Grant's the Man

Since writing the tribute for my little lu-lu, I thought I would share some fun things about our amazing, crazy eight year old, Grant. He's quite a busy boy, with school, homework, baseball practice and games, and now Scouts. We just finished the Pine Wood Derby....oh yeah! I was surprised at how much fun it really was. Paul and Grant had some great Father, Son bonding time while creating Grant's unique masterpiece. It brought back memories of going to my brothers pine wood derby races, except this time it was my sons car I was routing on. The pine wood derby is no laughing matter with some of the competitors, they literally have it down to a science. Grant's car came in 4th over all and got the award for 'Most Artistic'...big surprise.

Grants newest love....Baseball! I think he's found his sport, he say's he likes it almost as much as basketball. He practices when ever he has a chance. We go to the park often and let the kids play while Paul and I play catch with Grant, and then have contests (Grant and I) who can hit the ball the furthest. Going to his games have proven to be one of our favorite family outings, unless it's at 8:30am on a Saturday. Being outside, spitting out sunflower seeds and cheering wildly for our son and his team(The Mets, they are #1 in his division so far)....can't get much better than that. I have a feeling that someday these will be some of our fondest memories.

Here he is all geared up as the catcher. His favorite position: short stop.

I'm going to try to get a good video of him hitting the ball to post on here soon.

My little artsy-fartsy boy is dying to learn to play the guitar. I told him that when we moved to Fort Worth (in June) and Daddy starts getting a paycheck again we'd put him in lessons, I think I'll join him since I want to learn too. So here he is with my little parlor guitar, we both only know how to play the 'G' chord (the easiest one).

Grant is the best big brother, beside the fact that he is the master teaser (it's his brotherly duty). I really don't know many kids his age who genuinely love babies and toddlers the way he does. Funny thing is, babies love him too. I love this quality about him. He's always drawn to little babies and toddlers and he is CRAZY about his baby brother. He gets the biggest kick out of everything he does, and gets just as excited as I do when Zach learns a new word or does a new trick. He begs me nightly if he can have Z sleep in his bed with him.

Ever since Grant was about 5 years old, I would find him sitting on the front porch waiting for me after my early morning runs. He would always say,"why can't I come with you, I want to run with you." I would always tell him that when he got older, he could. He still is usually the first face I see when I get back from running and definitely one of my biggest fans. Well, about 2 weeks ago I wasn't able to run until after Grant got home from school, and like all of the times before, asked if he could come along. I thought, what the heck, if we only run 1/2 a mile (which is how long the loop is in front of my house) it might be fun to finally run with my boy. Not only did he run with me and talk my ear off the whole way but he ran 4 MILES! He was disappointed when I told him we were finished at 4 miles, he was hoping to run the full 5 miles with me. After all, I didn't want to kill him. I was so impressed with my little stud. We had a blast together, and he melted my heart when he said,"this is fun mom, can I run a marathon with you someday?" You can guess what my response to that was. I love this kid!