Boys' day at the ballpark

A post from the (seldom-heard-from) Daddy Man:

Biscuit has been sick again. He got a fever Thursday evening, stayed home from school Friday and has been pretty out of it. Since he just got over ear infections in both ears, and it was coming on the weekend, Kimmy took him to the doctor Friday morning. They said it was viral, and we just had to wait it out. He spent some time outside with me Saturday, but as soon as he went back in the house, Kimmy said he crashed on the couch and slept for a couple of hours.

He seemed to be feeling better today, so I asked him if he wanted to go see our local minor league baseball team play. "Sure," he said.

"Hey, do you know what happens at the games on Sunday?" I asked him.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, if you get there early, you can play catch on the field," I told him.

"The field where the players play?!" Biscuit asked excitedly.

"Yeah," I said. "And you can run the bases after the game is over."

He was so excited, he kept repeating everything I said to him.

"So we can play catch before the game and run the bases after the game?!" Biscuit asked. "That is SO awesome!"

I figured he'd be excited, especially since his baseball season just ended.

We pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car. Biscuit immediately walked up to the parking lot attendant and said, "Excuse me, do you know where we go to play catch on the field?"

The attendant smiled and said, "Yeah, you just go in that gate right over there."

We went in the gate, and we had to sign a waiver to get down onto the field. While we were waiting in line, there was a little boy in front of us with two older boys. Biscuit struck up a conversation with the boy, and they decided they were going to play catch when they got to the field. But when we got down there, those three brothers went with their parents to center field, and Biscuit and I walked over to right field.

We played catch for about 20 minutes. The game started at 4 p.m., and you could only play until 3:30, so we wrapped it up. The boy did a good job catching and throwing. 

We walked up and grabbed a couple of seats behind home plate. We watched the game for about five innings. Biscuit talked non-stop about playing catch on the field and how he wanted to meet a real major-leaguer, among other topics.

He started getting antsy, so we walked over to the playground, then looked around in the gift shop. We sat down at a table on the concourse and shared a pretzel and some ice cream while watching the team come back from a 7-0 deficit to win 8-7.

We got in line for Biscuit to run the bases. When we got down on the field, one of Biscuit's friends and his parents were waiting for us. Biscuit didn't realize that the other boy was feeling nervous about running the bases, so he took off, thinking the boy was right behind him. We were leaving the ballpark before he realized that he should've waited for his friend.

"Dad, I was just so excited about running the bases that I didn't even hear you telling me to wait," Biscuit said. "I feel bad about leaving my friend."

"It's okay, boy," I told him. "You didn't hear me, and you didn't know any better." 

"Yeah, Dad," Biscuit said. "I didn't know any better."

As soon as Biscuit crossed home plate, we snuck under the ropes and walked into the players' tunnel. I needed to talk to a player and the manager about a story I'm writing this week.

I introduced Biscuit to the manager. "This is Biscuit," I said.

Biscuit shook the manager's hand and said, "My real name is Griffin, but my nickname is Biscuit."

The manager smiled and said, "I really like Biscuit. I'm gonna call you Biscuit."

"Okay," Biscuit said and smiled back at him.

The players made a fuss over him, and he got to meet his major-leaguer because I introduced him to Luis Quinones, who played for the Cincinnati Reds team who won the World Series in 1990. He's our team's hitting coach now. He and Luis talked for a minute or two. Biscuit told him that he played for the White Sox last year and Red Sox this year.

After I got my interviews done, we walked out to the car to head home.

Biscuit was quiet on the way home. I think he was worn out after not feeling good. He caught a second wind when we got home and told Kimmy about our trip.

It's funny. Biscuit still sees it as his ballpark. He thinks he can just come and go as he pleases. He doesn't understand that I go to the games for work. Either way, I hope these will be cool stories for him when he's older.

Bye-bye baseball!

Well, we survived. What was supposed to be an 8-week baseball season turned into a 13-week marathon!

