Assistant Bat Boy

Foresters Game, SB, June 23.

"I'm your very own big kid!"

As requested, Oliver and I spent four nights in town with the grandparents, Auntie Claire, and cousin Gavin. OP and "Gav" were thrilled to see one another every time. Here are two photos from their many adventures together. Strangely, I was unable to capture on film the episode in which Oliver held Gavin on his shoulders and I spotted from behind. Also impossible to record was Gavin's glee watching Oliver throw the baseball and dive to catch it! And somehow I missed the huddle and cuddle in which Oliver threw his arms around his auntie with abandon and proclaimed, "I love you and Gavin to infinity!"

Last game

"I think I would like India because I think they have a lot of orange there."

We took a photo after Oliver dressed us to match on Thursday--orange tops, brown trousers.

Oliver does it again!

Here are some photos from Oliver's T-ball team party, which he attended in full uniform, of course. In the top shot he's throwing the ball; the bottom shot shows him with one of his coaches, Chad.
Oli threw himself into T-ball--checking research books and baseball-related novels out of the library and pestering his papa to surf around mlb.com. Each new bit of information he shared with glee at practice and did his best to implement on the field. Because of research he learned it was ok to leave your base/position to field the ball (as well as what the appropriate range is); learned to back up your team member who abandons position to retrieve the ball; and learned how to take a lead off the base as a baserunner (just for the record, there's no lead-off allowed in T-ball, so Oli had to be content to have his foot touch the edge of the bag). He arrived ready and excited for every practice and game, and he did whatever his coaches asked of him. So he did it again: he was nominated team player for the season!

Two loves

Philip chanced upon our dear son in this pose. These days the hat hardly comes off (hence the 10 year old browny kind of color), the glove goes most places, even if it has to stay in the car or a cubby, and the uniform must constantly be cleaned. Our son is in love with baseball. He plays T-ball, but he is learning to like baseball in the way aficionados like it--you know the type: statistics, differences in uniform over time, players from different times, etc. True to form, he gleans much of this from books checked out from the library, though he also has a weak spot for mlb.com! Here I think the book is not baseball-related, so he's combining his two loves in simultaneous pursuit of two subjects.

New Library

A little over a week ago we went to Hurley School in La Puente, where the whole school was gathered to celebrate the grand opening of its new library. The school had received seed money from a foundation that raises money for school libraries, so the school--with the help of the district, private donors, a hard-working library committee, and a dedicated, handsome, and loving principal--renovated two classrooms and designed a beautiful and spacious new library. There is a raked seating area to fit an entire class and a "cozy" alcove that includes an electric fireplace (this seemed to the favorite place on opening day). We enjoyed listening to the children read poems and essays, sing, and play musical instruments. We were impressed with the new mariachi band, and the percussion group was fabulous! Here are OP, Grandma, and Grandpa with the shelves named in their honor.