Baseball Begins

We are two practices into what could be a lifetime of baseball. I had been nervous for the past year or two as I heard other parents signing their little 4 and 5 year olds up for t-ball. Was I making the right decision holding off...Would it stunt the development of my little slugger? I must tell you, I feel vindicated as a Father. Tyler appears ripe and ready for baseball at 6, able to give enough attention to instructions he is given and coordinated/strong enough to perform the skills and see a tangible result (picture violent swing of the bat and ball rocketing into the outfield). Tyler is excellent at throwing (hard) and pretty good at catching the ball. Hitting? No problem and there is a good chance he will break a coach's nose in the future. Hopefully not mine. It certainly helps that his good buddy Jack is on the team and I hope they have many years of playing ball together.

We will have to work on the appropriate baseball photo poses in the future.

Tyler and Jack learning the rules of the game.

possibilities

When I look at this I see a bucket of legos.   Tyler looks at this and sees endless possibilities.

 The other day he really wanted Hailey to build with him.  But she gets frustrated trying to build because she can't build what she wants (I can totally relate.  She must have ended up with my brain).  So Tyler gave her a building lesson.  They used his imagination and they both built the exact same thing.   Tyler told her where to put every piece.  I was just impressed he could make up what he was building while "teaching" Hailey. 



the creations



the other side of the creations

  

teaching

 

hard at work.



Phillies

That's right.  T-ball has begun.  Tyler team is the Phillies.  Tyler is loving it, or at least the idea of it since they haven't really done much yet.  It helps that his best friend Jack is on his team.  And they both seem very able players.  They should be a great catch playing pair.  Here's hoping the quickly learn how to catch as well as they throw :). 

We've really only had one practice (the second one was rained out - even under cover if that tells you anything about how awesome our weather has been).  There was catching and hitting (batting?  I need to learn my proper Baseball terminology.  Games will be entertaining to watch.  The skill level is all over the board and so are kids' attention span.  During the first practice they rotated in different groups to work on batting off the T, catching, and hitting off the coaches pitches.  I had told Tyler ahead of time to tell his coach he hits and throws hard.  I thought his coach should be warned.  I was standing all the way across the field at the playground where Hailey was playing.  I was watching his coach pitch to the group ahead of Ty's.  He was kneeling on the ground and pitching and the rest of the groups teammates were standing back to catch the ball.  There was lots of swinging and not much hitting.  When Ty's group got up, I was a bit nervous. Did he warn his coach?  I saw the teammates take on small step back.  I said my prayers.  Thankfully Tyler missed the first couple of swings ( I think the batting helmet took some getting used to).  But then sure enough BAM, there was contact, and the ball went flying.  Thankfully it sailed over top of everyone and was not a line drive into the coach (why Dave is now the exclusive pitcher in our family).  This is where it gets fun for Ty, he loves batting.   He really likes catching too.  Not sure how he'll feel about the actual games.  We are just hoping to make it through the season without Tyler injuring any distracted, unfocused, bored small children standing in the outfield.

I will post pictures once we get some decent weather around here.

Newest entertainment

Hailey has added jump rope onto her list of fun things to do.  Her jump roping is quite cute.  She doesn't stay in one place.  She hops forward with quick little bunny hops.  And she swings the jump rope around so that she ends up jumping over it every 4th or 5th hop. 

Hailey's last party

Hailey had one final birthday party, at school.  She was able to bring in birthday snacks.  How times has changed when it comes to bringing snacks.  In these days of massive allergies, there is an approved food list with a choice of about 5 things you can bring in, all store bought. She decided on fudge stripe cookies and we added a strawberry.



Hailey in her birthday crown with her teacher Mrs. Pawley



The whole class



Playing....kept her crown on the whole class

Hailey at 4!

 Hailey at 4.  Our curly haired, super smart, funny, quick tempered, makes people smile little girl.  I want to see in the future where this girl will go with her life and make her stop growing and keep just as she is all at the same time. 

Hailey had her 4 year old doctors appointment this week.  It came with 4 shots (ouch).  Here's her stats:

 Height: 41 inches

Weight: 34 pounds

Over the last year she has grown 2 1/2 inches and gained a little over 3 pounds.

I don't have a lot of individual recent photos of her.  I'll blame the never ending rainy winter weather around here.  A quick look at how she's changed over the last year.  Most noticeable to me is her hair found it's curlies (as we call them around here) :)



4 years

4 years

3 years

3 years

 My four year old Hailey.  I feel like I blog about this stuff a lot but I guess it's good to sum it all up on one entry.  She is the sunshine in all our lives.  She brightens our days with her humor and funny faces.  She also keeps us on our toes because she can be happy and laughing on minute and storming off mad or yelling the next.  It is not always clear what the problem is.  She is very popular in her preschool class.  Any time we meet up with classmates outside of school everyone comes running and calling her name when we show up.  She is quick to make friends and happy to introduce herself to a friend.  She is older than her years in many ways (excepting emotions of course :)).  She has absolutely no problem keeping up with Tyler. 

One of my favorite things about her right now is she likes to color people pictures or do other things for people to make them happy.  I hope I can cultivate this into a life long gift she can give to people.  I'm trying to constantly tell her how happy it makes them.  You can see in her face and eyes when she hands someone a picture/coloring page how proud she is and how it is filling her own heart up happiness to make others happy. 

