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?