Even Aramis is Excited by the Cubs' Hot Start

Yes, we haven't even seen a full month of games. And yes, half of the wins have come against the hapless Pirates. But what a pleasant three weeks of baseball this has been. Aramis appears to be fully healed from Cesar's "how's your father" from last season, and the Cubs have completely excised the unseemly goiter of Dusty Baker's influence on this team. How refreshing is it to watch a team that works the count, takes walks, and forces the opposing starter to actually exert some energy? After a long trek through the Neifi Perez-Corey Patterson-Jacque Jones wilderness of 'aggressive' at-bats and dumb baseball, we've got a group of guys who have a plan:

- Han Soto. The guy is making my choice of jersey look very wise. Under the tutelage of the burly wiseman, Hank White, he's turning into one of the best catchers in the league. Going into today he was leading all MLB catchers in OPS, he isn't afraid to make a visit to the mound when a pitcher is struggling, and he's done a nice job blocking pitches in the dirt. His one weakness has been throwing out basestealers, but if last year was any indication, he'll be fine in that area.

- Fukudome. He's an actual baseball player - he has a great approach at the plate, he's an excellent defender with a good arm, and knows his way around the basepaths. And for those of us lucky enough to be at the ballpark, his ninth inning home run on Opening Day was about as memorable as it gets.

- Derecles. It's good to have him back. The wrist is healed, he's pulling the ball with authority, and he might just get that MVP trophy he was screwed out of in 2005.

- Reed Johnson. I'm still a Felix Pie fan, and I hope he can figure things out eventually. But there's no way you can take this gritty, grindy, scrappy son of a gun out of the lineup. Ignore the mindless blather that he's a throwback to a time when men were men and dirt was used instead of Neosporin - just pay attention to his .408 on base percentage.

So don't let racist T-shirt selling morons or miserable old farts bother you - we've got a really good team to watch this summer.

No Tigers

It's official. Emily is a big girl. She not only brushes her teeth, eats McNuggets and draws works of art, but now she has had her first slumber party. Two Friday's ago, after a delicious meal of Uncle Donald's and running back & forth 50 times in our place Emily was ready for reading and bed time.

Promptly at 6am the next morning we heard "Out" from the baby monitor. We were impressed she slept through her first night over. Saturday, we got to enjoy the Lincoln Park Zoo, but made sure to avoid the tigers and lions after some reminding from Emily. I think if anyone would have seen us trying to keep her awake on our ride back to our place, they would have thought we were ridiculous. Oh well, it worked. Who knew that all of us would have ended up taking a 2 hour nap.

Can't wait for our next sleep over! Maybe next time we'll take all 3 Simons........