The Flip Side

Upon re-reading my previous post, I felt a twinge of guilt over having pointed out all of the out of character, frustrating behavior my oldest son has recently displayed. I've decided to take a look at the flip side and concentrate on the creative, positive things my 6th grader has involved himself with lately...

As you already know, the big man is playing baseball. He really wanted to play spring soccer, but because our base community is incredibly small, there simply aren't enough kids to be able to offer two spring sports. He chose to sit out last season (in Virginia) as he didn't particularly enjoy the season prior. We think it was because he was asked to pitch, and pitching makes him extremely nervous as he feels added pressure. He actually has pretty good form, especially considering he's not very experienced.

During Wednesday night's game, the coaches were trying to decide who should pitch. My husband leaned toward me and whispered, "I wish the coach would just ask D to pitch," knowing that D wouldn't step up unless asked, and that's exactly what happened.

D not only pitched, but he pitched well. Mind you, this is a kid who hadn't pitched in two years. He had a few wild pitches, but overall, he did an excellent job, striking out several players from the opposing team. We found this very interesting, especially since D has "Poland Syndrome." Unfamiliar? So were we when he was first diagnosed. He's basically missing the major pectoral muscle in the chest/arm region.

So the fact that D can throw the ball across the plate at all is pretty amazing. The older he gets, the more challenging pitching will become because he'll probably never be able to throw any "heat," but we're really proud of him for his willingness to step up and help out his team when asked. And he was pretty psyched about his performance on the field, which was so encouraging for him.

D recently participated in the 6th grade talent show, performing in three different acts. He "beat boxed" while a friend danced, he and another friend changed the words and then sang the theme song from "Iron Man" and lastly, he performed a mime act, which was actually quite entertaining. In fact, there were kids mimicking his act for the remainder of the afternoon and for days following the show. One of D's teachers said he was a natural performer. I guess we have the kids' choir director at our former church to thank as she helped D get over stage fright and inspired him to use his talents. The picture quality isn't the best in the following video, but you can get the gist of D's act...




D has always enjoyed expressing himself through detailed drawings, creative writing and designing his own comics. One of his teachers hung several of his drawings on the wall in the classroom. His teachers have given us very positive feedback and have told us he has a wonderful imagination and shows a great deal of talent. What parent doesn't want to hear these kinds of comments?

D also plays the trumpet in beginning band. Last night the elementary and middle school band performed for the first time and they did a nice job. Here's D blowing his horn...

D is quite popular with the kids next door. MJ and J love playing with D because he chases and "scares" them. Like I've said before, these two ring my doorbell multiple times a day wanting to know if D and his brother can come play with them. I've shown you photos of MJ and J before, but here's one of them with D...

Yeah, I suppose I'm shamelessly bragging on my kid, but sometimes I need to take a step back and look at the whole kid, and remind myself of what a terrific person D really is. I'll always be proud to be his mom.