The ol' ball game

So last week we went to see the Long Beach Armada play the San Diego Surf Dawgs here at Blair Field in Long Beach. Jack helped Mommy keep score and as you can see, he found it tremendously exciting.

The big thrill of the night was Rickey Henderson -- yes, that Rickey Henderson. He plays for San Diego's independent league team -- apparently still under the impression that a major-league team will offer him a contract any day now, and who knows, stranger things have happened. But still, at 46, he's still spry and a gamer, putting on a good show for the fans and being a supportive and positive member of the team, by all accounts ("Rickey's just one of the guys," said a Dawgs player in the LA Times -- don't remember hearing this when Henderson was a Met, but whatever.)

Meanwhile back at home, Jack has been trying to flip over in earnest and has been successful on a few tries! Also, over the last few days he has become a real jabberjaws, regular holding extended conversations with his dangly mobile and gym toys, the nearby pillow, Mommy, Daddy, basically anything nearby. Just kind of "Aaaah baaah yaahh yahh vaah" kind of noises, with an occasuional "HyAAHHHHH!"or screechy, happy "ayyyyyyAAAHayuuuuAHHH!" hollered out from time to time, going on for hours, really cracking us up. His laugh, such as it is, has evolved too, from a kind of throaty "hurrh" to a more gurgly laughing sound, to an actual laugh today for the first time! G was getting ready to go shopping -- where she is right now, with jack -- and Jack was lying on the bed blabbing away, so I went in for a tickle attack and snuzzled his big ol' chins with my beard. Well I guess this tickled him a lot because we got a whole bunch of genuine chuckles out of him, to our delight. I have shot some video of Jack and I hope to have it online soon.

Here you can see Jack doing his best to flip over on his back.

And here, you can see Jack saying, "Ah, screw it," and flopping over on his belly again.

Meanwhile let it not be said that our lad is anything but the very picture of sartorial splendor. Here he proudly models the very latest bodysuit from the Hyman Roth "I'm a retired businessman living in Havana on a pension in the 1950's" line.

And what I wouldn't give to be able to relax like this: