Matthew's Baseball

 Matthew has been so excited to play baseball ever since he started watching his older brothers. He would ask me every day how many days until it was his turn. The 'Rookie' division is a little different than the other divisions. They do have teams, but they only have baseball one night a week for about 5 weeks. Each week they meet together and practice hitting, throwing, catching, base running, etc.  It worked out perfectly for us and gave the kids a lot more time to actually 'play' than if they were playing actual games. Plus, having two other boys in baseball, it got a little tricky to manage the schedule and we usually had to split up on the nights that Matthew played.

 Matthew was such a crack-up to watch. Matthew is hands-down our most competitive child (maybe it's being the youngest of 3 boys) and seems to find a way to make a competition out of everything. Even when they were practicing throwing and catching, he would keep track of how many times he caught the ball vs. his partner. The little stinker started throwing bad throws just so his partner wouldn't catch the ball and he would have more catches. We had to have a little talk about that one.

 In the base-running drills he was determined to be first every time. I'm hoping with experience, he'll learn that he can't always be the fastest, first, and best. Mainly, I'm hoping we can channel that competitiveness into good directions! Helping him to just be competitive with himself and wanting to improve himself against his own self.

 The baseball has been so fun for Matthew, he's really had a great time. It was fun for him to play with his teammates and work on his baseball skills. It was also nice to make some new friends that he'll probably see in preschool and kindergarten.

 Matthew especially loved having siblings there to watch and cheer him on. Jacob has been a great friend and coach for Matthew. I just can't believe how much my little guys are all growing up. I have a feeling we have many more years of sports ahead of us and I just hope they all have fun doing it together!