Sweet home, Chicago

Yeah, no, it's not my home, but here I am anyway. Ryan and I are in Chicago to meet with the guy who is going to be running D3soccer.com, and while we were here, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to see the Twins play at New Comiskey Park.

The new name for that ballpark? Don't care. Stupid corporate names.

Twins lost. Long story. Not a good one. But on the way back, after the crowds of White Sox fans thinned out, ended up sitting across from a cute little almost-6-year-old boy on the El.

Kid was talking up a storm, noticed that Ryan and I were wearing Twins hats and suggested that we throw them away and get White Sox hats. My mantra to White Sox fans who bothered to give us a hard time on the way home was that it was just June and there was a lot of season left. (The Twins are .500 after this game.)

I told the kid, "You know, there are a hundred games left! Can you count to 100?"

He reported that he could; in fact, he could count to 300.

For some time I've been fairly good at figuring out kids' ages after observing to them, and that statement convinced me that this little boy was Robert's age. So I asked him if he was 5 or 6 and he told me he was turning six on June 15 and just graduated from kindergarten.

Even more like Robert.

The kid and I were talking, like a parent and a nearly-six-year-old can. He (I never got his name) was an only or oldest child, but he does have an 11-year-old female cousin whom he obviously wanted to be just like.

He said to me, "you have a thin face" and to Ryan, "you have a big face." Out of the mouths of babes, right, Ryan?

He was hispanic, but his parents apparently speak just English at home. Ryan was giving me a hard time on the train after that comment and I tried to speak Spanish to him to explain, he didn't understand.

During the conversation, the kid said he knows karate. His dad, a young guy, said, "No, it's not karate, right?"

Indeed, this was a little boy who turns 6 this month and does tae kwon do!

So I asked him what belt he was -- he's a white belt. We talked about what was next, and while we refer to it as the gold belt, he talked about the yellow belt. I asked him if he did the axe kick (which is the most basic one I know the name of) and he mentioned that the older kids can break boards. When I told him my little boy was a blue belt and could break boards, he was very impressed.

I reminded the kid that he had to focus and work hard, and he could do that too.

My battery died on my phone today. I was hoping Cate and the kids would call me from the Brennan family reunion in Pennsylvania, but perhaps they tried and couldn't get through. He'll have another round of birthday there, and I'll be back in D.C. on Sunday to hear all about it.

Miss you Robert. :)