Mark of Fridays: Pizza man

For the last few months, Mark had to go to eating therapy because he was having trouble chewing up solid foods. One of the strange byproducts of the surgery he had when he was really little was it created some sort of mental block for Mark. Because he had a tube down his throat during the surgery, he rebelled against that feeling. He pretty much wouldn't consider eating anything solid. Even watermelon made him gag.

Matt thought it was crazy that and 18-month-old needed food therapy. Matt figured the kid would just grow out of it. He wasn't going to be taking baby food jars to high school, after all.

Turns out that Mark was way behind.

And, you know what? Eating therapy worked. And two weeks ago, Mark graduated from eating therapy. No certificate, but a healthy palate.

And - as shown here - Mark is now a pizza eating machine, just like his Dad.

Quotation Marks: Dreams

Every morning when Mark is getting dressed, Matt asks Mark what he dreamed about last night. Mark probably has no idea what a dream is but...well, it's something to pass the time. Mark is sick of talking about the Patriot Act, so dreams seem like reasonable back-up material for a morning discussion.
And every morning, Mark says he dreamed about: "Mama."
About 90 percent of the time, he says: "Dada."
There's also the occasional: "Elmo." (Pronounced 'lalalalal'.)

But last week, when Matt asked Mark was he dreamed about last night, there was an interesting answer:
"Mama.
"Dada.
"ROAR!"
And then he raised his arms like a lion.

Mark declined to answer any follow-up questions.

Mark of Fridays: Meeting your hero

How many of us ever in our lives get a chance to meet our hero?
And not just meet our hero, but give our hero a hug, sit down with hero and talk about the letters 'E' and 'M' as well as the number one?
Well, Mark got that chance on Wednesday.
And, sure, maybe Elmo looked more like a red straw with a gumdrop on top. And maybe Lynne and Matt weren't exactly sure that it really was Elmo. And possibly they were bit creeped out by Elmo.
And, OK, maybe Elmo couldn't see at all, so he had to have a seeing-eye guide who tell him, "Elmo, why don't you bend down? There's a little boy in front of you. No, to your left. More to the left." And, fine, maybe Elmo gave Mark high five in the face.
But if you meet Hank Aaron and he goes 0-for-5 that night, you still got meet Hank Aaron, right? And that's pretty cool.

Mark of Fridays: Reflecting on one's self

This can't be a good sign.

Mark of Fridays: Baseball genius

So, on the way to Florida, the Hanleys stopped at the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory which, oddly enough, is in Louisville. The museum was plenty of fun for baseball fans.
Matt got to hold Mickey Mantle's real bat. Everyone got to see how a bat is made. And there was a kid's area where Matt gave Mark his first lesson in hitting off the tee. Mark was marginally interested in that. Plus, there was all sorts of Super Nerd Baseball Stuff, like statistics and stories and movies.
All in all, it was a pretty cool trip, although it was way over Mark's head.
OR WAS IT!!!

Consider: On one wall of museum they had thousands of wooden plaques representing all the players that have had contracts with Louisville Slugger.
On the upper left corner of the wall, it starts with Nap Lajoie, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins and Ty Cobb - players from the early 1900s. Then it moves right and ends up with David Wright and other current players.
But the plaques are not just the great players who signed with Louisville: it's every scrub and nobody who ever got a contract. (And they make it clear that Louisville invites you to sign a contract - you can't request a contract with them.)
So, we're talking about a wall probably 40 feet long and 15 feet high. Each wooden plaque is about 2 inches across and an inch wide. Every column is filled with 48 plaques and there are hundreds of columns.
There are literally thousands and thousands of plaques, as you can see in the picture with Lynne on the right. You can only see a fraction of the wall in the picture.
Of course, this is all scene setter to prove that Mark is a baseball genius. We knew he was a genius in many things but not necessarily baseball.
So, Mark is walking down this wall past name after name, passing decades of baseball players. He doesn't seem to paying any more attention to one or the other.
And then: he stops.
And then: he points.
And he points at one specific wooden box.
And he won't stop pointing at it. He points at it over and over again, with both hands.
If he had been just a bit to the left, he would have been pointing at the immortal Clede Wilson, a man well known for being among the all-time top players named Clede.
If he had had been just a bit higher, he would have been fixated on Pap Williams, one of the few players named after his father's nickname.

But, no. Out of hundreds of thousands of names Mark zeroed in on Mr. Ted Williams.

Teddy Ballgame. The Kid. The Splendid Splinter. 512 home runs, .406, War Hero.

Ted Williams.

This Mark kid - he's a genius. Must come from his Mom.

To make you smile

Enjoy a monkey riding on a pig. It's more fun that whole Royal Wedding thing.
Because, indeed, the world has gone insane.

Mark: the measurements

An addendum to our earlier post:
As of his 19-month check up, Mark is 27 pounds, 3 ounces. He is 2-foot-8.
He's in the 50 percentile for height, 60th percentile for weight. And - no joke - the 90 percentile for head size.