00 plays ball

Yesterday, little league season officially came to a close. The last game was played, trophies were handed out and the celebratory pizza was devoured. I think I've mentioned before that if one of our kiddos really wants to participate in extra curricular activity, they have to really want it. I keep seeing moms trying to "fill" their kid's time with activities, but after a couple decades of experience I can honestly say that my favorite activities for our kiddos include swimming in the back yard, playing Legos with your siblings while learning the art of negotiation, using problem solving skills while learning to share, board games, getting dirty in the back yard... In other words, we don't do a lot of after school sports or paid activities. Don't get me wrong. We do do some, but not a lot of them. And like I said, a kiddo had to really show an interest in it for a while before we'll commit both the money and the time and sign up.
But 7-year-old Jude has done just that. He's been begging to play baseball for a couple years now. It's kinda crazy since his sweet little body is not built for many sports, but not surprisingly his mind is. And for a long while now he really just eats and breathes baseball. He will watch a whole 4-hour baseball game on tv. (And of course it's even better if Papa is sitting next to him!) He asks lots of questions because he wants to learn all the rules and terms to understand how the plays work. He pretty much always has a ball (and usually glove if I let him) in his hands, constantly tossing and catching it, bouncing it off walls... He's just not going to let that 39 lb, little body of his stop him from doing what he loves! As he shouldn't.
This pic is from the first day of practice. It shows how little he is in comparison to his team mates. Not that he or any them really even noticed. (I got to be the team photographer so I took lots of photos.)

It was only fitting that he got 00 as his number.

Learning how to get that bat all the way around with such a small body took a while, but in the end Jude was hitting the ball consistently, making plays, and doing it all with a smile on his face! His favorite position was catcher, and I think he liked it 'cause he was always in the action. He had fun teammates to play with and great coaches. He learned a lot about the game and absolutely loved every moment of it.

And he slept with his trophy last night.

ps-Our summer officially starts this afternoon as the last day of school hapis finally here. Wasting no time, the car is almost done being packed, and we're headed up the mountain to Little Cabin in the Woods as soon as I pick everyone up from school. I'm so ready for summer to be here!

pps-I have a couple giveaways coming soon! Wooo hoooo!

ppps-Did I mention I'm really excited for summer? I AM!