(Too much if you ask my opinion. But nobody is asking.)
I did look at the massive amounts of games, practices and little league stuff on our calendar, shake my head and immediately call my dear husband to commiserate the fate of our spring. After discussing it, we decided that we needed to make sure that the boys truly loved baseball and wanted to play little league, rather than falling into the trap of just doing it because everyone else seems to be doing it.
I gleefully considered that one, two or all of my boys may end up hating little league so much that they wouldn’t even want to sign up next year. I considered this so joyfully as Chris and I set up camp at the baseball fields on opening day, preparing for a marathon day of games upon games. We got to the diamonds around noon, and I knew we wouldn’t be home until after 7 pm. (We got home around 8 that night. In fact, we ate both lunch and dinner at those fields. And treats. And drinks. Damn, that concession stand does a mean business.)
But, here’s the thing. The boys loved it. Every single one of them had a ball.
Brennan had the first game on his Pee Wee Texas Rangers team. He played first base and scored the first out of the game. After the game, the coach called all the players over to the side of the field and presented Brennan with the game ball. My little B. It was a moment for him. He was so proud of his ball that he refused to let it go for the rest of the day and night.
Aidan had the second game on his Minors Cincinnati Reds team. I will confidentially admit that I enjoyed watching Aidan’s game the most. It was the first time I had ever seen one of my children play a *real” game that was actually competitive. Up until this point, the sports we have done are still in the cooperative and learning category, so they tend towards the fun, rather than keeping score. I was cheering and yelling just like a crazy sports Mom. And Aidan gave me a lot to cheer about. (I was cheering so much that I forgot to take any pics!)
It surprised the hell out of me to discover that Aidan can really play baseball. He scored outs, caught and threw balls with ease, and was quite the presence on the diamond. I could not believe it. I even overheard two of the parents asking who he was after a spectacularly good pop fly out he caught in his glove.
(Instead of pretending I hadn’t heard them discussing him like any cool mom would do, I smiled a HUGE smile and yelled “He’s mine! That’s my son! That’s my Aidan!” I make a lot of friends at these games.)
Our last game of the day was our Griffin on his Tee Ball New York Yankees team. He was just the cutest little player ever and possibly the most adorable catcher in the history of tee-ball. Tee ball is pure fun to watch. There is no competition, just a whole lot of laughs as the kids try to figure out which way to run on the bases and what do to with the ball if you actually get it in the glove. Griffin had a great time at his first ever official team sporting event.
Over the last few weeks we have been juggling the insanity of our spring baseball schedule as best we can. It has been made a bit easier due to the weeks of rain outs for both practices and games. But I see a few more marathon sessions at the fields in our near future, both this year, and probably many more to come. Game on.
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