The Happiness Project: Little League

Watching my boys play baseball (although I never get them both in the same action shot)

What do you do when you have over 50 balls in your house?

You play sports.

Lots of sports.

Sports all year long.

When the twins were born, dear hubby just knew they would be car fanatics just like him.  By the time they were 1 1/2 years old - we knew otherwise. 

My husband looked at me the other day and asked how we ended up with jocks.  Like I know?  Not that we are couch potatoes, I'm actually a coach.  But there is a huge difference between loving and playing one sport verses trying to play 3 a year.

The twins are 7 and we are already making up sports rules. 

1. No one plays sports during the winter (mommy and daddy want a season off - and don't want to freeze to death)
2. Only one sport/after school activity during the school year. 
• Which means soccer or football, but not both
• Which also apparently means they can play two sports over the summer (rugby and summer league baseball are current choices)
3.  Mommy and Daddy only buy 1 set of required gear per season.  If you lose a cleat halfway through the season, you buy a new set.
4. Good Sportsmanship carries over into everything you do. 
• if Mommy hears bad sportsmanship at home, that means you are out of the game and run laps around the house.
• if heard at a game - it's up to the coach, but Mommy will be furious

I'm thinking there may be more rules as they grow - but that is it for now.  If you have little sports fans, this is what you have to look forward to.  It is wierd if you are not used to it.

What is your child a fanatic about?

2009 in Review: Part 1

Is it really bad that I can't remember the first few months of 2009?  I wasn't blogging yet, so I didn't have daily or almost daily chronicles of my life and I can't remember what happened. 

I know that little man was just starting to talk - he took a long time to talk.  I know that the boys were in the first grade and played baseball in the spring.  But the details - I don't remember any details.  The details that I want to remember and keep a history of - those are the things you don't get to keep when you don't blog.  It's the whole reason I started blogging.  I had tried various ways of writing down things that happened in our lives, little things that the boys did or said, but I wasn't good at keeping up with it. 

Blogosphere has brought me a way of keeping the memories.  Of course I had no idea that it would bring me a whole community of friends and that I would be able to piece bake some of the memories of when the boys were younger.

So while I don't remember much of the beginning of 2009 I do have a few memories from the first six months and a few from before 2009 that I was able to capture and preserve.

T1 learned that mommy was scared of dead lizards.

We played a lot of baseball

and little man taught us all the Toddler's Creed!
I remembered about the Toothless Tooth Fairy

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~From the television show The Wonder Years

Dear Soccer Moms

I detest you.  I detested the "soccer mom" persona even before I had kids.  Soccer Moms drive mini vans with soccer ball stickers on the back.  Soccer Moms always have gatorade and healthy snacks at every game.  Soccer Moms dress like they are going to the mall when really they are just carting their kids to every practice under the sun.  Soccer Moms are organized and carry a whole first aid kit in their purse.

I drive a suburban (I hear you gasping at my gas guzzler), it holds more crap than your minivan and if I get rear-ended, my kids aren't going to be crushed.  I prefer juice boxes and chips for an after game snack.  Really, they just played their hearts out and deserve a treat.  I dress like I am going outside, you know, in sweats.  I limit my kids to one sport or other activity per season, because I prefer them to be kids and have time to play outside.  You know, where there is real dirt.  I don't carry a first aid kit, but I do know how to get to the ER if they are really hurt.  Otherwise they are kids and are going to have scraped knees and bruised elbows.

Thats you, this is me.  And for two years our boys played baseball, but then, this fall T1 decided he wanted to play soccer (my gasp) and T2 agreed.  So there I am at every game, in my sweats sitting next to you in your capri pants and blouse.  I'm the one you look at and wonder what's wrong with her, when I scream great job even though someone just made a mistake on the field.  I'm also the one who's kids run the fastest and aren't scared to go for the ball because they may get dirty.

Sincerely,

Mom in the Suburban

Who Prefers Rugby to Soccer Everytime!

Most Admired Mom

T1 got to be the student of the week this week. The student of the week has to bring in pictures and answer some questions about themselves. I helped him by gathering some great pics and spelling all of his answers out on a seperate sheet for him so he could copy them down. (He didn't want to mess up on the sheet that would go on the wall *gasp*).


T2was quite jealous, especially since his class doesn't do student of the week. So T2 decided to rewrite the answers I wrote for T1. These are my boys.

Favorite Color: red BLUE
Favorite Book: The Magic Treehouse HARRY POTTER
Favorite Movie: Harry Potter HARRY POTTER
Favorite Sport: baseball RUGBY
What do you want to be when you grow up: a baseball player A RUGBY PLAYER
What makes you special: I'm a twin I CAN DO 1 PULL UP
What state were you born in: North Carolina
Favorite Food: Poor Man Suprise
Person you most admire: my mom
Favorite Subject: reading MATH



For the record, I don't think T1 actually understood what admire meant, and T2 chose not to answer that question. But either way I'll take it!!!

Summer Cleaning

I don't spring clean. It's a nice thought - but spring is baseball season in my house and we really don't have time for anything else. I don't fall clean either. But I do clean prior to the start of a new school year - very similar to spring cleaning I guess. I start at one end of the house and work to the other throwing out, reorganizing, and cleaning everything. The goal is to not have to search for the pencil sharpener after school starts as it will have it's own little space, along with everything else.

I started last Sunday - as it will take me a few weeks to complete. 5 hours I spent on our pantry, laundry room and kitchen. 2 bags of trash later (because instead of throwing away the blender that made it's last milkshake before cracking - it was cleaned and put away) I called it quits for the day. The twins became fascinated after I had washed the outside of the fridge - amazing how new something looks without 1000 fingerprints. T1 actually helped clean the inside of the fridge and the outside of the dishwasher until he got bored. T2 would just walk by with stellar comments like "Is that what it looked like when we bought it?" "Wow Mommy, its just so...so clean!"

