Greg is in fifth grade. Last Friday, his teacher's boyfriend came into their class and asked her to marry him in front of all her students. It was so cute the way the kids were so impressed. He brought her roses and got down on one knee... and in the words of one boy "He even gave her a real diamond!" School provides a great education in other things besides books. Now all these fifth grade boys will grow up and know that's the way you are supposed to propose. And, sadly enough, all these fifth grade girls will grow up and assume that's they way guys are supposed to do it.

My two sons and I were talking about this in the car and I said to Greg "What do you think he would have done if she said 'No'?" He looked at me as if he never even considered that...... in the meantime, my 8-year-old whiz kid, Chris, pipes up: "If it were me, I would be happy if she said No!" hmmmmm We'll see if he still feels that way in about 15 years hehehe...

Well, summer hockey has begun. And it's not a bad thing either. When the heat index is 110 outside, being in a nice chilly skating rink is not a bad place to be.

Last Saturday the boys had a hockey exhibition at the skating rink at Northcross Mall. Afterwards we were walking through the mall looking for a place to get some lunch, and as we were passing Hooters, my mother asked me what that restaurant was like. I rolled my eyes and said "It's a place where the waitresses wear skimpy uniforms with their buttcheeks hanging out, it's not famous for it's food."

My 7 year old son, Chris, pulls me aside and whispers to me "Does Daddy go there?". I laughed and said "Yes - he goes there once in awhile."

That night at dinner, I was relaying this conversation to my husband at the table, and when I got to Chris' question, Jim looked over at Chris and winked and said "All the time, bud!" To which my sweet little boy said "Can I go with you??"

Oh geez...... the apple doesn't fall from the tree, does it?

March 1998

My oldest son, Greg, decided that he wanted to play baseball this spring instead of soccer. He only played baseball one season when he was 6 years old. That was an "instructional" league. And it was "non-competitive". That is, they didn't keep score or stats. They wanted the boys to learn the game without the added stress of winning or losing.

In theory, that sounds great. But trust me on this one point - 6 year olds do NOT need to be taught to be competitive. It's as natural to them as breathing. I can still remember after their first game, when they came running over to find out the score and we didn't have one. They gave us this "Are you stupid???" look. You know that look, right? We tried to explain that they were playing to learn, not to win. Well, that didn't work either. After that first game, the boys decided to take it upon themselves to keep score. This was fine until the disputes after the games, when both teams would swear that they won...... Like I said - it's a great theory, but it loses something when translated into real life. My personal opinion is that the organizers of the little league wanted to spare the children the embarrassment of seeing their parents make idiots of themselves until they were old enough to handle it. I've seen how parents behave at little league games - it is NOT a pretty sight.

At any rate, Greg wasn't really hooked on baseball after that season. This year, though, he decided to give it a try since some of his friends played. I warned him that most of these kids have been playing since they were 4/5 years old and that he has some catching up to do. He understood and wanted to try anyway.

So I go down to the Sam Bass Little League signups. Okay, just for explanation, Sam Bass was an outlaw who met his untimely demise in the town of Round Rock back in the frontier days. Only in Texas would the local little league be named after a notorious bank robber! I suppose on the criminal scale it could have been a lot worse - imagine the Charlie Manson Little League.

So Greg is signed up for baseball now..... He's assigned to the "Indians" (I know you'll like that one, Lee). And let me tell you something.... soccer is NOTHING compared to baseball. Soccer practice was twice a week for an hour and a half each. In the first week of baseball, he had three 1 1/2 hour practices in the evenings, and two 3 hour practices on Saturday and Sunday. And it's tough too, running laps, stretching, fielding, batting, more running, more stretching, more fielding, etc. It's like baseball boot camp. Sometimes after practice I can feel him wanting to say "I don't know about this, Mom". My baby looks so wiped out, but he keeps on going. And it's good for him. And he's really learning a lot too.... I think he may just end up being a good baseball player. But the most important thing is that we have a rule: I'll sign you up for any sport or activity. I'll arrange my schedule to get you where you have to be when you have to be there. I'll spend the money that we need to get you what you need to play. BUT, once you sign up, you are committed. There is no quitting allowed. So he knows he has to stick it out, but I don't think he would want to quit anyway. He's quite a kid, that boy.... and I'm gonna embarrass the hell out of him during the games too .... hehehe