Tuesday night was the last game (yet another rain makeup), and as happy as I am for it to be done, I think I'll miss it some, too. By the end, the boys had made so many improvements to their game (that's what will happen when you get almost twice as much practice as you were supposed to get!).

The coach sent out an email last weekend suggesting we all go to a local frozen yogurt shop after the game. All but two of the players were able to go.

All the kids got their yogurt creations (how do they eat those gummy critters?!) and sat at a couple of big tables. By the time the parents filled in around them, there wasn't a seat left in the whole store!

The coach handed out the trophies and said something funny about each kid. When he got to Biscuit, he said, "To the guy who had the best-looking socks on the Red Sox team." And Biscuit grinned.

I'll never get to buy hair ribbons and earrings and cute little bracelets, so I decided that Biscuit would have every baseball outfit accessory available. So I got him the knee-length baseball pants, red knee-high socks and a red belt. He was as accessorized as I could make him.

The coach said some really nice things, then they started asking all the kids how old they are. I wondered why until I heard one of the other moms ask. 

"We might be able to get a bunch of these guys on the same team again next season," the assistant coach said.

It was a good group. There were a couple of them that I'd love to get ahold of OFF the field for a while, but for the most part, they were all good sports on the field and took instruction well.

As we were leaving, one of the moms came over to say goodbye. 

"Can I tell you something terrible?" she asked.

"Sure," I said to her.

She looked around to see if anyone was within ear shot and said, "This is the first team my son has played on where I actually enjoyed going to the games. I've really enjoyed getting to hang out with the other moms."

I laughed. "I was thinking the same thing," I said. "As a matter of fact, I said that very thing to Jeff last night!"

I don't think I have enough in common with the other moms to become besties or anything, but it would be nice if some of the kids were on the same team again next year.

Here are some pictures from the season celebration:

Chocolate yogurt and mini M&Ms, the same as always!

My boy is so camera-trained. I have a picture from every event this year where
he's looking straight down the barrel of the camera (or phone, as the case may be).

Baseball is almost over

We played a rain makeup game last night, and there's only one game to go. I have mixed feelings about it. I really enjoy seeing the boys play, and they've gotten so much better than when they first started playing. But at the same time, I'm ready not to have to worry about getting to the games and figuring out which field we're playing on and making sure Biscuit's uniform is clean.

I think next year will be the turning point for Biscuit. I think if he plays next year, he'll realize he either loves it or wants to trade it in for something else (hopefully not soccer, for Jeff's sake).

This year, Biscuit is about 50-50. Sometimes he's so serious and really gets into the game, and sometimes, he is easily distracted and jogs along between the bases in no hurry at all and doesn't even realize the ball has been hit.

That last one happened last night.

In this league, the coaches pitch to their players. They're supposed to throw four pitches, and if the kid doesn't hit it, they get to use a tee. But I've seen the coaches throw several more than four pitches, just to give the kids extra chances. And I've never heard anyone from another team complain about that. The main goal of this league is teaching and having fun.

When they're playing the field, they put players in all the regular infield positions (first, second, third, shortstop). Then they add in a few extras. A player between first and second. Two outfielders (one on each side) that play just after the grass starts. Then they add one player on each side of the pitcher (aka the other team's coach).

During one inning, the coach positioned Biscuit on the third-base side of the pitcher. Biscuit found the dirt around the pitcher's mound quite interesting. So interesting, in fact, that when the kid from the other team hit the ball, Biscuit never saw it happen. He heard the other kids scrambling and started looking around in a panic.

What Biscuit didn't know was that the ball was hit near first base. So the first baseman grabbed the ball and ran it to the base. What Biscuit did know was that there was a ball on the ground at the pitcher's feet (to speed things along, the pitchers usually have at least three balls at a time).

So Biscuit runs toward the pitcher, grabs the ball and starts looking around to see who he should throw it to.

My clueless kid!

Luckily, the pitcher (who, remember, is the other team's coach) told Biscuit that the ball he was holding wasn't the live ball. The live ball was at first base.

I just shook my head and laughed.

The boy thought he was making a great play when actually, he grabbed a leftover ball that wasn't even in play!

