Vamanos!

I feel quite accomplished the last few days. I'm so proud of my son and how he has grown. It's wonderful to watch him play t-ball and see how much he is growing from my little baby into being his own person. It tugs at my heart to see him be so independent of me, but I try to remind myself that it's my job to teach him to succeed on his own. One of my favorite quotes is "In the final analysis it is not what you do for your children but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings." A lot of times I feel like I'm scrambling to catch up to something I should have known or done before I realized it was time to do it. It feels good to know that we have given Caden the opportunity to get in on an activity that is the right time for him and the right age to keep him in the same category with other kids his age. Moore is a very competitive league (at an older age obviously) and it's hard to get in if you haven't been there from the start. The kids he's playing t-ball with now will be the same kids he plays with through out his entire childhood. DJ and I were talking about that at Joe's the other night. Several champion players have come from Moore and it's just hard to get a fair chance if you don't start at the very beginning which just so happens to be 4&5 year old league. I really like the idea that Caden will get to play with the same team and the same kids every year. Some of my best memories are from being on team with the same people from year to year and growing up together. The thing that I am most concerned about is teaching my son to love the game and to play it fairly. I know the competitive stuff will come in later whether I want it to or not, but for now it's all about fun. The 3 coaches and parents on his team all have the same motivation. Just learn to love it and love doing it. The team we played against on Sunday really made my stomach turn. The coaches were taking it so seriously. The kids were getting yelled at and the poor kids weren't even smiling. Yes, they stood in their spots and behaved instead of picking flowers and playing with dirt, but they looked miserable and scared. They don't even keep score for crying out loud! No one wins and no one loses. It's just experience and team work. Caden plays first base and is used to getting the ball alot. That particular game he played short stop for awhile and then first base toward the end of the game. He didn't get the ball one single time. That's just the way the game worked out. He got frustrated and threw his glove on the ground and sat on the base and pouted. I was so shocked. That isn't like him at all. So we had a nice long talk about sportsmanship and taking turns and not giving up. He seemed to understand the lesson we were trying to teach him so hopefully it sticks. I just think that the whole thing should be light and fun and a learning experience. I'm so glad he's on a team that appreciates letting children be children and that loving the game is the most important fundamental they can learn at 4 years old. In fact Caden ended up on this team because the other coaches are guys that Chris plays softball with we've known for years. One of them just happened to have a 4 year old boy also. Anyway, it feels good to be involved in something with my child that will be a part of his life forever. I'm happy we have gotten him off to a good start. I would have felt bad if we waited until he was older to let him play. I don't want him to burn out or anything at a young age, but ultimately whether he plays or not is up to him. There are a few children that seem so completely uninterested in baseball and their parents are kind of forcing them into it. I wouldn't do that. I have, however, been crazy camera mom and stalking everyone for pictures. I'm aware that I'm being a goof but one thing I've learned is that I'm totally willing to appear overzealous in the moment because I end up with pictures that are keepsakes. Plus I simply like to take pictures and post them all over the internet to share with people. Pictures are useless if they aren't shared with everyone. Who wants a stack of pictures no one else has ever seen before? Anyway, my little boy is growing up on me. I enjoy seeing him out there making his own decisions and following direction. I couldn't be more proud of my little man.

I'm also surprised to see how much Macy is growing lately. In December I was buying her 2T clothes. She had a huge growth spurt and wears a 4T now. 2 sizes in 2 months. Her speech has tripled and she doesn't sound like a baby at all anymore. She is perfectly capable of having a lengthy intellegent conversation. She really blew my mind the other day. We were talking about the names of each finger and I asked her how many fingers I was holding up. Out of nowhere she counted to 10 IN SPANISH! That Dora and Diego are teaching her lots of things. I had no idea she could count in spanish. Frequently she will just say spanish phrases in the correct content and everything. Not too long in the store she looked at me and said, "Vamanos! Let's go!" Caden though vamanos was pizza. I tried to explain that was Domino's but he couldn't be convinced. My children are just delightful. It's incredible to have something so precious to smile about every day.

It's late and my children are still running around crazy. I'm trying to be better about getting them a set bedtime routine. We aren't really "routine" people. We like to go with the flow. But this tball thing is taking up quite a bit of time and Caden has a game tomorrow evening. I don't want him falling asleep in the feild! Tuesday 7:15pm for anyone who's interested.