Bionicles

One of Bobby's favorite interests is Bionicles. He has a large collection of parts and assembles intricate and cool looking bots and ships.

He got his first Bionicle when he was 4, it's name was Kongu. He has very many since then and the most recent were this Christmas when he received Tarix and Skrall and Toa Kongu underwater.

Bobby also goes to the Bionicle website and he watches their videos and plays their games.

Bobby is very thankful to his Mommy, Uncle David, Aunt Jan, Aunt Tobie, Mimaw and Pipaw for the Bionicles he has received as gifts.

Fall Baseball '08

This fall Bobby played baseball on the Dodgers. Our coach was a great teacher of the fundamentals of the game and Bobby's skills continued to improve.

Bob Sr. pitched for the team and had to develop form and consistency. He really enjoyed the experience of playing on the field with the boys and being part of the team.

Bobby's friend Cooper was on the team also and the two boys combined for some outs in the last few games.

Bobby hit the ball at every at bat and stuck with it and hit the ball on the last pitch on two occassions. He fielded ok and stopped the ball on most times when it was hit to him.

Bobby's base running improved a lot but he still needs to learn to use his high gear, the one that he

uses to run to the concession stand after the game.

Fall ball was a blast!

Magic Camp

This summer Bobby went to Magic Camp during the day and had a fabulous time! Aside from showing the kids how to juggle, spin plates on sticks, do card tricks and sleight of hand, this camp focuses on teaching the campers how to be leaders and build confidence.

These are pics of Bobby at his Open House on the last day of camp. Campers got to showcase some of the tricks they learned during their 2 weeks. Mimaw, myself, his siblings, Ute, and Joshua all came to see what Bobby "had up his sleeve!"

Game 1 and 2

Thursday night Bobby's team played game number one of the season against the Yankees.

They batted first and went up four to nothing. Our boys couldn't seem to make any plays fielding and their kids all seemed to be huge and big hitters.
I thought "Oh know here we go, they are going to beat bad". I sensed that the other coaches were thinking the same think. When the inning ended I felt us all take a deep breath and we talked to our kids and alll resolved to keep our chin up.

My son was the second up to bat and he struck out. In the next inning he struck out again. I watched him in the dugout to see if he was getting down and he seemed ok. I was thankful that I have encourged him to do well and have fun rather than harang him when he fails. As I coached him on the field I saw that he was tired and distracted. I realized it just wasn't his day. I encouraged him to keep his chin up.

On his next at bat I looked up momentarily and prayed taht he would get a hit. He got down two strikes. He looked nervous. On the fifth pitch he hit the ball and drove in a run. I was the first base coached so I told him "see what happens when you keep your chin up".

Our team maxed out runs in three innings and won 15 to 7.

Game 2 was on Saturday the 29th against the White Sox. It was a very exciting game with several ups and downs. The boys got off to a great start hitting the ball and scoring 4 runs. Bobby hit the ball all 6 times he came up to bat. The other team batted well also and scored 5 runs. Then we a bad inning and got behind. Then they had a so so inning and we rallied. It went back and forth like this until the end and they rallied with two outs in the final inning and came out ahead.

We met our goals for runs scored but came up short on fielding and outs. We all had a great time and the kids especially.

Bobby's Pipaw and his cousin Amanda came to the game and we all cheered him on.

Bike Riding

Last week Bobby learned to ride his bike without training wheels. We used a handle on the back to guide him. At first he was unsteady and I just worked on getting him going a few feet at a times. I would run alongside let him go and then grab the handle again to stop him.

Bobby never crashed badly he mostly just stopped on his feet or dropped the bike. After a few tries he got the hang of it and went further and further. We worked on him stopping himself a few times to prepare him to ride by himself. Finally we were reading and we made a run in which he rode and stopped by himself. We were very excited and exchanged high fives and wow's.

I was very proud to see him ride even though he is about a year late on this. It was my fault because I didn't work with him more on this. Poor Bobby gets all of Daddy and Mommy's mistake making in our parenthood training. I resolve to monitor Bobby's milestones to avoid his in the future.

When his mother came home she watched in worried amazement as Bobby made precarious loops around the circle by himeself. He wobbled his wheels a few times and sometimes went too fast and leaned to far in the turns and skidded to a halt sometimes but he only had minor crashes. We noticed that his 16" bike was too small for him.

A few days later Bobby and I went to the Bike shop to buy me a bike so I can ride with him again like last year when I was previously training him. While we were there we saw a red 20" Trek RockHopper. It matched the red Mongoose that I found for me. The guy at the bike shop let Bobby test ride it and we couldn't resist buying it.

Bobby and I have been riding every night since then.

Spring Ball

This spring Bobby's T-ball team is the Orioles. Bobby is getting better at fielding balls and throwing to the baseman. He is hitting flyballs sometimes and can catch them too. He and the rest of the team are learning where to throw to get the out when runners are on base.

Monkey Skills

Winter Blues

This winter Bobby has been practicing ball getting eady for the spring season. His hitting and catching have really improved alot. His grandfather, "Pepaw" has been a great coach to him.

Bobby did very well on his mid-year report card. His marks were up from the last period and I couldn't expect any more from a six-year old.

Bobby has also been attending religious education in spiritual formation for his first communion. Bobby can say the "Our Father", "Hail Mary", and "Glory Be". I am most proud of his interest during mass. His behavior isn't always the best but he is fascinated with the liturgy.