Red Sox vs Yankees, the bitter rivalry...Little League style

On Saturday, the Starr household joined the rank and file of children's athletic competition as Barrett took part in his first Little League game! Furthermore, what better way to be introduced to a classic game than being on a team like the Red Sox, a team that has more history in its pinky than the team from around these parts (sorry Rangers, you'll get there...maybe). In order to provide the "proud Dad" perspective on the game Jessica asked me (yep, you got Cody this week folks, hopefully I won't disappoint ;) ) to cover this exhibition of mass chaos...and I mean chaos. Witnessing my first 4-year old sporting event reminded me of what scientist call the "Butterfly Effect" which theorizes that a change in something seemingly innocuous, such as a flap of a butterfly's wings, may have unexpected larger consequences in the future, such as the path a hurricane will travel. That said, I'm pretty sure the insanity I saw on Saturday will likely result in a Typhoon striking the coast of Japan sometime soon. So here are the highlights and "video analysis". Watch the videos and I'll provide the commentary. Oh and pardon the sound quality, it was a typical spring morning where the Texas wind was howling at a constant 30 mph.

Warm-ups

This conversation is a microcosm of male bonding. Boys trying to one up each other and you have to love the runneth over of confidence from Barrett's mouth. The grass stains on the pants and dirt add a nice touch. Ice it off with a couple of well placed 'Dudes' and you have a form of juvenille behavior that will last well into their 50's.


Fielding and The Ground Rules
At 4, the rules are simple. There is no score, no outs, no stikes or balls. Everyone gets to hit, field, and run the bases. Great fun. In the first inning the boys were all a bit timid. The ball would get hit off the tee, roll into play with parents screaming "RUN! --insert child's name here--!" only to not be noticed by the dozen boys standing out in the infield - picking noses, facing the wrong way, waving at Mom, or just "zoned out" as us men love to do (yes ladies, it's a Men are from Mars thing).

When the boys came in to bat, the dad's, in our attempts to rush our kids to "The Bigs" told each of them, "Ok --insert child's name here-- , when the ball comes your way, go get it and throw it to first." The result is this (BTW, Barrett is #8, playing 3rd base):



Ok, I recall being told to "swarm" the football by my middle school football coaches but not in baseball. This dog pile of oversized pants, hats and gloves became the norm the rest of the game. Oh, and for a bonus, check out the size of the kid running to 3rd base (#12). That's a 4 year old? What are his parents feeding him? Is he grain fed?

Barrett's first at bat


Then the magic moment occurs where your child has his first at bat. I really enjoyed this moment. Here is the edited version (it took a couple of "pitches" before it happened).

Finally, a team cheer led by the coaches plus some photos from Jess...

Flying a Kite

The boys have been asking to fly a kite for a while now but they always ask when it's cold or raining or not windy. Tuesday was perfect kite-flying weather so we went to the store and picked out the only photogenic (as in non superhero or Dora) kite they had. Then we drove around to find just the right spot. They had fun chasing the kite. Kyle thought the string handle was like a video game control with buttons that made the kite go up and down--pretty funny.

First T-ball Practice and why we're slacker parents

Barrett had his first T-ball practice last night. It was so funny to see all these boys trying to do what the coach was telling them. They started off running the bases. Barrett was jumping OVER the bases rather than on them, and trying to pick a wedgie between every base. His friend wore his baseball glove on his head while playing first base and another boy ran straight from first to third skipping second base altogether.
After all that running the coach must have said something about it being time for a water break because all the boys came running to their parents who all had water bottles for them. All the parents but us, that is. I looked at Barrett panting, then I looked at Cody as if to ask what should we do? Then, I grabbed the empty Chick-Fil-A cup out of Cody's hands and handed it to Barrett. He sucked on the straw, getting nothing but air, but at least he looked like he was getting hydrated (and more importanly we didn't look like such loser parents!)

the grandparents' reaction

Someday I will tell the story of this baby from beginning to end because it's really an interesting story. But today I am telling the part of the story when we told Cody's parents and my mom that we are expecting...and that its a girl!
Cody and I had just been to the doctor earlier that day and found out the girl news and our due date. We couldn't wait to share it with our parents so we arranged to have dinner with Cody's parents. I went out and bought two pairs of tiny pink booties and put them in two little boxes. Later, we had my mom meet me, telling her we'd have dinner at our favorite place and mentioning nothing of our plans to meet Cody's parents at a different place. When we got near Cody's office to pick him up, I faked a phonecall to him where I was pretending his parents had invited us at the last minute to have dinner with THEM, therefore changing our dinner location. At this point, we hijacked the car across town holding my mom a cluesless hostage. Shortly after we were seated, I handed each mom her bootie box. I attempted to take a little video of their reaction. Here's the video (35 seconds).



The period of time (which takes up a majority of the video) where the camera is pointed at a window is where my mom was hugging me. Looking back, I really should have had Cody shoot the video! Was that tears welling in Papa's eyes?

Not really evesdropping

I was within a mile radius of Barrett while he was talking (he talks very loudly) to his grandparents on the phone tonight so I was able to hear his side of this conversation:
"Mommy has a baby in her tummy and her tummy is getting so BIG! My friend, Liam has an idea to name the baby something that I don't like but I can't remember what it was. Papa, do you know how to play hockey? I am building a spaceship. There's a new boy in my class and his name is Jack. "
There was no pausing between these sentences so I am pretty sure Papa wasn't asking questions to bring about such randomness.
By the way after Barrett said the name Jack, I heard Kyle in the background saying, "Jack-in-the-box, Jackpot..." Oh, that is SO what I do in my head all the time! He is so much like me it's scary sometimes.
Funny boys!
Meanwhile, I have gone through my 6th box of cereal since finding out I am pregnant. For me, cereal is the bomb when I am pregnant! I am currently really enjoying Berry Berry Kix. Before that, I was in a Honey Bunches of Oats phase.
Speaking of baby, the other day the boys had a little discussion (argument) about which one of them would get to keep the baby. They decided that whichever one sees her first gets to keep her. Thank goodness they won't be in the room when she's born that way Cody can I can stake our claim! They both think this is THEIR baby, saying,"When is my baby going to get here?" Kyle's teacher tells me that he has pretended a couple of times that a doll in the classroom is his baby sister and he is taking care of her. I hope they always are this excited about having a little sister.