Ivie's First T-Ball Practice

Ivie's first t-ball practice did not turn out as I would have scripted it (as a mom who grew up playing and loving sports). But so that I don't forget the experience, I'm going to describe it here as it DID happen. So that maybe I can use it to joke with her when she gets older...

We got off to a wonderful start, as Macie cooperated and fell asleep in Emerson's crib next door. Brooke graciously agreed to babysit her so I could concentrate on Ivie at practice (since Dale is still out of town at the golf tournament in Charlotte). Ivie and I got to the park/fields about 20 minutes early, so we wasted some time on the playground, which had great swings and slides. Ivie was having a blast, although it was already 80 degrees by 8:30a.

Practice started at 8:50a, so we headed over to the fields with our gloves. Ivie has a Dora glove and ball, which she adores. Practice started off with some "Alligator catch", where the plan was for the kids to throw ground balls to their partners, back and forth, while the others would snap them up in their gloves like alligators. Great idea, huh? Well, Ivie was not interested in playing this game with Caroline. Because that would involve sharing her Dora ball. So Caroline ended up playing with her daddy, Clint, and Ivie cooperated enough to take a few ground balls from me.

But that is where the minimal cooperation ended. And it was only approximately 9:10a (40 more minutes of practice to go).

After that, the only thing Ivie really wanted to do was take water breaks. They had the cool sno-cone cups at the coolers, so she went through a few of those. Otherwise, she stood next to me, holding my hand, with a grimace on her face the whole time. I think the only word she said was "NO!" (each time we asked her if she wanted to participate in the activity-at-hand).

As the kids were taking turns batting at the tee, Ivie was standing next to me in the infield waiting for the ball to come to her. Out of nowhere, she exclaimed, "I DON'T LIKE THIS GAME." Really? I would have never guessed!!!

When it was Ivie's turn at the tee, she refused to put on the batting helmet. It does look a bit intimidating, I guess, especially given that it fits pretty tight on your head and covers your ears. Since she wouldn't put on the helmet, she didn't get to hit. She was officially the only kid on the team that didn't want to take a chance at batting.

So we've got a little work to do, it seems. Maybe it will just take her a while to warm up to the idea. Or maybe it was just too hot (her face was bright red by the end of practice!) and she was grumpy and didn't want to try something new. Or maybe she just isn't destined to be a baseball player!

At least she has a cool new gray t-shirt to wear. And I'm pretty sure there will be yummy snacks each week after practice. So that should keep her going back for more...