Her favorite thing to do is play with Tyler.  For the most part they do imaginative play type things, or they race and wrestle, or build forts.  She loves to play tag and basketball ( in our mini hoop in the playroom).  She's honing her skills for sure.  She can make a wicked hoop on occasion.  She loves coloring on coloring pages.  She loves playing board games....sorry and trouble are current favorites.  She continues to adore books.  She's full on reading at I don't know what level but my guess would be second grade??  She can read a chapter book by herself with little help.  However, she really only reads aloud when asked.  She still much prefers being read to.  And since she is only 4 we mostly just read aloud to her.  But I occasionally ask her to read something to me just because I'm so amazed by it.  It's hard to tell when she's looking through books by herself if she is reading them or just looking at the pictures.  My sense it that it's a little of both, but not reading the books word for word.....unless it's a Piggie and Gerald book.  She LOVES those and they are very easy readers.   She loves being outside (though it's been months since we have a long stretch of good weather).   Hailey and Tyler still play pretty well together.  They have some great tender moments and ultimately are always looking out for each other.  But they are brother and sister and have their fare share of arguments and frustration.....and purposeful bugging of one another.

Hailey has been taking ballet class all year and loves it.  She has been swimming since Nov and is close to the same level at Ty (and Ty is a good swimmer).  She is a fish at heart and loves the water.  You ask her to do something and she just does it....no fear and questioning whether she can do it.  She has been in the same class with Ty which I think has been huge to her success.  She's never had fear of water but I think she's progressed so quickly because Tyler is by her side doing something and it pushes her to do what he is doing.  In her mind, they are equals. 

Hailey loves her stuffed animals and is so loving to them all.  She doesn't really play with dolls but she certainly mothers her favorite animals.  She's constantly hugging them and she sleeps with them curled up in her arms all night long.

Hailey's vocabulary is amazing.  Just today she told me something was 'unacceptable'.  Some of my favorite things she says are "Oh, yes" (when she thinks of something she wants to do), "plugger" (an outlet), "Dad, I was talking to Tyler", perkfect, "I have a question for you" (and then she says a statement), she stills says "little bidit" and "berry feet".  In general Hailey is a talker.  She loves to explain things and wants your full attention when she is talking.  She's not quite the question asker or story seeker that Tyler was/is.  She just absorbs everything she hears and then doesn't forget it. 

Hailey is a girl that knows what she wants and speaks her mind. 

I love my four year old Hailey and really think she is the cutest thing ever.  I don't want her to grow up or get any bigger.  Unfortunately she can't wait to grow up.  It will be fun (and perhaps challenging) to see what the next 12 months hold.

Happy Birthday Hailey

Hailey's birthday happened to fall on a Sunday this year which means we were able to have her birthday party on her actual birthday!  I don't know if any child has ever been so excited to turn 4.  She's been counting down the days forever.  There has been no mention of presents, just the act of turning 4 years old and no longer being three was a huge event for her.  One year closer to being all grown up which is of course what she really wants to be.

I ask the kids every year what kind of party they want (ie what kind of decorations we should get).  Hailey wanted a Wild Kratts party.  Wild Kratts is Hailey's favorite TV show right now.  It's a show about animals and two guys who turn into cartoon characters and have super power suits that convert them into the animal of the day.  Hailey loves animals/bugs/fish/etc. so she loves the show.  It is not however the ultra popular kind of show that makes it's way to the party store in the form of all sorts of party supplies.  So, I had to improvise.  We decorated with blue and green (the Kratt brothers colors) and found some zebra print streamers.  I printed out some Wild Kratt pictures and hung them from the lights.  Hailey and I found some animal plates/napkins/table cloth.  She seemed satisfied so we called it good!

Hailey woke up Sunday morning so happy to be 4!  We usually let the kids open the presents from us right when they wake up but Dave was working Sunday morning so we let her pick one to open and then we saved the rest until Dave got home.



Happy to be 4!



Shed picked Tyler's gift.  It is color wonder glow in the dark paint.  They both wanted to try it right away.  They had fun (I  wouldn't get it again...in case any other parents out there are wondering.  It wasn't that great).

 The second Dave walked in Hailey was ready to open the rest of her gifts.  She REALLY wanted a jump rope which we were more than happy to accommodate.  She actually got two.....just in case someone else wanted to jump too.

 And she got a pillow pet.

 Tyler discovered it's really hard to watch your sister open gifts.....especially when she gets snuggly things.

 Her favorite gift from us was probably the small set of dinosaur babies.  This girl loves her some dinosaurs.

Later that morning we picked up the cake and then Grammy was nice enough to take the kids to a bug show while Dave and I vacuumed and got all the food ready for the party.

None of the cousins from Dave's side of the family were able to make it.  But some extra cousins from my side were able come (Lauren, Jessie, and Sydney).  That was pretty special for Hailey.

Balloon fun in the playroom

 Sydney was Hailey's present helper as she opened all of her gifts.

She received stuffed animals, puzzles, books, dinosaur things, tinker bell "action figures", games, small real kitchen stuff, some cute summer clothes, coloring things, and a polly pocket.  Wow, she was spoiled but it will all be great for her.

 And then it was time for everyone's favorite part....the CAKE.

All the kids (cousins)

 It was a great day for Hailey.  She asked me today if I was sad that the three year old was gone.  I said yes, because I am.  She is growing up way too quickly.  But I told her I was very happy and proud of my four year old.  And she told me that four year old kisses are even better than three year old kisses.  Sounds good to me!  And then tonight in bed she asked if 4 year olds are scared of the dark (3 year olds have been).   "Nope" I said, there is nothing in a house like ours that 4 years would be scared of.  Excellent!

So proud!