Define "emergency"

A while back, Little Man was learning about what to do in case of emergency. Well, obviously he paid attention.

My wife walked into the living room to find him talking to someone on the phone. She took the phone from him and asked to whom she was speaking. It was the police department. Evidently, he took the "call 911 when you need something" lesson a bit too seriously, because the officer told my wife "I understand you need a bag of ice ... "

Little Man got in major trouble on that one, along with a lengthy explanation on the definition of emergency. Thank goodness for police officers with a sense of humor (and probably kids of his own)!

Speaking of baseball ...

It was guy day at the M-Braves game on Sunday. Turns out, Sunday is the day they let the kids run the bases after the game - which he loved.

They also had a giveaway that day - actual wooden bats. I'm very glad we got there late and didn't get one (for his sisters' sake).

Boys and sports

My little man has a T-ball game coming up soon. This is his second year to play T-ball. I realize it's early, but I don't think I'll have to worry about him taking care of his parents through a Major League contract.

I didn't get to play ball at this level when I was a kid, so I was looking forward to seeing how things worked and how he'd do last year. Well, turns out he knew someone on his team last year; they spent the first game with their gloves over their faces, roaring like lions, and he played his last game running the bases with his Batmobile tucked under his arm, so he could play with it while on base. I didn't have to worry about him taking things too seriously.

This year, when practice started, the coach announced that the players were going to get to submit suggestions for the team name and he would pick one out of a hat to be the winner. To date (and the season is nearing its end), that's the part that gained his attention the most. He spent a couple of weeks coming up with ideas before settling on one. His choice, however, was not the one chosen - and he stood in the outfield staring at the ground with his lip pooched out because of it. Fortunately, the one chosen was one that I had little trouble getting him to rally around, and now he loves it.

Now, if I can just get him to actually look toward home plate when he's playing in the field ...

It's daddy time!

I've been asked to be the lone male voice among the sea of moms here on this site. For some reason, moms and dads sometimes look at things totally differently (go figure). I'll toss in some of my thoughts and observations, as well as a ton of stories about my kids. Believe me, thanks to their antics, I'm now a natural storyteller. It's amazing what great material can do for you!

My first piece of advice: If you're a new dad or a dad-to-be, go find Paul Reiser's Babyhood. It's absolutely hilarious and dead-on in so many ways. It's also a great book to go back and reread occasionally, because as your kids get older, you can identify with different parts of the book in new ways. It's definitely a daddy book; I loved it, my wife wasn't very impressed. I guess it's all about your perspective.