Like many men out there, one of my fondest pastimes as a kid was playing catch with my Dad. Just a Father, Son, two mitts, a baseball, and a little conversation. No matter how busy we both were then and throughout our lives, there always seemed to be enough time to throw the ball around for a few minutes. Now that the girls and I are past that threshold, seemed like a good idea to get them started on hitting and fielding.
As I wrote in a previous post, it is almost every potential Father’s dream to one day play catch with his son. And as stated before, while I know that is never going to happen, I am truly just as proud to do so with my daughters.
While Elaina and I were playing catch the other day, I asked if she ever wanted to hit the ball as well. She excitedly said yes, failing to mention that her Mom takes her to the batting cages when they visit her in Texas. This got us all pretty excited and we wasted no time at all putting the plan into action.
We took off to the local sporting goods store to purchase a bat (pink, of course), a tee, and some balls, with the girls getting new, leather gloves as well (also pink). After going home and dressing the part, we headed a couple miles down the road to one of the many diamonds on post to play some ball.
It was a rough start getting the girls to hit off the tee…
… but they eventually got the required hand-eye coordination down and started to make contact.
There were a few minor setbacks, coupled with a few meltdowns, …
… but they both ended up taking turns and having a great time both hitting and fielding grounders.
Although we are not quite at the batting practice-level yet, it was great to simply get out there and play some baseball with my girls. They definitely have their pristine moments playing with their Barbies and hosting tea parties, but are certainly not shy about going outside and getting a little dirty. Even though baseball (or likely, softball, in their future) is still a work in progress, I appreciated them going out to the field with me for an hour. They know how much baseball meant to me and my Father, and I was very happy that they want to take part in an activity that was so integral to my childhood. Thanks, Girls; I look forward to our next practice together.
Thanks for checking in on us.
Cheers!
Adventures in Single Dadding 