Brave, snuggly Jamie

Jamie has become such a pleasant, sweet little boy. Not that he ever wasn't those things, but as many of you remember he was a bit, shall we say, prickly as a baby and a toddler. Then he went through a phase during the first years he was in school when he got very self-conscious about showing affection with us, especially in sight of the school. Well, those days are over. We tell people who didn't know him then, that when he was smaller he could be a real challenge at times and they just look at us like we're nuts and say "Him??!!"

He has such an easy affectionate manner now. He is always happy to have a hug, doesn't really matter where (well, perhaps not on the baseball field but otherwise). Whenever we say we love him, he very naturally answers "I love you too!" Especially now that it's cold, he frequently asks "Can we read a book on the couch and snuggle?" Or if he's watching a show, "Can you snuggle with me?" Sometimes, in real moments of benevolence he's even affectionate with Connor.

But we're also so often impressed with his bravery. Since last summer he's been playing on a traveling baseball team. For a few reasons they are playing up so he's been facing kids from 11 and under teams, some of whom are literally twice his size. It's kid pitch now and some of these kids can really fire it in there. But he just stands in and takes his cuts. In this picture he's standing at first base after knocking in two runs with a hard hit ball off a kid throwing gas.

Last night I sort of watched him marshal his resources in real time. He's playing in a rec basketball league at a nearby church and it was his first pracitice. When walked in there were kids and balls everywhere and it was a kind of chaotic, sensory overload scene that Jamie has never liked and that would frankly overwhelem anybody. A lot of the kids were older as well. He immediately, quietly, said, "I don't want to be here. I want to go home." And then "I don't want to play on this basketball team." I was a little extra worried because I couldn't stay because I had to go to a Little League board meeting. So we hung out for a while and met his coach and the rest of the kids on the team. They started to head to a hoop and I gave a little pep talk about how I always feel playing basketball with new people and, not because of the pep talk I'm sure, I could literally see him gathering himself. I sort of hung out with him for a little bit in the layup line and he said very nicely, "It's OK Dad, you can go."
Of course, at the point I didn't want to for anything in the world, but I dutifully marched off with my heart in my throat.