Wednesday, May 19, 2010

T Ball Drama

Henry is on a T Ball team this year and so far, we've had some pretty interesting experiences.  His first practice was filled with tears and frustration which was mostly my fault.  I really had no idea what he was supposed to wear and I forgot to go get him a glove so we show up in shorts and a tee shirt when all the other boys are wearing mini professional uniforms with gloves.  Henry would not participate or focus and when he finally did, he cried every time he didn't get the ball and when all the boys dived into the dirt, Henry's legs got all scraped up and he cried even more.  To top it all off, when it was his turn to hit, which he actually wanted to do, he had no idea what to do after he hit the ball and decided to run after his own ball which he picked up about 20 feet from the T and all the other boys stood there, confused, and one boy said, "uh, you're out".  All the parents thought it was hilarious, as did I. It was pretty painful though and I wasn't sure if he was ready to play. 

Since then he's done better and has generally participated and has enjoyed it.  The games are really fun because every child gets to run the bases every inning and no one counts the runs and even if the kids manage to get the ball and throw it to first base before the runner gets there, they're still not out, so no one feels bad and everyone scores.  This is the way Henry needs to play a game: no winners or losers.  Last weekend he went to the father and son's campout with Justin and didn't get to bed until midnight and woke up early to get to the game the next morning.  He was understandably cranky and distracted.  He sat on each base to rest, came in from the outfield when he saw our friend's daughter eating candy, wanting some, didn't focus at all and the last time he hit the ball, he dropped the bat, lowered his head and slowly walked to first base with his hands hanging down to his sides.  I thought it was hilarious, but Justin said that it just stresses him out to see his son so distracted and clueless.  Well,  it's hard to teach your son every sport during residency so we're just going to have to deal with it!

All in all, he's having fun and learning a ton and I'm glad we signed him up!

1 comment:

DCRomney 2010 said...

Oh my goodness, that little anecdote about the kid saying, "Uh, you're out" had me in hysterics! Sorry it was a traumatic experience for Henry! Hopefully he can teach Rio how to play (although I really can't stand baseball so maybe its better he just never learns how to play so I never have to watch - so selfish, I know!)