Juan's Oroville Birthday and Cherry Drop

I'm not entirely sure that Juan is a team-sports guy. It's early, of course, so say for certain, that's just my feeling at this point. Actually, Polly said that quite awhile ago of Juan and at the time I thought it was totally premature. Now, of course, I see the insight. Of course some, like my dad, will say that just-turned-four year old is too young for T-ball. I see this point, and agree to some extent. That said, there are 4 year old on the team who are totally into it. Juan is wack-o out there. He's lying down on the field, running all over, he does this really weird thing when he's at bat when both John and I know he loves to hit the ball when we're in our backyard. It's interesting, deciphering this whole thing (not that I can, but I'm trying). He's a very focused student at school from what I've seen and heard. He loved swimming and skiing, I mean REALLY loves them. Still, when he got bored at swimming, he was certainly wild (seriously, his Murray Callan antics were on the legendary side I think). So. . .maybe it's not about team sports and more about his needing something to keep his attention. Or. . .maybe that's why some personalities prefer individual sports, because it's always challenging and you're always playing. Team sports are really a social activity for Juan, and that's ok. In my opinion, that's why it's ok for a 4 year old to play T-ball--because he has fun.

On a Mary Lu note, she is a tiny American Gladiator. I mean, she is seriously strong and athletic. I've decided that she has a golden combination of athleticism and fearlessness. She is one of those girls that used to do Cherry Drops on the playground, off the high bar, over the asphalt. While little girls like me just endlessly did the one leg over the bar, with hands, spinning around and around, no dismount. Yep, she's a Cherry Drop girl for sure. Case in point, while at Juan's T-Ball game yesterday, she kept climbing up the back of the backstop and turning herself completely upside down. There is a metal bar at about shoulder level on her, she would grab onto it, crawl with her feet up the back of the backstop until her body was completely upside down, then crane her neck back to look straight down at the ground. She did this over and over. She would hang there for awhile, grinning like crazy, then crawl with her feet back down. She didn't fall or even lose her grip once. Other new things for Mary Lu right now: we turned her car seat around, she drinks without a lid, she runs everywhere (this isn't totally new), she has been singing a lot, loudly of course.

Here are some photos of Juan's birthday here, planting our garden, T-ball, etc.















Decorating cupcakes














Mary Lu playing with Isaac














Gracie helps Mary Lu down a step














Juan brandishing his bubble wand




















Mary Lu and Ellie (I love this photo).
Ellie loves to take care of Mary Lu and Mary
Lu thinks Ellie is the coolest person ever.















Juan prepares to blow. . .














. . .then starts taking the candles off and "pretending that
they're matches and playing with fire." No idea where this
came from--life right now for all of us is a lot of this type of
scenario.




















Planting the garden.




















Planting pumpkin seeds. Juan is really
excited about these.














Proof that Mary Lu is not, in fact, always in a good
mood as some believe. Here she is hot and tired.
We put the garden in on a really hot day.














Appealing to a higher power.







































Reading. Like Juan, she loves to "read." She flips
through books and magazines and reads aloud.




















Mary Lu planting seeds.















John changed his schedule so he's been able to come
to games and practice lately.















On this day, Juan decided that it would spice the game up
a bit if he chased the runners home from his third base
position. He did this with every runner; it cracked me up.




























Watching Oroville's Centennial Parade














Juan and John on the co-op's parade "float"