Living Room Baseball

Ugh.

I've been sick since Friday evening.  Feel alot better this afternoon, but I'm still not back to 100%.  And for the record, it's the 48-hour flu that we've had, NOT strep throat, sweetheart... With my folks in the medical profession, on top of the fact that they are natural worry warts, you'll start getting people all flustered saying things like that.  Anyway, I'm glad we're getting this out of the way before our upcoming vacation.  I'm praying nobody else gets sick.

New topic....   Sports.  I love to watch a good game, race, or fight, just as much as the next guy (or girl) -- and I always have.  But I have never been the type to keep up with player stats, individual players, coaches, who's getting traded, drafted, retired, etc.  I guess I just feel like there are a lot more important things to spend my time and brain power on.  As far as playing sports, I played a few years of tee-ball, one season of soccer, and that about sums up my career in organized sports.  Not because I wasn't athletic, but because around age 10, I found a love for martial arts.  I spent 7 years in Yoshukai karate, and ended up with 2nd degree black belt.  I guess with all the time, money, and effort invested in karate, it didn't leave much room for other sports.  I mean, I've played lots of backyard football and the like, but nothing organized.

And so I guess that's why it amazes me that my 4-year-old son, Braden, has such a fascination, and almost an obsession with sports.  Of course, I'm sure it helps a lot that his older brothers, Zach and Chase, are star football players in their league and very athletic and interested in just about all sports.  But ever since he could crawl, and even before he could form complete sentences, Braden could tell you the difference between a football, baseball, basketball, and soccer ball.  And despite his brothers' main focus on and consistent participation in football, Braden has always seemed more drawn towards baseball.

Lately, Braden has been asking to play baseball all the time.  I don't know where his drive is coming from.  We don't really watch baseball on TV; our kids don't play baseball; I'm not aware of him being exposed to baseball anywhere.  And of course, when he does ask, he usually wants to play when it's dark outside, or right after mosquito-thirty PM.  And so I've decided to go lax on the no-playing-ball-in-the-house rule.  (Yeah, I know I'm a sucker.)  But we're using plastic bats and the soft, cushiony balls, so it's not that dangerous, right?  So while the rest of us are sitting on the couch, winding down from the day and watching a little TV, Braden brings me the squishy ball, and runs to the opposite side of the room.  And he's patient.....  Like a young energetic pup who desperately wants his owner to throw the ball for a game of fetch, Braden glues his eye to the ball and waits for me to pitch.  Naturally, I never make him wait very long.

After only a couple of lessons on showing him the proper batting stance, this kid has it down.  Right hand over left, hands over right shoulder, hips facing the plate, head turned with eye on the ball, feet slightly spread, and cute little but sticking out.  I think he takes as much pride in getting his stance right now as he does hitting the ball.  And boy can he HIT!  One time he surprised me with a line drive, over my head, over the bar, and into the dining room.  When he does connect with the ball, which is most of the time, regardless of how good of a hit, he has this ritual of dropping the bat and running a long circle of furniture bases, into the kitchen, through the dining room, around the foyer, and back to home plate in the living room.  And then the setting up of the batting stance and the patient waiting for the next pitch begins....  Where does he get this stuff from?

This morning he came downstairs after having been upstairs for a short little while, and he wanted to play another game of "Living Room Baseball."  When I saw his choice uniform, I almost died, before I reached for the camera.

Braden's preferred baseball uniform:
Older brother's UnderArmor shirt, clip-on tie, birthday suit bottoms, and Vans slip-on shoes.
And none of it matches -- Go figure!

This particular uniform is quite mild compared to some of his other costumes.  Especially when he decides to be a gun-slinging cowboy in boots and tighty-whities, and stuffs guns, handcuffs, etc. into his waistband.  Yes, he is a riot.

Right now, I'm hating the fact that I wasn't blogging when the other kids were doing stuff like this regularly.  At least I still have some pictures and vidoes that I could (and may one day) retro-blog about.  Oh yeah, that's right Chase, I've got photos of your Steve Urkel and Family Auto Mart impersonations, and I'm not afraid to use them.  Now or in the future.  Lots of blackmail material indeed!  You're not safe either, Zachary!

Well, before I let you go, in case you've been following my earthbox story, I thought I'd share some pictures of my okra sprouts.  We planted 10 seeds, 2 in each of 5 holes.  So far, all holes have sprouted, but 3 holes only have 1 sprout each.  But some of them are really shooting up!  If you saw my earlier pictures of the construction of the Sub-Irrigated Planter, you may remember that I started with black plastic.  But I later read that lighter plastic is better in hot regions since darker plastics absorb more heat and raise the temperature of the soil.  So you can see my little sprouts peaking through the slits in what's left of our white Force-Flex trashbag...  OK, so there is a bit of a blue cast since these were taken in the shade; but trust me, it's white.

Seeds are tiny miracles of creation.  So small, yet so remarkable if you really take a moment to think about it.  How do the stems know to grow up?  How do the know to roots to grow down?  How can a seed remain dormant, sometimes for many years, and then, only when it senses conditions are right (temperature, moisture, presence/absence of light, etc.), it germinates and "sprouts into life" as it reaches for sunlight?

God is great!  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you are feeling as blessed as I am right now.