5/19/2010 Tag Team

Katrina had a low-grade temperature most of yesterday afternoon, so there was no way she was going to preschool today. I was a little relieved to have a solid reason to keep her home anyway -- she was really sick the night before last!

But Dave and I both needed to go to work today, so we traded home duty. I stayed with her until lunchtime, then Dave came home and I went to work. This worked pretty well, with the minor complication of Julian's T-ball practice at 5:30. The plan was that Dave would take Katrina and pick the boys up and take them to T-ball, but Katrina had other ideas.


She needed the nap! So I zoomed home from work, and "tagged" Dave again, for him to go bring the boys to T-ball. They were late, and Gabriel was stuck there too and wasn't home to do homework, making for a painful effort getting him to finish it around 8pm. He was tired and I hated enforcing something I don't entirely believe in anyway.

So today of all days would have been a good one to skip T-ball, especially since it was "just" a practice and not a game. But I really feel a strong commitment. This is a team sport, in an all-volunteer league. Our coaches invest so much time and effort in the kids, they deserve for us to at least show up! They also have full-time jobs and toddler daughters, and they never miss practice. I wish I could do more to contribute in fact.

I really, really like our T-ball coaches, they've been a very positive influence on the kids, and not just in baseball skills. I really do think Julian's "character," for lack of a better term, has developed as a result of this experience. He wants to please the coaches, he's really learned to listen to them and look to them for guidance, and he's had a wonderful introduction to the concepts of teamwork and sportsmanship. Yes, tonight the logistics were tough for us, but in the bigger picture, it was absolutely the right thing to do.

5/19/2010