We had a great time at the ballpark Thursday night. AJ was in high action mode. I think he read every single sign we passed on the drive there. He was thrilled beyond belief to see his cousins waiting for him at the entrance gate when we got there. He chattered all night long, despite the fact that no one could really hear him over the announcer and the crowd noises.

�Mommy, there�s the scoreboard. There�s numbers on it. See the three? When is it going to be four? And look, there�s a clock. It�s 8:30. And there�s a flag. It�s an American flag. What is that guy doing? He�s number 32. Is he running? Did he hit a home run? Look, that boy�s eating ice cream too. Just like me!�

And I wish I had a recording of him bellowing along with the crowd to �Take me out to the ballgame.�

Yesterday morning AJ came tearing into our bedroom to wake me up with a �Happy Birthday.� Because it was my birthday, he decided to read me a story in bed. He climbed up carefully with his copy of Dr. Seuss� ABC and read the entire thing cover to cover. Best birthday present ever.

Dr. Seuss is great for kids like AJ, who seems to have a near photographic memory for whole words. Most of the words are common and familiar, so he feels really confident reading them. But the one�s that aren�t are so silly, that he actually wants to sound them out in order to have the pleasure of saying something truly ridiculous. The ABC book contains several favorites, like Fiffer-Feffer-Feff, Googoo goggles, and Zizzer-zazzer-zuzz.

Other than that, the day was quiet. I taught at the pool in the morning and returned home to find AJ on the verge of collapse, due to his late night the night before, his second this week. I put him to bed and came down to find an adorable message from my parents singing �Happy Birthday� on my answering machine. Lunch brought cake and a box from Tiffany. My parents sent flowers (and a balloon for AJ). We had a surprisingly great dinner out at a local restaurant we�d never tried before and went to bed far too late to be getting up at 5:30.

Today we�re heading to a block party with AJ�s friend Z. and her family. We have been promised Frisbee-playing dogs, face-painting, magicians and beer. Something for everyone.

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