Now some might say that there shouldn't be extra balls on the field, and that's probably true, but my argument is that if the boy had been paying attention instead of playing in the dirt, he would've known which ball was in play.

The main thing, of course, was that if you aren't paying attention, you could get hit with a ball. One of our players stepped in front of a ground ball that bounced up and hit him pretty hard in the chest. You could tell right away that it hurt him - not badly, but enough that they stopped the game for a minute. So I called Jeff over to the fence and told him to fuss at Biscuit. I don't know if he fussed at him or not, but as we walked back to the car after the game, Biscuit didn't seem surprised when I called him on it.

Sometimes he pays attention ...

... and sometimes he doesn't.

Okay, now I'll share something good he did!

Biscuit got to bat twice, and he got good hits both times. It's funny because the kids still seem stunned for a second when they actually hit the ball.

One of the assistant coaches said to the team at the last game, "Guys, as soon as you hit the ball, run! Don't stand there in amazement that you hit it. Run!"

Biscuit did a good job running the bases. The very first game, he took his sweet time getting from one base to the other. I told him after that game that I wanted him to haul it! And since then, he has for the most part.

I was also impressed when one of the assistant coaches gave Biscuit some instructions, and he followed them to a T.

Biscuit was put on second base, and the coach walked with him and showed him where to stand.

"If the ball comes on THIS side of second base, you get back to base as fast as you can," he said. "One of the other players will get the ball and throw it to you."

And that's what Biscuit did. Every single time the ball was hit.

One sad thing about the season ending is how the boys have found so many routines. When they're batting, they know the batting order, and they'll call each other on it.

"No. 2 is up. No. 3, you're on deck. No. 4 get your helmet," they'll all say to each other. It's funny to hear 6-year-old giving instructions to each other.

They've also started using dugout chants. "Let's go Michael, let's go!"

When I told Biscuit there was only one more game, he seemed kinda sad. But then he said, "That doesn't mean that Dad and I can't play in the backyard, right?"

"Right," I said. "You and Dad can play in the backyard and get ready for next year."

On with the show

Have you been waiting with bated breath to see Biscuit's chicken song?!

When I went to pick up Biscuit from afterschool care Thursday, I saw that they were setting up the chairs for the play. The front row was reserved, but the second row was wide open. So I dropped a couple of jackets into the two seats closest to the middle aisle and went on about my business. I felt a tiny bit bad because this was an hour and 45 minutes before the play even started. But hey, I figured it was first-come, first served.

We got Biscuit a snack and hung out for a while. And then it was time for him to become a chicken.

I got Biscuit dressed and took him to his classroom. The teacher had a cartoon show playing for them while they were waiting for all the kids to arrive. So I headed out to meet Jeff at our seats.

We had a still camera and a video camera. I wanted to record Biscuit's part of the show, but I also wanted to watch it. So I brought our tripod, thinking I could just put the video camera on it, start it and leave it alone. But of course it couldn't be that easy.

The seat on the front row in front of us was still empty as the lights went down. But very shortly, we realized that the seat was for the music director. So here's what Jeff and I saw the entire show.

The music director sat directly in front of me, blocking my
view of the stage and our view to shoot photos and videos.

Figures!

I was sitting in the aisle seat, so I put the video camera on the tripod, then just folded the legs shut like a monopod. Then I held it steady beside my leg in the aisle. And luckily for us, Biscuit's group sang on the right side of the stage, in the only spot on the stage that wasn't blocked for me.

Jeff, being taller, found opportunities to shoot still photos over and around the director. I was very happy with the pictures he got. (I like to think my anniversary present had something to do with that. Jeff bought me a cool new lens for my camera!)

As tired as we were of hearing the songs ... ALL the songs because Biscuit knew his songs PLUS all the songs the other classes were singing ... once they put it together with the hand motions and dancing and costumes, it really was well done and very, very cute. You could tell that they were all quite proud of themselves, too.

