Elijah's Game Ball!

In baseball, Elijah got off to a bit of a slow start.  Baseball seems to be his sport, in that, he's much more fond of it than soccer.  But, getting hit on the thumb while he was up to bat complicated the already nerve-wracking reality of hitting in front of a crowd.  Fortunately, on September 22nd, he got the game ball!  After that exciting game and all the fanfare that followed, his lukewarm attitude toward baseball heated up and he wanted to practice every free second of every day.

Besides signing his ball, Elijah also wrote out the game specifics.  He wrote, "3 hits, 1 RBI, 1 run, 2 catches and a tackle."  After having a bit of a hitting slump, that game was so exciting and wonderful.  Three hits was amazing, he scored his first run of the season, he made two great plays in the outfield, and he got tackled!  Unfortunately, learning how to field can be pretty confusing, and when the other coach yelled to his boys to tag Elijah, they got a little overzealous and tackled him instead.  Understandably it was quite upsetting, but the amazing thing was how resilient Elijah was -- after all the drama he went on to get two more hits.  All in all, it was an amazing, exciting game.  That game single handedly turned his season around and gave him new interest and new confidence.  He's come such a long way -- at last night's game, he had three hits, he got a hit every time he was up to bat and he scored two runs.  Baseball has become so much fun!

Fortunately, one of the team moms took a video of Elijah scoring his first run.  As you can see, he was almost tagged out at home, but the fielder accidentally tagged him with his empty hand.

That same mom also taped Elijah receiving the game ball.  You can see in the video that he was excited, overwhelmed and maybe a little nervous when he was given the game ball.  He saved his celebrating for later, and once the news sunk in, he was over the moon.  :)

 

 

That night, we had Dendi, Bapa, Uncle Jason and Auntie Andrea over for dinner and to celebrate the game ball.  Thoughtfully, Dendi brought balloons to Elijah to commemorate his accomplishment.  Elijah loved posing with his balloons, signing his game ball and posing with his ball.

 

 

Along with Elijah's balloons, Dendi also brought Keira a balloon, too.





Finally, no family celebration can be complete without a little cuddle time.

Self Portrait

Pooping on the potty was such an important event in Keira's life that it entered her drawings. She often draws a huge portrait of me in the center of our whole family. Then, she draws little squiggles for her, Elijah and Daddy. After finally pooping on the potty, she added that to her drawing, too.  Here she is pointing to the double squiggle next to me that depicts her pooping on the potty, and proudly posing with her creation.  By the way the little squiggle under my mouth is Baby Keira in my tummy, and the little dot near my mouth is tape to fix the drawing.

Learning to Sew

Baseball lost some of it's appeal after Elijah got hit by the ball twice on his thumb by the pitcher.  His worries over getting hit again spawned a hitting slump.  Fortunately, his enthusiasm peaked again once he got the game ball, more on that later.  But, until he got the game ball he was a little reluctant to play in the games and always had another agenda he wanted to pursue on the weekends.  One Saturday morning, that agenda included learning how to sew.  He's been interested in learning for a long time, so that day I finally pulled out my sewing kit and we gave it a shot.  He's quite our Renaissance Boy.

Poop on the Potty!

On September 12th, Keira FINALLY went poop on the potty!  She's been potty trained for months, since right when we got back from Disney, as far as pee is concerned.  But, she continued to ask for a diaper when she had to poop.  I tried everything I knew, we read potty books and sat on the potty when she had to poop, I bribed her for trying and encouraged her to imagine her favorite things she might earn for pooping on the potty.  I rewarded sitting on the potty when she had to poop and I rewarded her for each toot.  But, nothing seemed to work.  Unfortunately, I think the fact that she is the second child influenced her delay.  She's been with and observed Elijah when he's had pooping issues, and I think it made her think pooping on the potty would hurt.  Again, our kids are overthinking things!  Amazingly, after a week of really trying every time she had to poop, the first poop was practically a non event.  I was on the phone with Grandpa Jan, I sent her in the bathroom with a few M&Ms to try and poop, while I prepared to get off the phone and sit with her.  Before I got off the phone, she yelled, "Mommy I poop-ed!"  I didn't really believe it, but sure enough she did!  Yay!  She chose a giant chocolate bunny for her reward (she only ate half).  She was very proud of herself as her smile shows.

Cub Scouts!

On September 9th, the day after Elijah's first baseball game, Elijah attended his first cub scout den meeting.  It was also the first time he wore his cub scout uniform, which of course was a not to be missed photo opportunity.

 

 

Lucky for Elijah, his best friend Kieran's dad is the scout master.  For Elijah that means cub scout time is guaranteed Kieran time.  During the meeting they had a good time playing Twister together.

Elijah's First Baseball Game

On September 9th, Elijah played in his first baseball game.  His team won, and Elijah got a hit and got to second base.  All in all, it was a very exciting start to the season.  At first, Elijah was a little nervous when it was his turn to bat.  Not only did he have the usual jitters, but he was scared of getting hit by the ball.  Unfortunately, during try outs, his thumb got nailed by the ball.  Fortunately, he overcame his fear and got his first hit.

 

 

He safely got to first and second base before the change in innings.  Little League has some mercy rules, like each team can only get five runs per inning.  In this case, Elijah's team was on fire, and scored five runs that inning.

 

 

Of course, he also got a little practice being in the outfield, too.

 

 

At the end of the game, the teams formed lines to give each other high fives.  Then, the triumphant Athletics ran back to their dugout for their first post game snack and pep talk from Coach Roy.