baseball is back (again)

Yesterday, I played my first game of the 2021 season. It was amazing, even though we are not allowed spectators and everything is so different. no dugouts. no handshakes. At least we have finally ditched the masks for outdoor practices. 

By now, we should be on a whirlwind schedule of games and practices. The tournament team should be named by now.

Instead, we are near the end of the season. We have a few games scheduled - all against the same team.

No word on what might happen with tournaments. We were going to make it to the provincials this year!

2021

 2021 doesn't quite have the ring that 2020 did. That was supposed to be the year. 

Here we are in the second year of the pandemic and I have hardly mentioned it. I have had hours and hours and hours and days and days to write about it so I would have something to remember this fiasco by.

My resolutions for this year are: 

* less screen time (I sometimes fell victim to long boring days and needed an electronic babysitter.)

* less distractions at school (So very lucky to be able to GO to school but it is basically another place to look at screens and I don't know if we are really being taught anything. In fact, our teacher puts Netflix on for us at lunch to numb our minds and to give herself a break because she is afraid to eat in the staffroom where she would catch covid.)

* make it to the provincials for baseball (if  . . . )

WISH ME LUCK. wish us all luck.

May 19

First, the good news. Only two new cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in BC in the last 24 hours. And we can go back to school on June 1.

We also played tennis and basketball on the weekend since some of those outdoor facilities just opened.

We have been on lockdown because of this dreadful pandemic since March 16. It is grueling. Things really started to turn sour earlier in March.
* last trip to the library where I took out 160 books and I didn't believe my mom about rationing them so I read them all within a week and now I just have mountains of books messing up my room
* last haircut
* last baseball practice
* last meal in a restaurant (aka the worst birthday my mom has ever had and my dad's, six days later, was even worse)
* MLB spring training shut down and the season didn't start

What are people even supposed to do without sports?

Thank goodness I had just played my final soccer game for the season before everything fell apart. I said part of the F word when I heard the announcement about Little League World Series being cancelled.

Today was supposed to be our first day of a little bit of freedom. Restaurants are allowed to open today for dine-in service. We called pretty much every restaurant in Victoria but no one is quite ready to open yet.

omen

What a school year so far.

This is me on the first day of grade 5.

All dressed up in my Texas Tech baseball shirt and eager (not really) to start the new school year. I only got out of bed for the promise of a sticky cinnie roll at the cafe near my school.

As soon as I leave the cafe, there is a dead baby bird right there on the sidewalk. I should have given up right then and there.

Instead, I persevered and endured all kinds of nonsense. Then I went to California for Thanksgiving (amazing fun times!) and then I took two months off of school (that turned out to be a good idea) and now I go to public school (which also turned out to be a really good idea).

RIP little baby bird.

baseballing

Well, that was a busy season that has not really let up yet. 

These photos were taken during the May tournament and were just recently sent to me by a photographer who works with one of the other teams. What a treat it was to get photo evidence of what will likely be the best inning of my entire pitching career (except that time a few weeks later when I finished an inning in six pitches.)

And the pitcher tags the runner OUT at the plate.

no place like home

At long last, baseball season has started. It was a grueling wait - even though I didn't really take a break. I did fall ball, pitching clinics, batting clinics, winter clinics with my own league and another.

But still. To be park in my own park, eating concession food is the best ever. They even have veggie dogs this year! And 1700 candy bags in stock. Apparently, that only lasts one month. (If I wasn't above using emojis, I would insert a shocked face here. a toothless shocked face because that much candy will ruin some teeth.)

Wait, I just realized that baseball season hasn't even started. It starts next Sunday. But I have had a few practices and my first game is on Thursday. Stay tuned for the game score. My first game is against my last year's coaches and my batting coach so I am going to hit at least a triple.

going to California

I just spent 11 fun-filled days in sunny California!

Several days after Christmas, we packed up the car on the most miserable dreary rainy day and headed for Seattle. The drive was brutal and took way longer than it should have. Friday rush hour traffic in the Seattle rain: a losing combination.

The next morning, we headed for SeaTac where I boarded a flight - alone!