Here are some pictures of Biscuit and his fellow playmates and below that, a video of his song (And let me mention that there were three boys on the right side of the stage and three girls on the left side of the stage. One of the three girls took it upon herself to put her mouth on the microphone and do some of that awful yell-singing. And she didn't even stay with the music. You can hear her, especially about halfway through the song).

The story was about a bunny who didn't have any friends. She didn't
know how to make friends. So a wise owl taught her how to. She
made friends with chickens, cows, rats, squirrels, farmers and more.

Each class had its own song and included lyrics such as
"it's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."

Could they be any cuter?!

I think the pig class had it WAY easier than the other classes costume-wise.

He knows there's usually a camera pointed at him, so every so often,
we get home and find a picture of him staring straight down the lens!
It's so dang funny and completely creepy all at the same time!

He wasn't just a featured singer. He danced, too!
Look at that chicken go!!!

The end-of-the-song pose!

My chicken boy

A couple of months ago, Biscuit's teacher let us know that they would have a play on May 14 that would involved all the kindergarten class. And we would be helping the kids to learn lines, learn songs and make costumes.

I know I should've been dreading the whole thing, but I'm one of those weird people who likes projects and costumes and planning. So as soon as I knew Biscuit would need to be a chicken, I started looking for ideas online.

I decided what I would do, then I ordered the pieces and parts. I had a white T-shirt that was one size too big, a pair of white, legging-type shorts (they were actually girls', but don't tell Biscuit!), two 6-foot feather boas, safety pins, gold soccer socks, two yellow rubber gloves, a white hat, two googly eyes, some felt, fabric glue and a cereal box (for the cardboard).

But you know how good intentions go. I had all the makings, but they sat on the kitchen table for two weeks.

Then my parents came up for Mother's Day weekend. My Mama knows how to get things done. My Granny always said people like her knew how to "make do."

So Mama saw all the pieces and parts and set to work. And when I saw her getting going, it sett of some gumption in me, too.

Mama used safety pins to attach the boas to the T-shirt, and I used glue and staples to attach the felt to the hat for the comb and beak. I used pages from a word search puzzle book I just finished to stuff the fingers of the rubber gloves, then I slid a pair of Biscuit's shoes inside them.

I'll share pictures and video from the show later, but for now, here's a look at our process and the final product.

This was when Mama was halfway done with the feathers.
Biscuit walked into the room and said, "GRANDMAMA! I'm not a ballerina!"

I used pages from a word search puzzle book to stuff the fingers of the gloves.

The fingers are stuffed, and the shoe is inside. Next
step is to cut a hole in the top for his foot to slip inside.
This became a problem because as I tried to slip his
foot inside, the glove started to tear. And tear and tear
and tear. I was sitting on the floor in the teacher's restroom,
trying to get his foot in that shoe without completely ruining
his chicken feet! Luckily, one of the teachers had
some clear packing tape that put it back together.

I have a bowl that fit perfectly under the chicken hat.
It made adding the pieces to it a lot better.

Here's the chicken body. A few feathers fell off the boa, so Mama
just glued them individually onto the top and sleeves of the shirt.

A trashbag with a hole torn in the bottom made a perfect garment bag.

I originally cut the gold felt to fit all the way across
the bill, but I quickly realized that looked like a duck!

Biscuit let me call him Chickenhead until the play
was over. Sometimes I think he just humors me!

Lend me your ears

My poor Biscuit baby. He has a double ear infection and had to start taking antibiotics today.

My parents came up this weekend, and we had a really nice visit. Friday night, we took them to a cruise-in. Daddy enjoyed looking at the cars, and Mama enjoyed a chair across from the music store where they had live music and she could people-watch.

Saturday morning, they got to see Biscuit play baseball. They were pretty excited about that.

Then Saturday night, we took them to this country-cooking restaurant about half an hour away. The food is served family-style, and when you get finished eating, you can walk down to a barn to listen to live music.

We tried to call early in the day for reservations, but they said they don't take reservations except for large groups. So we got there about 6:30 and found out that some others had already been there an hour, and they were still waiting. An hour?

