Sunday, May 4, 2003

Timothy had his first t-ball game yesterday morning and it took me until lunchtime today to get the uniform (t-shirt) off of him. He's already counting the days until his next game. He was probably the youngest kid there since you have to be at least 5 (but less than 7) by July 1st to play, but I would say he was about average height for the group. For those of you only familiar with soccer, you would've been right at home - it was swarm soccer's answer to baseball.

Here are the rules: Each child bats and then the inning changes (only 3 innings or whatever fits in under 90 minutes where each team bats the same number of times). Upon hitting the ball, the batter goes to first base and stays there whether the ball beats him/her there or not. Meanwhile, every person on the opposite team, except the first baseman, dives for the ball, knocks each other over, grabs from one another, until the victor finally throws to first base. The first baseman picks it up, throws it home (which is about as far away as a 5 year old can throw), and it's the next batter's turn. When it's the last batter, the coach shouts last batter and each child is reminded to run all the way home. A parent is on each base (mostly to mark the bases that are hard to find in the tall grass) to tell the kids where to run next.

Timothy LOVED it. This morning when I opened my eyes he was in front of my face. He whispered, "Hey Mommy, I think it's time for my 'nother t-ball game".

Today we went out to get Timothy new sneakers. Turns out that Josh was right, the 10s didn't fit any more, mostly because he's a 12, so we bought 12 1/2s. Then Josh took the seats out of the van and went out and bought a swing set that we spent the rest of the afternoon putting together (with marriage still in tact, mostly because Josh knows to just do what he's told). We put the first piece together wrong and couldn't get it apart, so we adapted the design a bit, but it at least looks like a swing set. It's just one of those metal a-frame ones with a slide on one side and a see-saw on the other.

Last Wednesday night was kindergarten orientation, so that was fun. I must say it was a little weird because all the other parents seemed to know each other already, so I felt a little like I was back in junior high and couldn't find anyone to eat lunch with, but I entertained myself by eying the kid in front of me (it was supposed to be no-kids) who was sucking his thumb and holding a blankie (I assume he was 5 yrs old as he looked about Timothy's height and build).