Little League 2014

Erik's had a decent year of Little League.  He was enthusiastic during spring training and the beginning of the season.  They had a series of losses, however, and his enthusiasm waned.  They won a game last week, so he said that game was fun.  Then Sunday's game the score went back and forth and I actually think they ended up losing, but Erik thought they won and I certainly didn't want to correct him.  He said that game was fun, too.  Last night however, was a dud.  No one seemed to have much energy and his team never got a run.  I was proud of Erik, he made a couple of nice plays.  In one inning, he played second base and a ball went over his head into the outfield.  I don't know where the centerfielder was, but he wasn't in center field and didn't come over to get the ball.  Erik ran back and got the ball and threw it in.  As far as I could see from the stands he didn't make a fuss about it either, which is nice.  I enjoy going to the games and chatting with the other parents, but I'll be glad when the season is over, too.

Bon mots from Adin

We went for a family bike ride yesterday and Adin was on a bike that attaches to the back of mine so I got to hear an entertaining running commentary during the ride.  You'll have to imagine it all in his sweet little Junior Asparagus voice.

We started out and he looked at the road and told me, "I'm looking at my shadow and it's looking at me."

Towards the end, we were talking about how the size of a bird compared to a car and a train.  I said a train is pretty big compared to a bird.  He said, "A train is pretty big not compared to a bird, too."

I forget the context of this one, but we were talking about a bruise or scratch or something and he told us, "It's been there since tomorrow." 

Piano lesson #2

The boys had their first piano lesson last week.  Last week's was a little exciting, because the teacher's neighborhood was flooding.  Driving straight to her apartment was fine, but when I missed the turn and went an extra block the road was closed off because it was flooded.  The lesson went ok.  It is a little confusing for the boys that she teaches in her home, so they feel they should be able to eat her bananas and play her Monopoly game. 

They were not terribly excited to do their homework this week, but she raved about how well they did when she had them show her their progress, so that made them feel good.  They had groused a bit during the week, saying they didn't want to take lessons.  They are somewhat motivated to learn to play though, ever since Joe bought a book of Star Wars songs for the piano. 

Adin had the first lesson.  He stayed more focused than last week and when he was done she gave him a sticker.  During Erik's lesson Adin wanted to get started on his homework.  When we drove home he said he loved it and wanted to have a piano lesson every day!

Erik was able to cover even more ground in his lesson.  She was really impressed and asked me if he'd learned the material in school.  I had no idea; Erik tells us nothing about music class, but when we asked him he said yes.  We'll have to tell his music teacher in the fall how it gave him a boost in piano lessons!