There was no joy in Mudville today: mighty AJ was rained out.

AJ has done little but think, talk, practice, talk some more, dream and talk yet again about T-ball this week. Today was to be his very first day on a real baseball team � and a team named after his favorite Major Leaguers at that. He�s been keeping a countdown to the first day of T-ball in the chalkboard in his room.

AJ began scouring the weather reports yesterday morning. �There�s a 60 percent chance of rain tomorrow,� he informed me as we were driving to the store yesterday. �That�s not so bad, is it, Mommy?�

The rain started falling just as I was climbing into bed last night. I fell asleep listening to the slow patter of raindrops on the roof. I was wakened repeatedly by the crack of thunder. When it was time to get up, the rain was still coming down. Hard. Moreover, the temperature had dropped to a chilly 45 degrees. T-ball was in two hours. It had been raining more or less non-stop for eight hours.

AJ woke up excited, put on his Scott Podsednik T-shirt and stood by the window. �Maybe it�s not really raining,� he said hopefully, as I stared at the river gushing over the skylight. �Maybe it�s just dripping.� A few minutes after eight we got the call. �T-ball�s been cancelled. We�ll see you next week.� AJ was upset. "But there is only a 60 percent chance of rain!" he protested. "I know," I said, rubbing his back to try to console him, "but it is 100 percent raining.� "But I just changed my chalkboard to zero. Now I need to start all over.�

Rainy days are hard enough for active five-year-olds, but a rainy day without T-ball is particularly traumatic. This called for action. Fortunately, I found a 9:45 screening of a movie AJ�s been wanting to see at a nearby theater. AJ got excited about the prospect of a movie and popcorn. We drove to the theater and I thought he�d forgotten about T-ball for the moment. As we got out of the car, he looked up. It had stopped raining and a little blue sky was peeking out behind the clouds. �Mommy,� AJ asked, �do you think we should call my coach and see if he noticed the sun came out?�

AJ didn�t like the movie that much (Carz � I didn�t like it much either), so we left halfway through. But it was fun sitting in the movie theater on a Saturday morning eating popcorn. It felt decadent. Afterwards, I bribed AJ with a Solar System science experiment kit so he would watch me spend a half an hour staring the the inkjet cartridges in Office Max trying to figure out what the hell I needed. We came home and did some experiments with shining lights on Styrofoam balls, while turning them in front of a lamp, using a protractor to find the correct axis. Then we built a model solar system mobile and hung it over AJ�s bed, replacing a plastic IKEA space mobile that has been starting to disturb AJ with its inaccuracy. �See, Mommy? The sun is shining in the mobile. Maybe we can play T-ball now.�

I must confess that I am not entirely unhappy about the cancellation of today�s practice. AJ has a cold and my camera is broken and as of 1:30, the temperature still hasn�t gotten out of the lower fifties. Now I have another week to prepare for AJ�s debut on the amateur baseball scene. Maybe I�ll even be able to get my camera fixed.

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