T-ball

Yesterday was Sebastian's first actual t-ball practice - no rain. It was nice and sunny, but it was kind of cool. And, much to my daughter's delight, the field still had quite a few muddy spots from Monday's rain. She just got progressively muddier as the evening went on. I figured once her jacket and pants had a little mud, there was no point in stopping her. Dirty is dirty. So she had a ball!


Let me back up a minute. Yesterday in itself was pretty interesting. As a favor to Nicole, I offered to watch Austin yesterday. He's one of her daycare kids who is just a few months younger than Meagan. He was nice & easy - took a good nap, played well - couldn't have asked for better. After nap & snack, we all headed outside because my house just couldn't take cooped-up kids any longer. Soon, Sebastian came home from school, and Keylee came over until her dad got home. Then Keylee's friend & her cousin showed up for a few minutes. So it was me and 7 kids (8 if you count Kyle, who I was 'semi-responsible' for, but who was not actually present). But it all went fine, and they all had a lot of fun together actually....maybe too much! Meagan & Austin seemed to really hit it off, and by the end of the afternoon, THIS was the scene (yes, they're holding hands... sshh, don't tell her Daddy!):

So, with all the craziness, I opted out of cooking, ordered a pizza, scarfed it down, and headed out to practice. (Might I note at this point in the story, that I DID have Sebastian & Isaac go to the bathroom before we left). As we were driving off, I realized I had forgotten the field assignment schedule, but I figured we would figure it out when we got there. I, however, was operating under the idea that Sebastian was on the Tasty Twist team, when, in fact, he is NOT. So, we did manage to find the Tasty Twist field right away, but it did us no good. And since I had no other idea what our team name might possibly be, I was at a loss for where to look next. I just knew that none of the kids or coaches on that particular field looked at all familiar.

We did finally find the right field - about 10 minutes late (oops!). So he jumped right in to pitch & catch with one of his coaches. Watching a row of 5 & 6-year-olds trying to catch is quite entertaining. A few times one or 2 of them accidentally stood in the right place and the ball fell into their gloves. Other than that, it was more like pitch and chase. But, Sebastian did really well at throwing. So I guess we'll just focus on the positives and trust that the rest will come in time! They're 5 & 6.

Interruption #1 - Sebastian is doing the potty dance. And we are in the field farthest back - nowhere near a restroom. I quickly weigh my options: 1) haul all 3 kids a quarter mile back to the school & hope to find an unlocked door, and hope that Sebastian makes it all the way there, and miss another 15 minutes of an hour & 15 minute practice; OR 2) head for the bushes. Option #2 it is! One benefit of having a SON on the team! So, we head off to the side, along a row of bushes & brush & trees. Apparently, at this point, Isaac determines that he's missing out on something. He runs over to join in. And he does. So I'm now standing with TWO kids peeing in bushes. We've only been here for 15 minutes!

Back to practice. Next task - running bases. At this point, I realized there are a lot of things about baseball that I take for granted as givens. Like knowing which direction to run. Apparently, not a given. I guess it's a good thing they practiced that (LOL)!

After a few laps around the field, they moved on to fielding. YIKES! The coach had a pretty decent approach, though. I must say I admired his ability to get 10 kids to focus & head in any semblance of the same direction. He kept the focus on getting in front of the ball, rather than on actually catching it, so they all felt like they were accomplishing something big! Very cute! Sebastian gave it his all! He got right down, and actually as practice went on, he got not-so-very-bad at it.

Interruption #2 - How is it even humanly POSSIBLE that the child has to pee again?! Now we've moved out further to another open field. The bushes are pretty far away. The school is even farther. But, there's a pine tree! Perfect! (I realize at this point that my child might become 'the little boy who always has to pee.')

Back to fielding. Sebastian gets moved to first base (which was marked by a tennis ball). Well, while the coach is working with the other kids, Sebastian decides to play with first base. So he picks up the tennis ball and starts throwing it around. 'Sebastian put the base down!' Sheesh, kid! LOL!

Well, practice is almost over, and there's only one thing left to do! Bat! This was what he had been waiting for! He had even brought his very own aluminum t-ball bat that Santa brought him for Christmas last year! Very pumped! And he smacked the crap out of it! It flew right through the net, and went past the pee pine tree several yards away. He hit a few more times, and the coach decided he was done for the night. They got cookies & Gatorade & we all headed home. Sebastian was SOOOO excited to talk to Daddy on the phone to tell him how good he had done. Meagan was covered in mud from head to toe, and Isaac was ready to go home and start up our own t-ball practice in our front yard. All in all, it was a good (and memorable) first practice. All I can say is that the games (starting 1 week from Monday) should be pretty interesting!