I don't deal well when I make a plan and it doesn't work out. I always assume that everyone is going to be frustrated or have a bad time or be disappointed. But the funny thing is that others usually take it a lot better than I do.

And that was the case Saturday, all except for Biscuit.

He walked around, sat on my lap, sat on Grandmama's lap, stood by Jeff, held Papa's hand, walked around again and was just generally irritable and restless.

After about 45 minutes, they called our name and apologized profusely for us having to wait. It was pretty warm outside on the porch, and we were getting hungry and grumpy. (Okay, I was getting hungry and grumpy, and I'm just assuming the others were, too!)

They put us in a small room off the main dining room that used to be a porch. And again, they apologized for putting us out there. Apparently, it was quite warm, crowded and noisy in the dining room, so I was perfectly fine with our closed-in porch seating.

I finally asked Biscuit outright, "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"Well, Mom," he said, moving his hand up to his ear. "My ear is hurting pretty bad, down on the inside."

Are you kidding me?! He had an earache and it never occurred to him to say so?

His eyes teared up, and I reached out my hand and said, "Let's go."

We had our drinks at that point, but the food hadn't arrived. I didn't care. I have this cool app on my phone that uses your GPS location to find things you need. It has categories like grocery stores, hospitals, banks, restaurants, hotels, pharmacies, etc. So I chose pharmacies and found one 3.63 miles away.

I strapped Biscuit into his seat, and off we went.

We took a beautiful drive as the sun was setting. The area is in the foothills of the mountains, so it was very scenic. We crested one hill and saw the sun starting to go down behind the top of a small mountain. I saw it and knew I should appreciate the beauty of it, but I was worried about my baby. He was in pain.

We got to the store, and I grabbed some ibuprofen and a syringe. I like using the syringes because I can get closer to the exact amount of medicine I should give him. We got in line to pay, and it was taking forever. Biscuit was leaning on me, then on the counter, and I was getting very impatient.

I tore open the syringe and medicine box. I ripped the plastic off the top of the bottle and drew up the appropriate amount. "Here," I said to Biscuit and shot that medicine right into his mouth.

The cashier looked at the open packages and then at me, and I was fully prepared to defend my actions, but there was no need. She looked down at Biscuit and said, "Oh, poor baby. He is feelin' bad!"

I paid my bill, and dragged poor Biscuit back out to the car. I strapped him in, and he dozed a little on the way back to the restaurant.

It was 8:40, and the restaurant closed at 9. I was fully prepared to find my family in the music barn, and I'd just get something to eat when we got back home. But Mama and Jeff were still sitting at the table. Since Daddy is the musical one, they sent him down to the barn to listen.

I sat down and looked over the table. There was fried chicken, country ham and BBQ spare ribs. There were green beans, potatoes, corn, pinto beans and stewed apples with cinnamon. And to top it off, there was hoe cake and cornbread.

Mama and Jeff were the only two people left in the little room. But then one of the owners came out.

"Honey, they told me about what's going on, and I want you to take your time and sit there and eat everything you want," she said. "Stay as long as you want. And let me know if you need anything."

It was such a nice thing for her to say. And I guarantee you that if I had asked for some hot chicken, she probably would have gone to the kitchen to make it happen.

But I was quite satisfied with everything that was left on the table. The food was SO good.

"If the food is this good cold, I can't imagine how good it was while it was hot," I said to Mama and Jeff.

While I ate, Mama held poor Biscuit. He couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and fell asleep on Mama. You don't realize how big he's gotten until you try to hold him!

I ate and ate and ate and finally called it quits. I was putting my silverware on my plate when Daddy walked in and said the music was over. Then we got in the car and drove the half hour back home. This place was on the backside of nowhere. You don't get there by accident, that's for sure.

Biscuit seemed fine Sunday morning, but by early afternoon, he said his ear was hurting again. We gave him some more drugs, and he asked if he could take a nap. Then Jeff and I had that dreaded conversation. "Should we take him somewhere to get checked out?"