I arrived in California and was greeted at the airport by my grandparents. and then I met my cousins. so many of them. We celebrated a belated Christmas. Then we proceeded to have all the fun and eat all of the pizza in the entire state.

And, just as my mom predicted way back in November when she booked my flight, I tried to play the "I'm sick" card for my first day back so I could miss school. She did not buy it. Off to school I went.

Mostly, I am heartbroken to be away from my cousins.

the good old days

While trying to get some photos organized to print for my great-grandmother Mary, I happened across this one. a classic from the good old days. me at a political fundraiser.

This is me meeting the lovely Congressman Doggett for the first time. Why did I have that look on my face?

Reason number 1 to love him:

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D, Austin.
NRA rating: F
NRA campaign contribution: None

grade 3, the first day

Today, I started grade 3. We are on a new routine so I will be going to bed at 8:00 each night. I did that last night! I was asleep immediately!

I woke up independently at 6:30 this morning and was ready to go NOW. I bathed, ate, brushed my teeth, put my shoes on, gathered all of my school supplies. ready.

Two things about my photo below:
1) I am still wearing my wristband from the Clallam County fair and I will never ever take it off.
2) People say my biceps look huge. I have been working out. Thanks for noticing!

I was the first student to arrive on campus. We got my locker set up and then my teacher invited me in to spend the next thirty minutes with her until school really started. I am trying my hardest to be her favorite student.

So far, I am overjoyed with my class. We get silent reading every day after lunch. The school has added more restaurants to the lunch delivery program. Cross country running starts in two weeks.

living and breathing baseball

Signing up for little league was the best decision I have ever made. The best decision the league ever made was putting me on the winningest team. When I am not in league practice or playing games, I can be found at the park practicing. On Sunday, I am registered for a batting workshop.

Until our tragic defeat on Thursday, we had not lost. While we had hoped to win all season long (win so much that we get tired of winning, as Trump might say), the loss wasn't really as bad as we expected. We didn't play well for the first two innings. It was like when the Seahawks lost to the Falcons in the playoffs this year, with Wilson being all butterfingers and every player making one careless mistake after another. We were down 6-0 at one point but caught up and we narrowly lost 6-5. sigh. painfully close.

Highlights of the season include:

* me scoring our team's first run of the season (we won that game 1-0)
* our 6-0 win against a team from one of the best leagues in town
* the kids' combo meal at the concession stand

This is a photo from our first away game. It was also my first effort as catcher. It is my favorite position. We won that game 6-0. (We have frequent shut out scores!) The hot dogs in that ballpark are cheaper than ours. And they have heated bathrooms and a fun playground. That ballpark is gearing up to host the little league world series in two years.



Me, up to bat. I am a reliable batter. I am usually the one who gets the first points of the game on the board.



I am always paired up with the same pitcher. He strikes all the kids out. We are the perfect pair because we are roughly the same size and we know each other well. We have made up our hand signals, which may or may not mean anything but parents think it is cute when we have our little conference on the pitcher's mound just before the inning.



 crossing home plate, how I do.

 

here comes the tooth fairy

Several days ago, my tooth became a bit wiggly. I thought I still had a week or more left. This morning, though, it became so wiggly that it was apparent that today was the day. My mom asked begged me to please try to keep the tooth in my mouth until I got home since I have lost both of my other teeth at school and she has missed out on all of the excitement. At the end of the school day, my tooth was lazing around on its side holding on with little more than a patch of blood.

Tonight, during dinner, I could not eat and I was on the verge of starvation from babying my tooth for days. Even yogurt sounded too dangerous. I left the table to go read. My dog bumped me. My tooth popped out.

After admiring how incredibly clean it is, I packaged up my tooth in tupperware and put it under my pillow.

I then returned to the dinner table and ate a massive bowl of spaghetti and almost an entire baguette to make up for everything I could not eat this week.

I am ready for the tooth fairy. So far, I have had pretty good luck with her. My first tooth earned me a Lego set. I traded my second tooth for a magic trick kit.

a real snow day. with snow.

In my last year of school in Texas, five snow days were called. five. all for nothing. Sometimes on the "snow days," the temperatures didn't even drop below 60 but panic would ensue when there was the remotest remote chance of snow.

