So last Thursday I decided that my older three kids are old enough to start teaching how to play baseball (softball, T-ball, or as Kyra calls it, “soffeeball”). They’re eight, seven, and five. It’s never to early for indoctrination, errr, training.

Since this is a bit past ball season for buying gear, everything was on sale and I picked up three mitts, six softballs, three bats, five T-balls, and an equipment bag for about $100. The kids and I trekked out to the ratty diamond by our house Thursday evening and practiced throwing (step with your glove hand straight toward who you’re throwing to, throw with your other arm, and point at who you’re throwing to. This way you can see the relationship between where you end up pointing to when you’re done throwing and where the ball actually goes) and then batting.

They did great! Georgie is apparently just the right age for this (he’ll be nine in three months). Two years ago he played T-ball, which he enjoyed but wasn’t particularly into, and when I took him out on Thursday he said he didn’t want to go. I told him too bad.

He’s getting old enough that there will be opportunities at Family Camp and wherever else to play and all the other little boys will be playing and he’ll want to do it too. The game will be much more fun for him if he’s had some practice and can actually play it. He seemed satisfied with that and didn’t give me any more argument.

Then we went out and played, and he discovered that not only can he throw straight and far, but he can actually hit the ball (I didn’t buy a tee so they’re doing batting practice on pitched balls). He had two or three good hits out of twelve pitches the first night, the next night he hit four or five, and Saturday night when Grandpa and Grandma came out with us, he hit five or six. A couple of them sailed right over the infield and were just wonderful. Now he’s pretty much hooked and wants to play all the time. That took even less time than I was expecting!

The girls are both doing really well too. They hit two or three usually out of twelve and both throw nice and straight, although not very far. Anika tends to release the ball a bit late, so hers mostly end up as grounders; but that’s ok. They go right to whoever she’s throwing to and for only three days of practice, that’s quite good.

Trinity has that look about her that in another year or two when size and coordination finish catching up, she’ll be a good little player. She’s just on the edge now. Her main problem is she tends to get distracted by insects on the ground at her feet, and then wants to go off catching them when she’s supposed to be watching the ball that’s flying towards her head. I think this will be a self-correcting problem.

Speaking of Trinity, she had her seventh birthday party on Saturday. Another little girl in church turns seven this month as well, and since all the same kids come to both we decided to have a joint party this year. It was at a little fountain park about ten minutes from our house. Wow, was that fun! We ended up with something like thirty kids and as many adults, and the girls (and everyone else) had a ball.

Trinity got all kinds of new bug gear: bug flash cards, bug box, gummy bugs (like gummy worms), plastic bugs, and my personal favorite - a Turbo Bug Gun which looks like a thin car vac that sucks up bugs and holds them in a little containment section in the barrel of the gun. Hahahaha! Being the bug nut that she is, Trinity was thoroughly delighted. She got some ballet books, Polly Pockets, and other non-insect related items as well (which I find her playing with after church with a band of other little girls who are less interested in bugs). Overall, it was a lovely birthday.

Parenting is so obnoxious. I spend half the time wishing the kids would grow out of whatever they’re doing that’s driving me nuts at the moment and the other half of the time wishing they would stop growing at all because they’re so sweet when they’re little. Georgie will be ten in another year! Okay, well I’m off to go have my panic attack now.

Rachel

Written by Rachel Shubin ~ Fiendish friend for effusive fun!