One of the things that is occupying a lot of our time right now is baseball. Kaleb is playing on a really good team and seems to practice all of the time, not only formally with his team, but also in the backyard with Austin, Michele, his fiends or me.
(The next story may seem that it does not connect, but it does. Bear with me)
Last night, just before bed, the boys and I were talking and reading about Noahs ark and the flood. There was a pretty good conversation about patience and what it must have smelt like to be on that ark with all of those animals. The conversation wrapped up at bedtime. A few minutes after I had tucked them both in, Michele comes to me and says that Kaleb is very upset and worried about tornadoes (not sure how that connects to the ark). I went in to talk to him and tried to calm him down. I assured him that everything would be fine and, just to settle his nerves, I checked the weather channel to make sure there were no storms in the area. One of the tools I have given him to avoid bad dreams is to think of good things before you go to sleep. On particularly difficult nights, I will talk him through some of the details just to get his imagination flowing and last night was one of these nights. The conversation went something like this:
Me: What do you want to think about tonight so that you don’t have bad dreams?
Kaleb: Baseball!
Me: OK, are you just practicing or playing a game?
Kaleb: Playing a game.
Me: Who are you playing?
Kaleb: The Astros?
Me: Are we batting or in the field?
Kaleb: Batting.
Me: Who is up to bat?
Kaleb: Me, of course!
Me: Are there any runners on base?
Kaleb: Zach is on first and Reid is on third!
Me: What am I doing?
Kaleb: Cheering me on, telling me ‘quick bat’ and turn your hips
Me (laughing a little): And coach Nick?
Kaleb: He is at third base yelling level swing Kaleb, keep your eye on the ball
It was at this point that it dawned on me that he had heard this plenty. I guess that I just thought he completely tuned me out. I have said the same things to him over and over, and while he is definitely progressing, he still struggles with some of the basics. It just made me sit back and look at how much that he has progressed during this season. When we started, he was scared of the ball (both batting and catching) and now he almost never strikes out and his fielding seems to improve daily.
Just so you can sleep tonight. I asked Kaleb how his at bat went. He hit the ball to right field (just over the first baseman’s head) on the third pitch. Reid and Zach both scored and he ended up at second. Just so you know, this is fairly accurate as to what might have happened. I fully expected him to tell me that he hit it over the fence or to the wall, but I am glad to see that he is honest with himself about his abilities.
Check out the photos section for some recent pictures of Kaleb’s baseball games.
Chris