I hate that discussion, especially on the weekend. I don't ever want anyone to think that I'm putting money before Biscuit's health, but when going to the ER costs $100 just to step in the door, you have to pause and think.

By the time Biscuit got up from his nap, he said he was feeling better. So we decided to wait until Monday morning.

He hasn't had a fever at any point, which is weird. He's never had an ear infection without a fever. I just assumed that maybe he got water in his ear or something. But when he woke up this morning saying it was still hurting, that was it. I called to make a doctor's appointment.

I left work early and took him to the office. Luckily, he was able to see his doctor. Sometimes on short notice, you have to see whoever is available. But Biscuit really likes his doctor. He talks to him about superheroes and explains what he's doing at every step. And he lets Biscuit ask questions.

Warning: This paragraph contains ickiness! The doctor said there's a bubble of fluid in Biscuit's right ear. It even has a little bit of blood in it. At some point, the bubble will pop on its own, and Biscuit will have immediate relief. Until then, we have to give him an antibiotic and pain reliever. Then he looked in the left ear and said, "Whoa! I'm surprised he's not feeling pain on this side, too. He's got an infection on this side, too."

Biscuit had almost non-stop ear infections the first year of his life, but since then, he's only had one or two. The doctor even commented on it. Other than colds and minor stuff, he's just not a sickly kid.

Which brings me to the next icky topic ... Other than a few diaper incidents when he was really little, Biscuit has never had diarrhea. And the doctor said this antibiotic could make that happen. So I had to have a conversation with Biscuit this evening about how he needs to keep that in mind. "If you feel like you have to go, DO NOT WAIT!" I told him. "You won't be able to hold it in." It was an odd and gross conversation, and the look on his face was pretty priceless. But I didn't want him to be surprised by it, especially if he decides to go back to school tomorrow!

We're very lucky that Biscuit has only had typical elementary school-type bugs and colds. And hopefully, this stuff will go away quickly, and he'll be feeling better real soon.

We walked right into it!

Biscuit's school had an outdoor spring festival last Friday, and I had every intention of skipping it. It had been a busy week, and I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do less than fight the crowds to stand in line at four different bounce houses.

When I went to pick up Biscuit after school, I had to park in a different area of the parking lot because they were already setting up for the event. To get from my car to the room where Biscuit was, I had to walk right through the event area. I signed him out, and as we walked out of the building to get back to the car, the festival had started. Ugh! 

I thought it started at 6 p.m. Turns out, it started at 5. I was stuck!

There weren't many kids there, so Biscuit was able to do one of the bounce houses four times in a row. It was one of the obstacle course ones, and as soon as he would exit, he'd head right back in.

A local restaurant had donated all the food, so the school was getting to keep any money they made off of it. They had $1 hot dogs, $2 hamburgers, $3 chicken sandwiches and $1 chips, candy and drinks. We had some food stuff and headed back out to play. Well, ONE of us got to play. The other one got to hold the game prizes, leftover bottled water and jacket.

There were lots of games, a DJ who was playing fun dance songs, raffles, four bounce houses, one of which was a giant slide, a facepainting table and more.

I saw the facepainters and assumed we'd walk right past. It was three high school kids with their little makeup kits and their smartphones (they were using their phones to look up characters and animals as they painted). Plus, do you remember when Biscuit thought facepaint was permanent?

Just for the heck of it, I said, "Hey, do you want to get your face painted?"

"Yes, I do," Biscuit said. "I very well do." (Not sure where the "very well" part came from, but he's been using it a lot lately.)

We went over and waited in line for him to get a Spider-Man face. It wasn't the best facepainting I've seen, but it was fine.

As they were finishing up, it started to sprinkle rain. Jeff had finally arrived after work, and he had an umbrella in tow. He popped it up to protect the painter, Biscuit and me until the work was done. As soon as they were finished, we ran to shelter at the edge of the school. The DJ was under cover, so he kept playing fun music, including several songs about rain.

As we were waiting for the skies to clear, Biscuit's best friend from after-school care walked up with his mom. We hung out with them for a while, then when the rain stopped, our boys talked us into taking them back out to play.

