March 2013

Yeah! Baseball Season is Here!!!

He certainly looks the part

Even his teeth are blue (due to gatorade)

Spring Training just started at Roger Dean and "Our" Ray has started another season. Yesterday, they had their first scrimmage. The first scrimmage of the season is always interesting. But let's look at the positives: The kids get on field experience, live pitching, live action in the field, and Trevor did get the opportunity to pitch. This in itself made the scrimmage worth while. I say that because after last season, I wasn't sure if he would ever step back on the mound. It was just a rough season for him on the mound last year. He would get so emotional. He expects perfection and he doesn't yet understand the amount of effort it takes to pitch at the level he envisions. But that's ok, he's 9, he is still learning. Which by now you all should know that's what I love about Sports..it's these lessons that we learn when playing sports at an early age that transfer over to real life as we get older. When we were practicing out front the other day, once again, he shut down. Upset that he wasn't hitting the ball like he thinks he should. I said "Trevor, you are missing the fun. The FUN is figuring it out...trying new things...feeling the ball hit the bat that one time, in the perfect spot, and knowing that you did it just right that time and then trying every time to feel that same feeling." He looked confused. I know he was thinking "that doesn't sound like the fun part". The fun part to him of course would be hitting the ball over everyone's head...period. But it's a process. I know he's listening. So I left him alone, literally. I went inside and said "try to enjoy figuring it out". Of course I was peaking out the window. What I saw was a young boy that cares. A boy who is passionate, to a fault sometimes, but it still remains to be his best quality. He may not realize, but he is figuring it out, he is figuring out life.

He pitched well at the scrimmage. He gave up one hit and struck out two batters.

He struck out during his only at bat. As with life, we always have more work to do.

Darren, on the other hand, is having a whole new experience this baseball season. I hope that I can retell this story and give it the justice it deserves. There is a playground right by the fields where Trevor practices on Wednesday nights. Last year, Darren happily played in the sand and on the equipment. Occasionally he would attempt to play tag with some other kids but it never lasted long. This night was a different story. These two boys, who must be younger brothers of a boy on Trevor's team, made my night one of constant entertainment. Darren was on the playground first and when they came over they did their own thing, but then one of the boys got stuck in the swing. The other brother started asking Darren if he would come over and help. Darren just started laughing and saying jumbled phrases. Darren was trying so hard to communicate with this boy but just didn't have all of the appropriate language to respond to this boys' request. So the boy turns around to his brother and says "Well, we can't ask him because he speaks Spanish." I laughed out loud at this. And then I thought, wait!, they didn't say "hey there's something wrong with that kid" or "he's autistic" or all of the million other things that kids can say about other kids...they just thought he spoke Spanish. So I helped the one boy out of the swing but I didn't say anything to boys about Darren. I just let kids be kids. I am so glad that I did. The boys didn't stop trying to communicate with Darren. Turns out the Father of the boys speaks both Spanish and English...so the boys hurried over to their Dad and asked him how to say "Want to play?", "Do you want to be our friend?" etc and then ran back over in excitement to ask Darren all of these questions in Spanish. As they are asking these questions, Darren just keeps smiling and answering "Yes", "Uh hu, YES". It was priceless. The boys scream "SEE! He does speak Spanish!" Then the boy says (in English) very loud and slow, "Do you want to play  HIDE AND SEEK" and Darren yells YES.
And they played.....
Darren kept looking at me throughout it all. I would just give him a thumbs up, and he would smile. He was so proud of himself and he knew I was proud too.
The boys continued to ask questions. Darren continued to try to answer. They did ask him his name, and he answered. He also call the youngest boy "baby" which was hilarious.  But then the questions got very intense...
Boy: "Have you every killed a dragon?"
Darren: " Yes."
Boy: "Have you ever found a red gem?"
I am guessing they were talking about some video game...
Darren: "Yes."
Boy: "Have you ever died and come back to life?"
Darren: "Umm Yea"

Boy starts to see the trend. He yells to his brother, "I think he answers yes to everything!" So he then he tries a new strategy..
Boy: "Have you ever eaten your own poop?"
Darren: (yells) NO!!!!!

HAHAHAHA I was SO proud of Darren. It was such a great moment. That's my boy!!

These are from last weekend:)

Love to all:)