On Friday, we got a real snow day. with snow.

This is what my mom saw when she got up at 5:00am. And, yes, someone had already been out clearing the sidewalk! What a hero!

Since the snow didn't look that dangerous, my mom went about getting things ready for my school day. My lunch was packed. Then my mom woke me up to tell me about the snow. I faked an illness. Symptoms included a racing heartbeat and difficulty breathing. (That didn't earn quite as much sympathy as I had expected.)

Once I was up and dressed for school, we got the good news that SCHOOL WAS CANCELLED. Bad timing, my mom thought, because there is no possible way to convince a child to go back to bed if there is snow on the ground. (Once school was cancelled, I was able to confess that I had fabricated my sob story about the racing heartbeat and my trouble breathing.)

We decided to walk to the donut shop. The snow continued to fall lightly throughout the morning until it turned to freezing rain, and then plain old boring rain.
I threw hundreds of snowballs.
I built the beginnings of a snow fort.

On our walk, we passed over the path we bike on to school. If you look closely at the photo below, you will see that people were out riding bikes in the snow.

And it might snow again between 4:00 and 9:00 tomorrow morning. We have already decided that I will not be woken up until we know if school is cancelled!

tooth

On Wednesday, I finally lost my first tooth!

When I visited my new dentist in mid-August, she estimated that I had several months left before my first tooth would fall out. This timeline was based on my x-rays. The roots were starting to shorten and my permanent tooth was beginning to come up. However, I am about one year behind with tooth loss.

Then, about two weeks ago, my tooth suddenly got wiggly. I opted not to wiggle it very much, mostly because it felt weird.

On the morning that I lost my tooth, I was in the bath and my wiggly tooth seemed to make a crunch sound/feeling. But it was still not terribly wiggly.

That afternoon, I was talking to a friend in class and my tooth popped out onto the carpet. like it just popped out. without warning. My friend rushed over and got one of the teachers. My tooth was wrapped up and sent home with me.

That evening, I rewrapped my tooth up and put it under my pillow.

The toothfairy brought me a Lego set.

lucky number 7

Weeks and weeks and weeks ago, I turned 7. Weeks and weeks ago, I celebrated my birthday.

There are considerably fewer birthday party options here than there are in Austin. We did extensive birthday party research (we even created a spreadsheet!) and decided that PISE was the best choice for a boy who likes  loves  needs to play sports all day every day.

I invited my dearest friends from school, a boy from soccer, a boy named Atticus, and the sweetest little princess I met in a restaurant months ago.

At my party, we played almost two hours of gym games led by the Physical Literacy Leaders. (They ran us ragged. completely ragged.)

Then they released us, a ravenous bunch, for food.

When I first moved to Victoria, I saw a monster truck cake at the bakery. And that was the cake I had been talking about all year. It exceeded my expectations, though I don't think I ate any of it.

The best part of the cake, aside from the monster truck crushing the three vehicles, was the crumbled up brownies that the baker used for mud.

this is the end

When my dad departs for work tomorrow, he leaves our home empty for the next family to move into by the end of the day. 

I was so very lucky to grow up in a yard that covers nearly an acre and backs up against hundreds and hundreds of acres of undeveloped land owned by friendly neighbors who welcomed us to explore.

The photos below are not in chronological order. But they so perfectly summarize how I spent ages 0-6.

Before I started school, I spent every waking moment outside. Once I started school, I would always retreat to the yard at the end of each day. Sometimes I wouldn't even go inside (except to wash my hands and dash back out). I would be served a snack inside of my climbing cube. I was content for hours. digging. walking. chasing my dog. looking. talking to neighbors who walked by at the same time every day. watching the sun go down. watching the sky fill with stars. 

I can tell by the photo above that it was taken after 4:00pm. My neighbor was a sheriff and he arrived home every day precisely at 4:00pm. Hi Atticus, his voice would boom. 

This is me when I was first learning to walk. At first, I could barely make it off the porch. Then I could bravely venture to all corners of the yard. My yard always had soccer balls, baseballs, footballs, large balls for playing catch. A favorite game: throwing a ball up on the roof and watching it come back down; this was inspired by Grover's song about playing by yourself. 

