the two only tagged him 15 times.

How to explain this performance? One, he is an intense little fellow. Two, as he often points out, bunnies are small, fast and hard to catch.

That's what they pay me for

Yes, this is another baseball story. Can't be helped, that's our life these days. A couple of weeks ago Jamie's team was playing. We were playing a team that doesn't hit it particularly hard, but makes a lot of contact so I was loading up the infield a little. Connor didn't know it, of course, but for the first time I put Jamie, who is very reliable now, at third base. As it happened the other team had runners at second and third and one out, so it looked like it might turn into a pretty big inning for them. The batter then popped one up to third. Jamie settled comfortably under it, looked it in his glove and then glanced at third to see that the runner had already left. So he calmly stepped on the base for an inning-ending double play. We went on to win a close game.

Unbeknownst to me when this happened, amidst great rejoicing in the stands, Connor turned to Sarah and said, "Mom. Dad knows. Where. To. Play. Jamie!!! That's why he's the coach!!" Props from the six-year-old! Score!