Friday, June 05, 2009

Walk the Diamond Day

Every year, George's early education program runs a fundraiser called Walk the Diamond. All the special needs preschools under this program join together at the local team's baseball stadium. They sing songs, march around the bases (hence "Walk the Diamond"), play games, and get participation ribbons. This year, George brought Daddy with him.

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He had asked if Daddy was coming with us today. When I said no, he ran to get his Daddy doll and said, "now Daddy walk the diamond with George". I know. Bring on the tissues, this kid slays my heart sometimes.

The U of O mascot always comes by, as well, to walk the bases with the kids and get hugs. Many of the kids are too scared by the giant duck, so he usually hangs out way back in the outfield. George has never wanted to get too close, but this year, he was really intrigued. He slowly made his way across the diamond and through the field, talking to himself and gesturing to the mascot the whole time. When he got close to the line of kids waiting for hugs, I asked him if he wanted to get his picture taken with the duck, and surprisingly, he said yes. So we got in line. Waited patiently for several minutes as we moved forward, kid by kid. Got to the front of the line. The duck looked at him and opened his arms. And George took off screaming.

He didn't go too far though, he still wanted to look and have a (long distance) conversation.

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Other than singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game, his favorite activity proved to be hitting a ball off a T-ball stand. His form was good, but his angle needed a little finessing:

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Ah, there we go, much better! Great concentration:

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He got pretty good with it, hitting it well, more often than not. And asked me to "say hooray, very loud". Which I did. As did he:

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5 comments:

Beth said...

"Hooray very loud!"

Love the smile on his face. Great pictures Meg!

loonyhiker said...

Did you hear Don and I yelling "Hooray for George!" We enjoyed this story. I have to admit that I did that same thing every time I got near Santa Claus. All of my pictures have me screaming and crying on Santa's lap.

Tanya @ TeenAutism said...

Awesome! I love that last photo - so triumphant! And so sweet that he took his Daddy doll.

U of O! Where in O are you? We're in the Medford area!

Dave said...

I'd run from a seven foot tall duck, too.

Maybe Michael can give George some batting tips in a few weeks.

danette said...

How cool, that sounds like fun :).

And the Daddy doll, that is sooo sweet!