Do you see the columbine by my ball? Right now (mid-March) is the best time of the year in my yard. The columbine had spread throughout the yard and it starts to bloom, followed by the wildflowers and my mimosa tree. Sadly, my massive lavender that was planted in 2004 was recently slaughtered; to see it in bloom was spectacular. And it tasted good too. 

On my second birthday, I was overjoyed to receive a gift of a bucket of rocks from my dear friend Anne. One of the rocks was almost perfectly round and it fit into a groove in a larger flat rock. I spent hours moving the rocks around my yard. 

and this is why I never ever cared about TV

We know nothing, really, about the new family who will move into our house. We have heard they have a little boy. I hope he loves my yard as much as I do. 

Seattle

We finally made our first trip to Seattle since we have been in Victoria!

Until I was sick last week, I had never ever EVER missed a single day of school. (Right, ZERO absences in three years!) But I was allowed to be absent on Friday so we could leave for Seattle on Thursday afternoon.

We woke up to a sunny and warm morning in Seattle on Friday. I watched some construction (way better than television) while I waited for my breakfast. Apparently, they are building another Hyatt just for me.

Even if I told you, you would not even believe how much I ate for breakfast. I will submit proof of that shortly.

After breakfast, I swam some laps. I am still small enough that it tends to surprise people when I enter the water and proceed to swim lap after lap of front crawl. Or swim underwater from one end of the pool to the other. I wonder what they would think to see me jump off the platform at my diving lesson. Speaking of diving, I can now do a backwards somersault into the water! (Note: I did NOT practice any diving at my hotel pool. It is too shallow. Safety first. Like my diving coach bluntly tells us at every lesson: if you don't follow the rules, you will drown or die.)

After swimming, we went walking. and walking. and walking. and walking. We logged more than five miles. It was during our walk that it became even more apparent that I had eaten too much at breakfast. Around downtown Seattle, where some of my favorite food is, my mom kept offering me snacks. cookies, pastries, drinks, pizza, donuts. Even at Le Panier, I couldn't be coaxed into eating a croissant au beurre; I could barely manage to choke down a glass of milk while my mom enjoyed her caramel macaron. oh the misery.

After our long walk, I used my gift card to buy a Lego set at Barnes and Noble. No trip is complete without a new Lego set.

On Saturday morning, Trinity picked me up early (I won't say bright and early because it was dark) so my mom could go to her race. She participated in the Rainier Tower stair climb. 40 flights!

Saturday was fun. more eating. more walking. more Lego. more talk about how badly I want to move to Seattle. tomorrow.

Our view from the ferry as we left on Sunday morning . . .

D Day

Christmas break finally ended and I returned to school on Monday.

The new year brought new, more exciting and challenging, work in school. I now have spelling homework that is assigned on Monday and a weekly test on Friday. I was placed in the most advanced spelling group with only two other students. I find the words to be a bit easy and I got them all correct in the practice test on Monday. 

On Tuesday, I was introduced to division. 

On Tuesday after school, I started diving lessons. (Yes, those little people on the diving platform . . . that is me with my diving crew.) Since I have been in swimming lessons since I was six months old, there really aren't lessons here that meet my needs perfectly so I am giving diving a try. Twice a week, I will go to diving for 90 minutes. The class includes 30 minutes of tumbling, 30 minutes of diving, and 30 minutes on the trampoline. And I have to wear a speedo!

About my diving program:

Located on Vancouver Island in the city of Victoria, Boardworks trains at Saanich Commonwealth Place which was built for the 1994 Commonwealth Games.  Known as one of the premier diving facilities in Canada and around the world, SCP provides Boardworks athletes with the opportunity to train at a high quality facility whose Commonwealth Games legacy focuses on maintaining an internationally competitive facility in order to assist high performance athletes achieve their international goals.

grade 2.7

Last week proved to be an exciting one, even without Thanksgiving and a real Black Friday and putting up the Christmas tree.