I was actually pretty proud of myself and all my hard work. I took the rest of the day off (other than the folding of the laundry) and played in the pool with the boys. The next morning, while fixing breakfast, T2 looked inside the fridge and said "Well it's not perfect, you missed a spot. And another spot right there."

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, 1966

Springtime = Baseball

Springtime at our house comes with balls, bats, gloves, cleats, and lots of dirt. The twins have been in love with baseball since they were two years old. I'm not sure where the desire for the game came from, my husband and I never played, but never less they LOVE the sport. I am not overstating it either. Before they could speak sentences they would hand you a ball and try to swing a stick at it. Or they would scream "UPDOWN" meaning please throw the ball way up in the air so we can try to catch it when it falls back down.

When they were 2 1/2 they each got their own first t-ball set and played all the time. Inside the house and out (my favorite blown glass piece was broken by one such baseball).

At three T1 had watched enough baseball movies to know the pitcher stance and throw, and even to check first and third before throwing (although I'm not sure he knew what he was looking for). For years they asked me when they could play on a real team, to them those years must have dragged on. They were finally able to play last year, as five year olds, on a coach pitch league. I loved their team last year, everyone was great, the parents, coaches, kids. Most of the team was new, and we had our good players and our bad like every group. When the season was over they were sad that they wouldn't be playing again for a year (I see year round baseball in our future).

This years season started out great, they were so excited to be playing again. They would not have their same coach (as he moved on to the next age bracket), but the new coach wasn't too bad. Practice looked good, they looked good. And we won our first 5 games. But as other teams were getting better, we weren't because we no longer practiced as a team. Just games during which the kids were yelled at for not paying attention by the coach. Yelled at for not paying attention - these are 5 & 6 year olds here. This is little league. They are not always going to pay attention. My husband, bless him, is so frustrated with the coach. When he got word the coach wanted our boys next year, he decided he would coach next year, enabling him to control who gets to yell at them.

So here we are at the end of the season winning 5 games, losing 5 games. And our team has done well. There are your ones who always hit, and mostly catch, and then there are those who still aren't sure how to swing the bat. And then there are my favorites, no not my boys, but two kids, siblings, boy and a girl, who are so little but have such great hearts. They try so hard to hit, and about once a game they do manage to connect, but not being able to run fast, are usually tagged out before making it to first base. Their mom and I root for all the kids, but especially our four, the four of them love the game so much.

Last night was our first playoff game. We were up against a team we clobbered early in the season. But this was a different team. They had been practicing, they warmed up before the game. Only three kids on our team warmed up (you know 2 were mine). And they started pounding away at us. We weren't ready for them, we weren't communicating with our team. And we were losing.

I don't know the exact score, but they were up by 4, up by 5, up by 4, we were not making any headway. By the fourth inning, I had given up on the score, but still had my whole heart in the game. T2 came up to bat and hit a ball that went all the way to the fence (being a short field, it was still only a double). I was jumping up and down cheering so loud. T1 hit one 6 inches from the fence - and I cheered telling him he had hit the fence.

That's what matters right, teaching them to keep going, that they are doing great. We cheered for Adam and Abby every time they came to bat - even though they were using the wrong bat, and could barely lift it. We cheered when in the outfield Abby watched the ball go between her legs and it looked like something from the movies. But she figured it out and chased it down and still threw the ball in. We cheered when short stop threw to T1 at first, going over his head, and T1 still got the ball and threw it to the pitcher who was trying to stop the runner going home and did! (Now the coach did not agree on this move - but we ignored him). We cheered when T2 on third caught a ball and chased a runner back to second, almost stopping him. It was a great try.

By the last inning we were worn out. All this cheering, so wanting them to win for themselves, because they loved the game, but knowing the other team worked harder for it.

Bottom of the last inning and we are up to bat, when T1 comes running out of the dugout, I figured he wanted a hot dog, but he said his leg hurt. I checked him out while Adam was at bat. And as I sent T1 back (he was fine), Adam hit the ball, but didn't quite make it to first base. Out #1. Abby was up next and she missed, and missed and then she HIT, not far, but because they had to come get it, she ran as fast as her short legs could take her and made it to first base! We were screaming something fierce, she was safe at first - that alone made the season. The lineup started over and a good hitter was up, could she make it to second - YES! Wow, this was becoming unreal as T2 stepped up to bat. Ironically I was now afraid he would hit a double and the boys would run over little Abby, she would never make it from second all the way home. But he didn't, he hit a single and the bases loaded, with Abby making it to third. Could it happen? Could Abby make a run and score? That would be the way to end the season. The batter hit, and with the coach running along side her, little Abby made it to home plate - scoring her first point ever.

The bases still loaded the next hitter bats and hits, allowing 2 runs before being tagged out. Yeah T2 scored. But there is now a guy on third and T1 at bat. The coach from the other team, turned around and told us the score was tied. TIED, how did we do that, we couldn't be tied, we were just happy Abby scored, that they were having fun, oh this was worth more now - T1 was told, all he had to do was hit that ball, and he did and the other boy was able to score, ending the game. What a night, what a game.

So tonight we play again, shocked that we made it this far. I hope the kids have a good time and that I am not quite as hoarse as I was last night. This could be their last game, the end of baseball season, the end of spring.

Don't tell me about the world. Not today. It's springtime and they're knocking baseball around fields where the grass is damp and green in the morning and the kids are trying to hit the curve ball. ~Pete Hamill