Man, I love baseball season.  I love the green smell of cut grass and the earthy leather of the dusty gloves.  I love the look of a freshly chalked field, outfield still glittering with dew.  And I think my son looks so darn adorable in his baseball uniform.

I played softball from the age of 6 on, so my love of the game makes sense.  I remember being taught how to score a game by my Uncle David (who, along with my Uncle Sid, used to torture me into playing APBA baseball when I was way too little to have any idea what was going on).  It excites me to no end to watch Jack play ball.  He is intense–way too intense for a Little Leaguer–but he loves it.  And I love that he loves it.

Jack’s love of baseball follows him off the field, as well.  (He fell asleep last night with his head on the book The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.)  This past week, his school had a “Dress Like Your Favorite Book Character Day”…so who does Jack choose?

Dodgers great, Fernando Valenzuela, of course.  Jack’s current favorite book is called Good Sports and features the stories of 4 baseball heroes who were minorities.  One was the great Fernando.  Note that Jack has his glove on his right hand–that’s because Valenzuela was a lefty.  And yes, the homemade Dodgers jersey is a little weak, but try finding L.A. items in baseball-crazy Atlanta.  It’s impossible, particularly on a short deadline.  But Jackers was thrilled with his “costume” and fielded many questions all day about who he was, questions I’m sure he answered with more factual background than the asker ever required (Fernando-Mania, indeed!).  His individualism and self-confidence have really blossomed this year; we are so pleased to see him come out of his shell.

On an unrelated note, Jack and Tuck are now self-proclaimed Bug Wranglers.  Here they are with their Bug Wrangler flag which they planted smack in the middle of our front yard, serving as a beacon of warning to all insects in the north Atlanta area.

Tuck has a Bug Wrangler Bug Vacuum (yes, seriously) and it came with a Bug Wrangler patch (for my future sewing projects since the Fernando jersey was so promising) and a Bug Wrangler Field Guide.  The boys spent all afternoon on Saturday and most of Sunday collecting bugs.

To be fair, this isn’t our first venture into critter-catching (ring-necked hatchling, anyone?), but the intensity with which these boys are going after bugs should make any pest-control employee quiver in fright.

And then there’s this little bucket of joy…everything he does, he does with enthusiasm.  Here he takes a break from Bug Wrangling to make a “big jump!”