Opening Day for Baseball

We have 2 baseball players now.  Shane is in coach pitch with Brian coaching and Myann is in tee ball.  Myann is doing incredibly well and really enjoying learning the sport.  She is the only girl on her team, and likes it that way. She plays all the positions, but does quite well at 1st base.

Shane was back and forth on playing this season and then decided he really did want to play. His attitude has improved a lot this year and his skill level with it.

My Amazing 7 Year Old

Shane is a blessing to have as a son.  Now my oldest is 7 and he has become so much more than just a son.  He has become our friend and helper.  Maybe since he is the oldest, everything he does seems so smart and so awesome, but maybe just a little biased - he is so smart and just so awesome.  He has his days where he picks on his younger siblings just to be a stink, but most of the time he is so kind and helpful to them.  He has been helping to teach Myann math, Anders to spell and poop on the potty, and he wants to hold and love on Laila every chance he gets.  To say he adores Laila is the understatement of the year.  Just last night we were up talking since he had ice on his neck, a minor injury from his birthday outing with a friend from school, he did a flip on the trampoline and hurt his neck.  Anyway, we were chatting and he teared up describing how much he loved Laila and how he did not want her to grow up.  He said she was his special baby and so cute and he wanted her to be that way forever.  I told him I understood and once upon a time I felt the same way about him.  I said he was such an enjoyable baby that I wanted him to stay that way forever.  However, now that he has gotten older I find myself enjoying him at each age and in some ways more.  I explained that he will continue to love her as she grows up.  He disagreed and said he just wants her to stay the baby that gives him hugs and kisses and does not talk.  Oh dear, that statement is slightly foretelling. 

Shane at 7 has matured so much.  He has focus and determination that constantly inspires me.  I know Daddy thinks often that he is a chip off the old block.  He is already planning out his summer business. He is expanding on his lemonade stand and now wants to run a sprite float business.  He believes that he is the originator of the Sprite float.  I personally do not know anyone who had a Sprite float before Shane came up with the idea a few months ago, so I have not disagreed with him. He said he has to get the word out about his invention, so he wants to have a stand. He said if enough people come then the media will notice his idea and he can share it with the world.  I am slightly paraphrasing, but pretty much his words, media and sharing with the world included. He said when the world knows, then he will be famous.

Not to say he does not beg to spend hours on the Wii or DS or playing computer games, but he also enjoys his schoolwork and asks for more.  He knocks out his homework usually in 10 minutes.  He said he felt the math homework was much too easy and asked for 2nd grade math workbooks.  He works on those some during the week and even finds them a bit easy.  He is definitely my math wiz.  I ask him how he figures it out since he has not been taught the concept and his response, "I just know."  Wow!  I was a pretty smart kid, but he blows me away.  Though math is his strong area, he is quite a great reader too.  He has been reading the Percy Jackson series on his own and I read Harry Potter to him.

Some things he is into right now, all things Angry Birds and Ninjago.  He told me that he was not that into super heroes anymore.  However, he just got an Iron man wrist shooter and is all too happy to play with that. I bought him $3 worth of apps on my phone (mostly Angry Birds) and you would have thought I gave him $1000.  He was over the moon, bouncing around and hugging me telling me I was the best mom in the world.  $3 bucks I tell you. I guess it pays to only do free apps because when you spend that extra buck for special occasions, they are so thankful.

One thing I am really enjoying right now are all the notes he leaves me.  Daily I find a note on my computer or the kitchen counter.  Sometimes they are thank yous for something, other times they are requests for things he wants.  He has left me a few notes with birthday wish lists in the past month.  Other notes have been about how much he loves Laila and I.  Then he wrote Daddy a note about how much he loves him.  Sometimes they are just silly notes, but I want to keep every one of them as a reminder of this age and this time.  He loves this new way of communicating with us and has so much to say/write.  During his parent teach conference, his teacher, Ms. Luciani, said she has to rein him in  bit.  They do weekend news every Monday and Shane has 3 pages of writing he wants to share with the class and there is not enough time for each kid to present when he has a book.

I can not wait to see what this year holds for him.