Baseball Revelations

This week's posts seem to all have a baseball theme, so I'll go with it.

My husband works out of state for most of the week, so all kid duties fall to me.  Field trips included.  Today was JCS day at the minor league park in our area.

It was 80+ degrees (one of the hottest days to date this fledgling summer).  I was quite thankful for the 50 SPF sunscreen which formed a sludgy, yet curiously coconut smelling, cocoon around my sweaty frame.

There is nothing like being surrounded by hundreds of your child's peers to give one a few revelations on childhood in the new millennium.  Here's my top five.

1. Most boys my son's age dress badly.  Really badly.  I have kvetched about my son's sartorial mishaps since he has been dressing himself.  No more.  If that kid I saw in the refreshment area can wear an orange t-shirt and purple shorts proudly then who am I to question the pairing of a Perry the Platypus t-shirt and silver/black Michael Jordan shorts?
2. Ian is goofy.  However, on the goof spectrum he is solidly average.  The little girl who loudly stated she would kill herself if Uncle Bill's pool wasn't blue (Bill is Aunt Georgia's boyfriend I was soon to learn)-that girl is on the high end of the kid-goofy spectrum.  (In case you were wondering if the pool is green you can't swim in it because Aunt Georgia said!).  The little boy who sat by his dad and watched the e-n-t-i-r-e game without moving is on the other end of the spectrum.  My Ian who was dancing and spent much of the game in the bouncy play area? Solidly in the middle.
3. Ice cream is a far cry from the melty stuff of my childhood.  It's all 'Dippin' Dots'.  Small beads of ice cream flash frozen in some fusion reactor freezer.  They are weird little nubbins of goodness which melt more slowly yet somehow create the same level of mess as it's more traditional cousin.
4. Whether younger or more mature, parents parent any kid within a 10 foot radius.  The Pap seated in front of us danced with the boys to his right.  When Ian walked down the steps there were hands to grab him if he stumbled.  We exchanged sunscreen, water and passed lunches with surprising speed and accuracy.  The dads around me included Ian in their baseball lessons (taking pity on me who HATES the sport and knows little about it).  
5. Seven is not too young to hold Mom's hand whilst milling about.  Unless dudes or girls walk past.