This was a big weekend for Danny. Saturday was the opening day for Stone Mountain Little League baseball.
Danny got his uniform earlier in the week. He’s number 22. He was very proud and wore it to school on Thursday.
Friday night was the float decorating party. I printed out two poster-sized Oriole logos at work. Danny assembled the pages. Kathy glued them on, and I painted them in orange. The float (truck) had a giant nest on top with a giant baseball/egg in it. I painted the red stitching on the baseball. I’m the designated artist.
The float read “Look what we hatched!”, which appealed to mothers from all teams. In fact, our float/truck won the float contest. Free slices of pizza for all the T-League Orioles.
Danny enjoyed riding in the parade and waving to the crowd (me, Kathy, Nicole, and Kelly among others) through down town Stone Mountain.
It was a cool but sunny day. Kathy, Kelly, and I found a good spot just outside of right field to put down a blanket and watch the Orioles play the Angels. Nicole quickly found some baseball buddy girlfriends and spent the entire game running around, playing in the winning float/truck, hanging out at the concession stand, etc.
I was proud to see that Danny was the starting pitcher. Not that the pitcher actually does any pitching, but it is a critical position, since the pitcher fields 50% of the hits, seeing as so many roll no further than the pitcher’s mound.
Ex-congressman Pat Swindell did the actual pitching as coach of the Angels. Ironic that the Angels’ coach is a convicted perjurer. I suppose their are worse crimes, but I kept my eye on him anyway.
Danny and first baseman Jeb [coach’s son] made a good team. Danny has a very accurate throw, and Jeb knows how to stretch and catch. They threw out several players, and certainly prevented innumerable doubles and more.
They didn’t prevent enough though. The final score was something like 15 to 7. But the kids had fun. Danny got on base 3 out of 4 at bats. Two of his hits were off pitches, something rarer than the hits off the “T”. He scored one run.
He spent most of the day today working on his throwing and catching. He wants to be able to throw fast balls.
Tomorrow he is attending a “secret” practice to get in extra pitcher/first baseman work. Coach Tom had warned in the beginning that these were the two most important positions and that parents should not get upset if the two best players were put there. I’m proud that my first-year 5-year-old “beat out” (I guess) several second year six-year-olds. But then he has always been determined.
Danny is also the second tallest on his team, as was determined by the team photo today when they all had to line up tall to short.
Nicole did a good job of taking back seat today. But her weekend is coming when she puts on her musical that she’s been working on in drama all year.
Basbl
One of the greatest challenges was to figure out the length of cardboard that would be used to support the main mirror. I knew the diameter of the tube was exactly 3″ and that the angle had to be 45°. Seems like sine or cosine would help. After a lot of doodling, the formula x = 3″ ÷ sine(45) would give the correct length. Worked perfectly.
Kelly is officially mobile. Laying on her back, she lifts her feet and grabs her toes. She has learned that by doing this, she turns into a ball and rolls over on her side. Once on her side, she lifts one leg up and her head which turns her over on her stomach. She can then continue in the same direction by tumbling over on her back (which she has been able to do for some time.)