Big Brother Benjamin (week 210)

One of the great American traditions--Opening Day for Babe Ruth Youth Baseball--has finally arrived. On Saturday morning, I put-on a fresh pair of bleach white baseball pants, my knee-high socks with blue stirrups, and my brand-new number four blue and white baseball jersey. By 9:00 AM, the Dodgers 4-6-year-old Tee Ball team was leading the parade of baseball players in Opening Day Festivities at Heartwell Park. What a glorious morning! The grass was green, the uniforms were clean, and it smelled like pancakes. While the rest of the country was scraping ice off their windshields, the kids of Southern California were complaining of heat stroke in 80 degree, clear and sunny weather.

The first game against the Yankees went as well as can be expected. On every Tee Ball team, there are 2 or 3 kids who have been waiting for the moment to get on the field and live-out their dream...and 9 or 10 kids who are there because their parents think it is good for them. The Yankees clearly came from baseball families who likely selected the team name, uniforms, and equipment with an eye on the 27 World Championships of the real New York Yankees. The Dodgers, on the other hand, had at least two players run into right field after rounding 1st base; and at least three players run straight from 3rd base into the dugout. Thankfully, the game was only 2 innings long (or 45 minutes), and everyone got to hit at least twice. Also, the Dodgers were indebted to the ice cream cart vendor and the Mexican Popsicle factory that was onsite immediately after the game.

With the warm weather, this was also a big week for barbecues, mowing lawns, and tree blossoms bursting-out for the first time of the year. One thing about living in a 960 square foot house is that we spend a lot of time outdoors. Thankfully, most of our backyard is made of grass--very green grass--so this was a perfect weekend for spending time in the backyard. These days, daddy spends a lot of time sitting on a bucket while I pitch to him. We get about 50 to 100 pitches in each day...some when he comes home for lunch and a few in the evening. I get to practice my catching and strengthen my arm. He gets to break-in his mitt. And Chris gets to throw some too. This weekend he even took-up Lacrosse. Mommy and he were at the 99 cent store and found Lacrosse sticks. He hasn't put them down since he first laid his eyes on them.

These days, Christopher is also big into bringing things to people. One of his favorites is to raid the recycle bin and pull-out cans, bottles, and newspapers. He brings them to you and say "Deet Doo"...which is his attempt at "Thank You". There is a lot of "Deet Doo" these days--often for things that we really don't want him to do...like bringing people garbage, or digging-up the grass seed that daddy just planted in the backyard. Chris is very enthusiastic though, and hard to resist.

Another of Christopher's big contributions is his wall-art. He really wants to be a part of whatever we are doing. And since I like to draw, Christopher has been grabbing crayons, markers, and pencils from my color box and drawing on the dining room wall. So far this week, he has practiced his drawing at least four different times...requiring mommy to get-out the wet rag and hope that the markers are water soluble. While the wall art is bad, at least it doesn't involve poison control or go to the emergency room.