Thing Two got a hit his first time up at bat in his first tee ball game this week. I posted a video of it on Facebook, and our friend Greg, a sports editor, enjoyed the video. He said to tell Thing Two that he hit that ball so hard he tattooed it! Greg always wants to know the boys’ responses to his jokes, anecdotes or messages, so I recorded this one.

As much as I love that the boys are getting old enough to play more grown up games, I’ll be sad when the Mouse Trap phase of life is over.

So, Thing Two has been asking me tonight to sing the song I sang to him “10 days ago, or maybe last week.”

“You know, Mom, it had a sort of low tone and a nice beat, and you kept hitting your leg to keep the beat..”

“I sang it in my head all day after that. Will you sing it again?”

We listen to a lot of music around here, and we’ve been particularly fond of a Stevie Wonder Pandora station lately. The possible options here made for quite a long list. (I was sure it was going to end up being “Lean On Me,” but nope.)

Well, I’m thrilled that it ended up being this song — one of the all-time greats. Thing Two and I had a nice dance around the living room this evening, singing it to each other and making up dance moves and hand motions.

There are cheerleaders at this Upward game. Here’s what my 9-year-old just said: “They’re so tall and cute and pretty. I just want to kiss them.” Heaven help us all.

Thing Two’s first introduction as an Upward basketball player.

So Thing Two, having discovered an inherited love of peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, took one to school today, the first day after break. But he came home having eaten only a few bites of it because kids were making fun of the sandwich. He said he felt like he would need to hide behind his lunchbox to eat it, so instead he and his hurt feelings “just sat there in despair.”

We’ve talked about what else he could have said, how the other kids’ not liking pickles is a matter of perspective, and how much fun it would be to instead grin, take a big bite and let them know what deliciousness they’re missing out on. He’s game to try again tomorrow.

If that doesn’t work, we might need to stage a four-generation peanut-butter-and-pickle sit-in, with me, Bill Mathis and Donald Mathis.

Thing Two’s performance as a little drummer boy.

Look who lost his second front tooth!

The other one is a similar picture of his brother, from May 2010.

Thing Two has lost his third tooth. It’s also the second (out of the three) to be lost during a wrestling match with his brother. Now, the tooth was LONG past ready to come out (I think it had been loose for five or six weeks — he said he wanted it to come out at school, on Halloween). But still, is that the best way for it to come out? My suggestion was to perhaps not engage in wrestling matches when trying to protect loose teeth.

At least he didn’t swallow this one.

Me to Thing Two: Why did you have such a hard time when it was time to clean up your toys this morning?

Thing Two: It was just a temper tantrum. I put the wrong computer chip in my brain.