Baseball Awards Night

Tonight was the awards ceremony for the kids who played ball this spring.  Jason was the head coach of Rocco's coach pitch/tee ball team, so he gave the medals out tonight to Team Marathon.  

Once all of the 10 players on the team received their awards, Jason had them take a bow toward the crowd of cheering parents.   

 Maverick was there to cheer on his big brother, too.

Maverick Rolls Over

Today I put Maverick on his belly for tummy time.  He was 9 weeks and 3 days old.  He propped himself up really well with his arms and elbows. Rocco was watching a Backyardigans cartoon on a DVD next to his little brother.  "I'm going to get the camera," I told the boys.  "Maverick, don't move!"  I had no sooner ran to the kitchen when Rocco began yelling for me.  I thought something was wrong.  I hurried back to the nursery.  "He rolled over, Mommy!  He rolled over!" Rocco exclaimed.  And sure enough, little man was just lying there on his back.  I couldn't believe it!  I was so excited Maverick had just performed this new trick, and I was also thrilled for Rocco who was having this super big brother moment.  I put Maverick back on his tummy and within seconds he had turned over again.  I ran to get my IPOD so I could video it.  When I got back to video him, I missed it again.  The fourth time I finally caught it on video.

Rocco bragged at what a great big brother he was.  "Hey, mommy.  Bad brothers would just have put the babies back on their tummies and not told their mommies."   The two of us celebrated with high fives.  Maverick just lay there wondering what all the commotion was about.

6 Years 2 Months Old

Ever since the elementary school went to the baseball game, Rocco has really been into pretending to play it at home.  He wants to be the Braves, and I usually have to be the Lookouts or Green Jackets.  I'm the announcer, we use no ball ( just our imagination), and his bat is a floppy tomahawk.  He slides onto every base.  The entire field is just a few feet wide in one room of our house.  Of course he scores tons of runs and I get out every time.

Lately he's told me when he gets in his 20's or 30's, he is going to be a sheriff.  He said I'll need to quit teaching so that I can be his partner.  I agreed.

He's really a big help with Maverick.  Though he's never changed a diaper, he can calm him down with a pacifier.  One afternoon he rocked him to sleep in his little vibrating chair.

Rocco also knows how to feed him milk from his bottle.  He doesn't really seem to be jealous much any more, but he does pretend to be a baby.  He'll lay on his belly and act like he's having tummy time.

We've been picking blackberries near our house lately.  Rocco will stay on the four wheeler while I pick them.

I try to talk to him a lot about nature and teach him things about the plants and animals that Papa used to teach me.  It's cute when he gets his terminology mixed up.  "Hey, mommy!  Look at all these pineapple (pine) trees!" and another time "I just got hit in the face with a cornweb (cobweb)."  And recently when he was feeding Maverick a bottle, I reached down to feed him some cheese.  "Mom, this is a food chain!"

Two Months Old

I know he's my baby and you probably think I'm prejudiced, but he is the best baby!  He seems to follow a pretty good schedule through the day and even through the night.  He'll whimper and grunt as he wakes up hungry about every 3 to 4 hours at night.  He eats around 9pm, 1am, 4am, and then 6am.  Thankfully he goes right back to sleep after each feeding.  

He really doesn't cry that much.  And when he does get upset during the day, we're able to know what his different cries mean. When he starts sucking on his fist we know he's ready to eat.  If he gets huffy and starts fake coughing that is just a fit for attention to be held.    

The morning time seems to be when he is happiest, full of smiles just loving every bit of us talking and singing to him.  I do lots of that.  He wants to talk so bad he can hardly stand it, and he has made some beginning sounds and coos.  One morning he and I played some vocal volley.  He would make some sounds and then I would copy him.  This went on for several minutes.  

This month he has started following us with his eyes, and he seems to focus better on objects.  He'll turn when he hears Rocco's voice.  He really recognizes his big brother.  He'll also respond to mine and Jason's voice.  This month he has given us genuine smiles, especially when we talk to him. 

We've also made progress at bath time.  No more tears!  Just look at this happy baby after his bath!

I'm so thankful for his health.  I know when Rocco would pray for Maverick, even before he was born, he would ask God to make him strong and healthy.  And strong he is!  He can put all of his weight on his legs if you'll just balance him.

He really likes looking at ceiling fans. That just seems to fascinate him.  

Big trick this month...he rolled over!

May 18 Maverick smiles on changing table

Rocco reads Pete the Cat Book

Six Years and One Month Old

Little man has now become the big brother, and he is so loving!  Each day when he comes home from school the first thing he does is find his brother and kiss on his head.  I make him go wash his hands and change his shirt before he gives too much loving.  He doesn't really like this part; he'd rather go straight to loving on his brother.

Rocco really likes playing video games on the Wii.  He plays Super Mario Brothers, Mario baseball, and Mario kart.  Recently he's started acting like Donkey Kong by beating on his chest and copying the Hoo-Hoo-Hoo sound of him.  His newest toy is a Nintendo DS.  We've been playing Mario Brothers on it, too.

He says some funny things sometimes that just crack me up.  Right after Maverick was born he said with much surprise, "He doesn't have any teeth!"  He honestly had no idea that babies were born without them.  "We won't have to brush his teeth because he doesn't have any!" was his conclusion.

And speaking of Maverick, the other day he had some gas.  He let out the loudest poot...just let it rip.  Rocco looked at him on the couch and then said to me, "Mommy, the problem is just that he doesn't have any manners!"

The other day I got a text that I needed to respond to, but at the time I was playing Mario with Rocco.  We were trying to beat the dragon and save the princess.  As I began to type words on my phone, he said with frustration, "Mom, this is not the time to be texting!"

Another funny comment he said while on our trip to the mountains made me crack up.  We were just driving around the outlet mall.  Jason and I kept pointing out the stores that we wanted to go in.  Rocco had been listening in the back seat.  Then, he piped in and said something that made him sound like a grumpy, old man.  "Well, if y'all are going to all those places I'm just going to stay in the car."

As we're going down the road or even when we're just in the house I'll often change my voice to talk like a pretend character we've made up.  His name is Johnny.  He stutters and can't tell time.  I've used him to make Rocco laugh as I've taught him about hours and minutes on a clock.  Johnny thinks it is 13 o'clock or five sixty.  "No, Johnny,"  I say.  There's no such thing. Rocco laughs and laughs when Johnny comes around.

This is Rocco's third year playing tee ball.  He's had a couple of practices; Jason is his head coach.  Games start in May.  He really likes playing.  When Carolyn watches Maverick, Jason or I will go outside to practice pitching and throwing with him.  Compared to last year he has more strength when hitting the ball, can hit is when pitched vs. just batting off the tee, and he runs faster.  He just keeps on growing up!