T-Ball

Brooklynn's playing T-Ball now! Her first official team! Ryan and I are so excited. Gratitude is really due to her uncle and aunt, Eric and Marissa. They sought it all out. Actually, Eric's her coach and Ryan's an assistant and Marissa and I are the unofficial and official team moms. And, her big cousin, Payson, is on her team. All of this worked out so perfectly. Brooklynn, likes to feel out a social situation for a while before she's completely comfortable. While Ryan and I are baffled by this phenomenon, we're very supportive of her becoming her own little person. It just seems this was a really great transition into team sports - being so surrounded by family. The "games" are three innings long. Each kid has a turn at bat until he/she is able to get the ball at least three feet in front of the tee. Then they run to first. They run one base per player at bat until the last (aka "homerun hitter") steps up. This hit, no matter where it goes, is a homerun and the bases are cleared as such. Some may complain that it's too much "coddling" as seems to be the trend these days - everyone makes the team and gets a medal and such. I only disagree because of their age. If they were a bit older, fine. Let them know when they're not number one. But right now they're three and four. Which of them isn't number one? It's really just to learn the very basics of t-ball: this is a bat, this is a ball, this is a helmet. This is first base. Do not bring the bat to first base. Try to get to each base without stopping to talk to, hug, dance with, members of the other team. It's also about learning social skills. Everyone takes a turn. (No, you cannot bat whenever you want just because you want to use the pink bat, and sometimes when the ball goes out into the field, it's not yours. Let the other kid get it since it's four inches from him and thirty-two feet from you. Please don't clobber him to get the ball and throw it who knows where and for what purpose.)
You can imagine.
It's awesome.
Brooklynn hasn't made it through an entire game without crying yet, but we have high hopes. She swears she loves it - that love just never lasts three whole innings. At some point she's overwhelmed and must leave to play on the playground. Oh well. You only have so many years of good playground playtime. Softball will be around forever.