As if I needed more evidence that the world is screaming by, Riley turns 10 today. 10. How the hell did this little chipmunk that obsessively laid out his diapers, took ½ hour to pick a shirt, started playing on the computer at 2 and reciting the alphabet backwards at 5 suddenly sprout braces, swing for the fences and ask questions I’m not prepared to answer?
This is the Summer of Change. New house, new school, new friends, new everything. Riley’s so different, and so much the same. His biggest concern with moving is leaving his friends, but I think he’s wrapped his head around that. We visited our new house to let them see the new spread, pick out bedrooms and get a feel for the neighborhood. We drove around and they saw lots of kids out playing…something they’ve never had here. He got excited for the first time and now he’s looking forward to being there. His biggest concern is being bullied at a new school, interestingly enough. I’m not sure where that comes from, but being at his old school felt comfortable, with just two classes in his grade and knowing everyone so well. We’ve assured him that most kids are great, the school takes it seriously (and they do), and that he’ll quickly find new friends (and he will).
He’s still the peanut of the class, by far the smallest kid. He just reaches the shoulders of some of his baseball teammates. This, combined with his never-ending ability to speak his mind in the most inappropriate times continues to endear him to the masses without his knowledge. The moms watching the last ballgame commented to me on how they still laugh at how he told the first base coach he wasn’t going to steal. “No way, it’s not worth the risk!” He’s made good progress this season on not getting upset at striking out, and more important, he’s started swinging the bat consistently, cracking a couple hits, so he knows how good that feels. And in what was way more stressful for Traci and me, he pitched for the first time two days ago. He was beyond excited, but this is a kid who just a month ago was able to throw the ball across the plate at all. To our amazement, he only allowed 3 runs, and made two outs himself. This was against the other team’s best pitcher, who let in five.
I’m used to the emotionally overwhelming moments at this point, but they still whack me when I don’t expect it. When he made that first out I made a spectacle of myself I’m quite sure. Dad’s privilege.
So here’s to 10, Rileyman. You never made it easy…you always made it interesting. I couldn’t be more proud to see you hit this big milestone.
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