Terrifying Tball

There are things you are allowed to brag about on your kids’ blog, and there are things you aren’t. Fingers crossed I have this one straight, but seeing as my son has very CLEARLY inherited ALL of his athletic capabilities from his father, I think it’s safe for me to write this post about his Tball prowess. And his deceptive lack thereof…

Toby is a FANTASTIC Tball player. In fact, he’s a fantastic BASEBALL player; we abandoned the “T” part a few games in, as he very clearly was able to hit a ball that Rob pitches to him. (Note: Rob has to pitch. He’s not quite so adept with my erratic pitches…but they have served to teach him what “balls” and “walks” are.) We have been playing “baseball” as a family for a while now with little pieces of cardboard as bases and the plastic bat and ball that he was given for Christmas.

You can imagine the excitement that we ALL felt when we discovered that there is a Tball league in Nottwa that is open to THREE year olds AND that his two best buddies were also going to join. We could think of nothing more exciting for the little guy.

You could tell Rob was excited because on his very next trip to Canadian tire he purchased a REAL bat, a REAL ball, a REAL helmet and a REAL mitt for Toby.

And they weren’t even on sale.

I won’t comment on how cute he looks in his baseball get up because I like to think some of my genes play a part in there. So that part I’ll leave up to your imagination. Lets just say he’s the shortest guy on the team and his #9 jersey comes down to about his knees. And sometimes I kind of want to eat him up.

The first Tball game was a bit of a production; Rob had soccer that night and Mia still needs my undivided attention at bedtime so my mom and dad came up to take him to the game. Rob went, too, for the first half, and I took a billion pictures and met them on their way out the door and on their way back in.

The game’s build up was akin to the Royal Wedding. Hats and all.

I won’t say we’re DISAPPOINTED that he spent the entire game picking dandelions in the outfield. It was a letdown that wasn’t at all unexpected; along with Rob’s athletic ability, Toby also inherited his shyness. And coach Ryan, apparently, is not only intimidating, but making eye contact with him will likely result in the world combusting into an eruption of flames and volcanic ash. Or so Toby seems to believe.

We are now at week 4 of Tball. Toby continues to revel in the novelty and dresses in his Tball outfit with passion only to arrive and hide behind my legs and then resort to playing with gravel in the infield or chasing his friends in the outfield. We have managed to hold him to one rule: he has to be on the field or we go home.

Last week we had a MAJOR breakthrough when Toby faced his fear of the terrifying coach and went up to bat. I have to hand it to Coach Ryan – as scary as he may seem to Toby, he is EXCELLENT with kids. His patience has outlasted mine by leaps and bounds and he knew EXACTLY how to handle the fact that Mr. Shy finally stepped up to bat. He did not make a big deal of things but treated Toby just like all the other kids and showed him how to hold the bat and find the ball.

I could hear the other kids, parents and fans all hold their breath as Toby stepped up to the plate.

This was the moment my shy kid would show the world that he has a hidden talent for baseball. As he took a swing at the T I pictured the reaction of the crowd as the youngest kid on the team hit the first home run of the season.

With the piddliest little swing I’ve ever seen him take, Toby finally made contact with the ball on the 3^rd swing and sent it about a quarter of the way to the pitcher before standing there looking dumbfounded as people cheered enthusiastically and encouraged him to run to first base. That was enough for him; off came the helmet and back to the dugout he ran with his eyes on the ground.

SERIOUSLY, KID? Is that ALL you got!?!?

Alas, I am an optimist. We have many more weeks of Tball ahead. ONE OF THESE DAYS, his shyness will part and he will shock the world with his surprisingly accurate swing. We can only hope…