Aliens have abducted the happy self-entertaining boy of last week and left a whiny, complaining, bratty kid in his place. Claudia has said that her daughter Dusty thinks her brain goes to Mars when she sleeps. I'm thinking there was some kind of error on the return trip and some other kid's brain came back in AJ's skull instead. Or maybe it's just the fact that the boy, good child of a couple of chronic insomniacs that he is, just isn't getting enough sleep these days.

Yesterday, AJ started out cheerful enough. He bounded out of bed (granted, it was only 5 a.m.), all excited about T-ball. He appeared to be the picture of manic depression, one minute tearing around the house at 90 miles an hour, the next so tired that he collapses on the floor, unable to hold his head up any longer. He sustained enough energy to do incredibly well in his very first T-ball game versus the formidable Red Sox. The White Sox looked dashing with their names on their shirts. The Red Sox's best hitter was a tiny girl with navy blue shorts with the word CUTIE in large red letters on her butt. Apparently that is what passes for regulation uniforms in the minorest of minor leagues.

AJ started out in the pitcher's position, which, in T-ball, doesn't actually pitch. The pitcher does, however, get almost all the balls, because that is just about as far as most of the kids can hit. My boy caught every single ball that came his way and threw it to first base like a pro. When it was his turn at bat, he hit the ball into the outfield and ran around all the bases. I'm not entirely sure how they determine when the game is over -- there is no scoring in T-ball -- but at the end, the teams lined up facing each other and slapped each other�s hands with shouts of good game. Then all the kids ran around the bases in a big mob, just for fun.

No matter how slow the action, no matter how hot the day, no matter how wild the throws, no matter what position he's playing, AJ is excited to be there. This kid loves baseball like nothing else. He cheers on the other kids, he listens to the coach even when he's not talking to him and he's always ready to catch the ball. I find it really amazing to watch -- suddenly there's this mature, driven kid in front of me. When he got home, after a popsicle and a lot of water, he went outside to play some more baseball with his dad before settling in front of the TV to watch a DVD of the first game of last year's World Series.

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying (and failing) to get an exhausted AJ to take a nap. We finally gave up and piled in the car to head to my sister-in-law's for a birthday party for my husband�s brother. AJ fell asleep in the car for about ten minutes, but I believe those ten minutes were when the Mars brain transfer took place, for he turned grouchy and weepy immediately upon waking up and pretty much hasn't improved since. He spent the first two hours of the party asking for cake every five minutes until it finally arrived. Once placated with sugar, he was somewhat more pleasant to be around. We all trooped out to the patio and arranged ourselves in various poses of sloth while AJ harassed assorted relatives into playing "Planets," in which one person is the sun and AJ is a planet revolving around it. Alternatively, a stationary object might be used as the sun with the unsuspecting relative in the role of the Earth and AJ as the moon, tearing around in circles until everyone fell down dizzy and laughing. As the sun fell, we watched jet trails streaking through the sky like comets. AJ followed an amazingly fearless bunny around the yard and grew wild with excitement when the fireflies came out -- he hadn't seen any yet this year and doesn't remember them from last year. My favorite image of the day was of that moment where he was sailing through the grass, barefoot and pajamaed, stretching out his arms to try to catch the glowing insects.

He eventually did catch one and brought it to show me. It promptly made itself at home on my arm, crawling up to my shoulder and then back down my wrist. Suddenly, it dropped to the ground just as AJ was stomping down on one bare foot. He thought he'd crushed it and collapsed on the ground weeping and even showing him that the bug was fine did not console him. He was heartbroken.

We took that as our cue to leave. We tucked him into his car seat and we got to watch fireworks displays all the way home. AJ couldn�t get enough.

Today�s extreme surliness is best left unspoken, but despite the dissenter among us, the adults in the family did manage to make some much needed household purchases (some botanical prints from an antique shop and a new kitchen table at last). We are all hoping that the administrators on Mars will realize their mistake this evening and send back our real boy tomorrow.

[Second entry today. Click back for musical meanderings.]

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