Joe and Dikembe Mutombo

Yesterday, like every Saturday this fall, was a day filled with sports.  Joe played soccer at 10:00 a.m, followed by J.P.'s soccer game at noon.  Then, it was off to J.P.'s baseball game at 1:00 p.m.  The finale was Joe's baseball game at 3:00 p.m.

Joe was in rare form.  First, during the first half of his soccer game, a kid on the other team had a breakaway and was dribbling full speed toward our goal.  Joe ran the length of the filed - not a particularly long field for 5 year olds - and slid feet first into the goalie box, kicking the soccer ball and clearing the ball out of bounds, right in front of us.  He jumped up, looked at the kid who had the breakaway, and wagged his index finger back and forth, like Dikembe Mutombo after a block in the pain during his N.B.A. playing days.  J.P.,  Jude and I roared with laughter as Joe looked over at us smiling.

When he walked up to the plate for his second and final at bat of his baseball game, Joe said, "Hey, Daddy, look."  It's a coach pitch league, I'm the coach and I pitch, so I looked up at him.  He stood in the batter's box with a serious expression on his face, staring at me, then held his bat up with his left hand and pointed to the left field fence, like Babe Ruth calling his shot.  Remember, he's 5 years old.

I started laughing, of course.  Then, he popped the first pitch up right in front of me, probably his weakest hit of the fall season so far.  Maybe he should consider celebrating after a good play as opposed to before it, huh?

I love his personality and especially his confidence.  And I love the way he makes me laugh.