They had moved all the games inside, but they had obviously left the bounce houses where they were. Despite the fact that they were wet, the kids were still enjoying them. And most of the kids were running around barefooted. It was kinda cool after the rain, but I gave in, of course, and Biscuit joined the brave, wet kids.

Biscuit and his friend get along really well. He and his dad met us at a park back in the fall, and Jeff and I spent a good bit of time talking to the dad, getting to know him. Well, on this evening, we got to spend time getting to know the mom.

She did share some bad news, though. The mom and dad work at the same company. They're from India and started working with the company when they still lived there. Then they got transferred to America. They've lived in, I think, four other states before coming here. So with all that moving around, they just decided to rent a house instead of buying. They had bought houses in the past two states and just didn't want to deal with the hassle until they were sure they would be here for a while.

Well, they got the sign that they would indeed be here for a while, but the house they bought is in a different school district. So Biscuit's best buddy will be moving.

We've assured both boys that we'll try to plan play dates and other get-togethers, and I really hope we can.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of Biscuit in all his facepainted glory. (And it did wash off, by the way!)

I held his hair back with my hands while they
painted, and then his hair was sticking up.

On the way home, Biscuit took his own picture with my phone.
It was dark, and he didn't know how to turn on the flash.

How creepy is this one?!
Spider-Man Biscuit is coming after you!

A super saga

Biscuit creates the most fantastical tales when he's playing. I try to keep up, but I swear, sometimes I can be listening only to him and completely lose track! It's especially complicated when he's playing superheroes.

There are scenarios and situations and rescues and captures and all kinds of other adventures.

Sometimes he plays with his action figures, but every once in a while, he draws it out for me. (Although I have to admit that I didn't really understand all that was going on in this picture!)

Biscuit was very proud of his story board.

These guys were drawn one at a time, and each time
someone new was added, Biscuit shared another arc of the story.

Another game in the bag

We got another baseball game done. That's two whole games now!

We have two more Saturday games scheduled and two weekday make-up games. One of those is on the same night as Biscuit's school play, so he'll have to miss it. Even so, I think he will have had enough baseball for a while.

It was fun to watch the kids Saturday. I could definitely see what they've learned. It's like they know what they're supposed to do, but their little bodies just aren't quite up to the task yet.

Like a kid from the other team hit the ball just past the pitcher's mound and started to run to first base. One of our players squatted down to stop the ball, and the ball hit his glove and bounced over it and rolled behind him. He turned around and grabbed the ball, stood up and threw it in the general vicinity of first base. The first baseman made an attempt at catching the ball. It went over his glove and he had to run it down. But as soon as he picked up the ball, he ran back and touched first base with his foot.

That might sound like a big ol' mess, but really, if you picture it, they all did exactly what they were supposed to do. They're really starting to put it all together. And it was really fun to watch. Biscuit still doesn't catch well, so he gets nervous when the ball comes his way in the field, but he's doing really well with his hitting. And if he fields a ground ball, he can get it in the general area of where he wants to throw it.

Biscuit talked to my brother on the phone today, and I enjoyed hearing Biscuit's end of the conversation. It was his version of how the ballgame went down.

"I can hit the ball like crazy," Biscuit said. "One time, when Dad and I were practicing in the backyard, I even hit it so far that it I went into the neighbors yard! Can you believe that? I really think that one day, I'll be as good as Dad."

These will probably look just like the last baseball pictures I posted, but he's just so dang cute in his uniform that I can't help it!

I think we might be investing in a batting helmet. Most of them are so big
that even with their caps underneath, the kids have to hold them on to run.

His future's so bright, he's gotta wear shades

The three stages of Biscuit's sunglasses:

Stage 1: On his face. Biscuit loves his sunglasses. He has
several pairs. He actually takes really good care of them.

Stage 2: On his head. Don't you
love what it does for his hair?!

Stage 3: On his shirt. "This is a safe place to
keep them when I'm not wearing them," Biscuit
has said on more than one occasion.