home run!

So yesterday was Gage's first day of camp. Ever. I really wanted him to play baseball camp so I begged the director to admit him even though he didn't meet the age 6 requirement. Since he did just successfully complete kindergarten, and he did just successfully complete rookie little league, they agreed. We were both thrilled. Until, that is, I arrived to drop him off yesterday. Who WERE all these big kids? Oh, yeah. They are the 6-8 year olds that are supposed to be here. Did I make a mistake? Am I setting this kid up for failure? Should I admit defeat and take him home with me now? And why does he look so damn little?

I sucked it up, walked away and called my mother. That's what any independent, free-thinking woman does. Right?

I did bow out of my yoga class for fear that 90 minutes with no access to my cell phone would be far from relaxing but I did not return until five hours later (ok, I got there about 15 minutes early). When I arrived Gage was playing way out in the field looking incredibly bored. Great, I thought. They stuck him out in the outfield all day. He's going to hate me! But fortunately, I was wrong. In just a couple minutes he was at bat. I yelled to him and I got a huge, "Hey Mom, I got a HOME RUN!". He was in heaven.

After we picked up Zuzu at school and devoured some full-fat ice cream we headed to the sporting goods store to buy him some new cleats & batting gloves. He proceeded to wear the gloves ALL evening. I even caught him in the backyard just before bed, wearing his gloves, swinging a bat, pretending to hit a ball & run the "bases". It was adorable.

Fast forward to today. Cause I know you're looking for the end by now. (well, everyone except my mother) Dropped him off. No problem. Sort of. He still looked so small. But today at least I knew he wanted to be there.

Again, I showed up about 15 minutes early to pick him up. I wanted to catch a bit of the game and see how everyone had progressed. An inning had just ended and Gage was running from the bull pen to the outfield. He swung by the bleachers to tell me that today was NOT a good day because his team was losing 12 to 8. He looked like he was going to cry. I tried to quickly cheer him up and shuffled him out to his position.

Just a few batters in to the inning I watched as one of the big kids hit an incredible pop fly out to center field. Gage was playing left. Both boys headed to the ball. I couldn't see exactly what happened from so far away but the next thing I knew Gage was laying face down on the grass. Arms and legs splayed out beside him. Completely. Motionless. How fast do you think a mother can make it to center field from the bleachers in tight jeans & flip flops? You couldn't possibly imagine. I wasn't sure if he was just down on himself for missing the ball or if he was injured. I was praying for an emotional breakdown as opposed to a physical one but I was preparing myself for a trip to the ER none the less. Now this is probably a good time to tell you that his is FINE. He was very shaken up. The ball hit him smack in the forehead but there was no welt and no blood. I think he really just got the wind knocked out of him. Fortunately I had a three-pack of Bakugan hidden in the trunk of my car that I'd purchased on sale today at Target. The mention of that resuscitated him pretty quickly.

I didn't want him to finish the game but he insisted. And he's anxious to go back again tomorrow. Still not sure how I feel. Glad he's happy. Glad he's passionate. Still confident that we made the right decision starting him young in school but slowly coming to the realization that he's always going to look little. And he's always going to play like he's big. Because that's who he is. And I'm so proud of him. My little all-star.