Two "Near Disasters" for Connor

First, Mom-of-the-Year here missed the deadline for baseball registration (actually I didn't even see that it was going on!). When I tried to register Connor late, I was told there might not be room for anymore kids in his age group. I lost about 3 nights' sleep over this - seriously, if there's one thing I had to make happen it was getting Connor on a baseball team!! I pulled out all the stops and went to everyone I could think of - yes, I was that completely annoying Mom advocating fiercely for her son. Yesterday morning (Wed 4/21) we got a call that Connor was added to a team roster and he should get to practice at 5pm! Phew ... happiness! He missed 2-3 practices, but games don't start until early May and for now they will practice 3 times a week. We're not too worried about him starting a little late. When I went up to thank the coach at the end of practice he said, "Oh you're welcome. He sure seems to know what he's doing out here!" My little baseball boy :-)

Second, Connor has been very excited about continuing his judo classes to earn his next belt. Last week he found out that he would be promoted and receive his yellow belt. The promotion ceremony was on Tuesday (4/20). We all went (Corb, me, Brady, Maggie, and even Gabby!) to be there for him. Now, there are about 4 judo classes, organized roughly by age group, so the Sensei (teacher) had at least 4 promotion ceremonies that day. In each class only some of the kids were being promoted. When Sensei called the names of the students to be promoted, he did not call Connor's name. Corb and I were dying ... Connor was at first confused, and then heartbroken, but he sat there stoically. I tried to get Sensei's attention without being disruptive, but to no avail. At the end of the ceremony (which only lasted about 5 minutes, but felt like forever), I was able to get Sensei's attention. He immediately recognized his mistake and had Connor's belt, with his name on it, grouped with the belts for the next class. He made a big deal of his apology and gathered the class to watch a private promotion ceremony for Connor. Connor's tears were quickly brushed away and he went through the ceremony with great pride! He then happily joined the class for some fun on the climbing wall afterward. What Connor took away from the experience was pride and joy in his newly earned belt. To watch him go through that about killed Corbin and me, but to see the resilience and grace with which Connor handled the situation made us beam with pride.

That Connor is a pretty remarkable little kid!