The cold bug is hitting the house here - AJ missed two days of school - Thursday and Friday - and Ralph is out for the weekend, I think. Poor AJ - he bruised his sternum at soccer practice a couple of weeks ago (he was wearing a zip up jacket to practice, and the zipper was sticking straight out when he caught a ball on his chest), and re-injured it last week at the game (he took a hard shot to the chest). He was complaining after the game that his chest hurt when he coughed. I took him in to the doctor on Monday, as his chest was bothering him more by then, not less (he said it hurt when he took a deep breath.). Dr. Short diagnosed a bruised sternum and told him to lay off the hard shots in soccer for a couple of days, and it should be fine. Then AJ came down with a cold. Poor guy - every sneeze and cough hurt. His chest did not get a lot of healing time I am afraid. He went to his soccer game today, but didn't play very much. The coach let him play for a while, and then subbed him out, so he didn't aggravate his chest or his cold.

Alli did well at her game today. Both AJ and Ralph stayed home to nurse their colds, so it was just Alli and I. She did really well until the last 15 minutes or so, and she was ready to go home (so was I.) She was also much more active in hitting - instead of me standing behind her to make her swing, I stood beside her and guided the bat as she swung it. Getting better! She even threw it in the right direction a couple of times. Carlos (the coach's helper) was calling her name at the time, so she turned toward him to throw. It still only goes a couple of feet when she throws, but she is playing more. By the time the season is over, she will really be getting into the swing of things.