I participated in the first-ever teddy bear dress up contest at school on Thursday. On the morning of the contest, I decided we should leave for school unreasonably early so we could get a prime parking spot and visit my favorite cafe for a cinnamon roll and hot chocolate. I also caught up on the curling news. I have decided that curling looks like an interesting sport (sweeping rocks along ice with a broom! so much fun!) and I will try it once I am old enough.

I had dressed my fluffy white bear in my Seattle Sounders uniform and cleats. My bear was the first to arrive, and he was followed by hundreds of bears. He was seated next to a bear dressed as Russell Wilson - complete with a helmet and football and that reminds me that I left my NFL football in Texas. At the very end of the day, the six winners were announced and I won third place! Congratulations to me and my bear!

We also picked up my glowing report card at the end of the day. I continue to be a superstar at reading and math and French. Despite very limited exposure to French before this school year, I have picked up this new language incredibly quickly. I can count to 20 and my vocabulary is expanding by the day. My written work in my cahier is neat and accurate. I know weather, seasons, household objects, and colors.
I mean colours.
I mean les couleurs.

On Friday, my mom had a conference with my teachers. More and more awesome things were said about me. I have been assessed as reading at a grade 2.7 level. I am working on multiplication. I have a memory like a trap. I am excelling at science and social studies and pretty much everything.

So long, farewell (graduation stories)

It was either a lifetime ago or maybe just yesterday, I graduated from the primary program at my Montessori school in Austin. The celebration and ceremonies lasted throughout the week. 

Early in the week, our class presented our cultural challenge. I recited Hickory Dickory Dock. There was a magic show, some jokes, more jokes, dancing, a cello performance, and the traditional singing of So Long, Farewell to bid us graduates goodbye. I was paired with my dearest friend for our departure. Someone please pass a box of kleenex around to the parents. The children love this farewell song, until it sinks in that it means we will never be together like this again. 

Now that I have moved on, we don't really need to talk about how not smoothly graduation week went. Despite the 23 years of tradition, plans were changed. Parents were uninvited. Then re-invited. Then days changed. times changed. (so not Montessori)

The week was darkened by the fact that 38.8% of my peers who were eligible to graduate were retained even though they had each completed three years of a Montessori program. Some children didn't even know they'd be staying behind in primary until the rest of us starting preparing for graduation celebrations. It was sad, confusing, and unfair - to the students and the parents.

At our graduation ceremony, each graduate was introduced. Our guide said three words about us - beginning with the first letter of our first name. 

ambidextrous. affectionate. analytical. 

I received my roses, my diploma, and the coveted key to the universe. 

And some ice cream. 

On the last day of school, I was the first to arrive. just like on the first day of school. just like most days. (Yes, I wore the same shirt two days in a row. It was done in the name of school pride.)  

On the last day, the primary students were included in the school-wide Gates of Life graduation after being told we wouldn't be. Many students who have graduated from the school over the past 23 years attend to form the gates through which the new graduates run. I plan to return to Austin to help my friends graduate from upper elementary in grade 6. Is that really only five years from now?

After Gates of Life, we enjoyed a picnic on our beautiful playground. That playground is the best part of the school, of any school anywhere: twelve acres of largely undeveloped land and endless opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Sure, we found some black widows and there were scorpions and snakes (just like home!) but those become excellent lessons.  

I left the picnic to spend my last time in the primary classroom and commit everything to memory. the reading shelf. the science shelf. my water cup. the cozy reading corner. the geometric solids.  

So long, farewell, auch wiedersehen, good night.
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.

butterfly

This fat little baby, who isn't so little or fat anymore, started back in swimming lessons today.

Earlier in the week, we went to the pool for a swim assessment. (What's the point? I am awesome.) The assessment showed that I have sloppy freestyle form. but so fast. Fantastic with breaststroke and backstroke.

Where I really shine is butterfly.
I should also remind my readers that I just turned six.

I am signed up in a class that should have a total of four children but I am the only one enrolled - or maybe the children are just too lazy to get to the pool early in the morning. So I got a private lesson! A whole session of intensive butterfly instruction!

Hey, Bruce Robertson, with my Canadian citizenship paperwork in hand, I am coming after your record as Canada's best butterfly guy ever.