RedHawks Game

Eric's choir from school was singing the National Anthem at the semi-pro baseball team's game last night and we decided to make a night of it. Eric met with his classmates before the game and Mike, Ryan and I went up to get our seats and eat some hot dogs. From the moment the we left the car, Ryan was a giant bundle of excitement. It was as if every cell in his body was moving in a different direction. This was cute for about two minutes, when it didn't calm down. We walked past the playground area they have set up for busy children and he talked up a storm about it (Can we play on that? LOOK LOOK LOOK MOM LOOK MOM can we play??) while he was bouncing and jumping around. I told him we could play later, and we proceeded to the concourse area. He then told me all about every booth we passed. "LOOK MOM LOOK MOM DOUGHNUTS" "hey, there's Hawkeye""Look mom, he has popcorn! Can I want some popcorn? Please mom can I want some popcorn? Mom Mom..." (you get the idea) He was utterly abuzz with excitement. We were looking over the menu and deciding on what to order, while Ryan chattered and asked for popcorn incessently until I had to bend over, hold his shoulders and say "Ryan, honey, we are getting popcorn but you NEED to calm down". He was a little quieter but still bouncing.
We got our food, then went and sat down. Ryan marveled at all the advertisements on the back wall, talked about the clouds, and since the field is close to the airport, LOVED talking about and watching the planes flying by.
And then he saw the blow-up bouncy game. Oh lord!! He would not stop talking about the "Hawkeye" themed game. It was directly behind our seats so I let him walk down to it and play while I carefully observed. He walked up to the man keeping an eye on things, and just stood. The man said, "You can go in". Ryan then took off his shoes, stood up and said, My name's Ryan". The man said "I'm Colby, man". Ryan saluted him and said in an excited voice, "Nice to meet you!" then ran into the bouncy game. I choked back tears and beamed with pride. He handled the situation well on his own, AND he was polite about it. There was a minor melt-down when it was time to leave the game, but I averted it but giving him some choices. Shoes on now or when we sit down? Walk up these stairs or those? ...hey, its the little things :)
He got his popcorn and watched the game for a little while but then wanted to play on the playground. He did amazing, and I'm very proud of him.