Friday, February 24, 2012

Ouch!

I hate to make predictions about my son's future. However, this week something happened that I needed to document. The story I know will arise again even if not in the circumstances under which I predict.

Whit has always been a "ball" lover. During football season his Daddy taught him how to kick off. He will whistle (as in the whistle to start play) and then kick the ball. He will also get down into a stance, tackle, throw touchdowns and complete hand-offs. At Christmas he received a basketball goal. He hasn't mastered dribbling yet, but he will shoot and pass the basketball. This is something that we do every day. A few weeks ago we experienced our first baseball game of the season. Whit obviously picked up on more than I thought because this week he began swinging his bat and then throwing it (as I'm sure he saw the big boys do during the game).

I've also been working with Whit on yelling "Ready!" prior to throwing a ball. He loves to get right next to you and throw, expecting you to catch it even though you are unaware that the ball has even left his hand. We've moved all of the "real" baseballs and basketballs to the outside toy box and do not allow them in the house. Although we did this as a precautionary measure, the genius of it became evident on Sunday. In the church nursery, where I was volunteering and Whit was playing, a small, hard, Whit sized ball was lurking in the shadows. After he threw it at me once or twice I took it away and said "This ball is too hard, find another ball and we will play catch." Not thirty seconds later I heard "Ready!" and as I turned to catch, a second small, hard, Whit sized ball connected with my face. The velocity with which Whit threw this ball astounded me.

Five days later I'm still the proud owner of a black eye and I've been warding off comments about it all week. "Yes, my infant son threw a ball at me and gave me a black eye. Yes, I understand that he must have thrown the ball very hard to do this much damage. Yes, I know that sounds impossible, but I swear it's true!!"

Almost every young baseball player dreams of being in the big leagues; most don't make it there. I'm not making a prediction, but... if Whit can give Mama a black eye when he's 20 months old, what will he be able to do when he is 20 years old?

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Ask and you shall receive

Ok - I admit it, I'm not blogging as I should.... I've already heard about my abandonment of facebook. But cut me some slack. I'm Mama to a very busy 20 month old, a first year (sort of) teacher, a college student, a wife to a husband who is deep into the beginning of baseball season, a homemaker trying to make it work on a teacher's salary and I've recently become both the FCCLA advisor and Cheerleading coach... Whew!! I'm tired just typing it!!

I'm going to carve out some time for my loyal followers most especially Grams and Grandpap up in Alaska. Here is an update from one of the lower 48. (ps, thanks for the Valentine's Day gift. Whit keeps taking the stickers off the book and putting them on his arm. He laughs, points and says "arm!")

20 months

Whit is 20 months old today! What a great reason to celebrate Valentine's Day! He's a laid up with a sinus infection right now but it's only slowed him slightly. We still made it out in the cold, snowy weather this past weekend to visit all of the Renegar cousins and watch Uncle Eric play a baseball game. Whit spent more time running up the hill, climbing on the golf cart and playing with the dogs than watching the game, but at least we were there for support. And it was great to see him running around playing football with all of his big boy cousins.

The first Hawks baseball game is coming up in about a month so I am ready to get Whit in baseball mode. Before that happens we need to wrap up basketball season. As the cheer co-head coach Whit and I have been in attendance at more than 1/2 of the regular season games. It's a challenge keeping Whit off the court until Daddy gets there after baseball practice. He wants nothing more than to be out with the big boys playing "Bass." To help the situation we've moved one of Whit's big Christmas presents into the living room. Yes, we now have a miniature sized basketball court with the couch as our courtside seating. Whit will grab his ball and run to either Kirk or myself to "Pay." (he helps to clarify by doing the ASL sign for "play").

Whit is in a language explosion right now. A documented developmental leap, the language explosion (my term) happens between 18 and 24 months. Whit has nearly doubled his words in the last month and has gone from single word sentences to two word sentences. As we got ready this morning I asked if he was going to see Sarah today (his daytime playmate). He looked at me and said "See Baby Reese?" Whit is a little in love with baby Reese. I try not to laugh at their little love triangle. Sarah loves Whit, Whit loves Reese. As Sarah and Reese are sisters separated by fewer than 2 years I know that their trials are just beginning.

I've been doing "Whit Wednesdays" with my freshman class so I will be uploading pictures and videos tomorrow to show them. Look for another post here very soon!