Sports Stars

The boys tell me all the time, "Mom, we're stars in every sport!" And every time they wear their Converse All-star shoes that have stars on the sides, they tell me that's why they're wearing them- their stardom. These are a couple boys who are absolutely obsessed with sports right now. Last year at this time it was astronauts and R2, who is NASA's space robot. Now it is nothing but sports.

I mentioned it here recently, about how every day is a football game, and about how Brian turned the living room into a hockey rink with masking tape. Well, now that it's spring and baseball is in the air and hockey playoffs are around the corner, every day is a baseball game and/or a hockey game. In the living room. Then we usually take it outside, but at first it's inside and it starts before breakfast even. As soon as they decide which sports shirt they're going to wear and manage to get dressed, the game is underway. Downstairs neighbor- I'm so sorry.

Last week the boys had their first T-ball practice. It's actually a modified version of T-ball for four year-olds called Blastball. It involves home plate and first base. No other bases. No outs. I kind of accidentally volunteered for Brian and I to be the coaches, so we're the coaches of the mighty Red Wings, together with one other father. He rightly noticed that I probably won't be able to do anything other than try to keep the kids in line to hit. My body does not agree with any bending and twisting right now. There are only six kids on each team, and the parents never leave them even at practice, so it won't be too challenging. Last Saturday we had the Reston Little League Opening Day parade. So cute.

Clark at practice- showing everyone how

The smiles didn't stop all the way home from practice.

At the parade

I didn't know it would be so easy to get six boys to hold hands.
They loved it.

If you know me at all, you know I have always loved baseball, and I have to say that having the boys start T-ball has been super cool for me. Here is one post I wrote about my baseball love. It's just so cool to have little boys who love baseball and who are now playing on a team. Makes me proud. And it really helps to have a good professional team as our home team. Here's another baseball post  where I wrote about getting to go to games. I didn't grow up where going to a Major League Baseball game was easy.

But back to the sports-crazed boys.

About a month ago Cal fell on his teeth on the kitchen tile while Clark was chasing him. I think it was a hockey-related fall, but it might have been simply a bedtime crazy-man race. The dentist today confirmed that his front left tooth is dead, so he might have to do a root canal to ensure it doesn't get infected until it falls out in a few years. Cal thinks it's cool because he will look like Alex Ovechkin (The Washington Capitals' hockey star, who Clark claims to actually be most days) without a tooth.

Cal's fading tooth...

The other day we caught them playing indoor strip baseball. That's right. They set up their little rubber bases in the living room and then Clark made up the "rules." You run to first base, take off your pants, second base, take off your underwear, third base and take off your socks. Then you run home. Yesterday I was able to capture the scene without the nudity. This time it was batting gloves and hat at first, pants at second, and underwear at third. For some reason this game causes the clothed boy to laugh hysterically at the stripping boy and just causes Brian and me to shake our heads.

The scene in the living room

This past weekend we went to a birthday party, where Clark chose to take on all the other kids at once as the goalie. He told them they'd never score on him. Of course they did, but not before he had thoroughly grass stained his khakis. As a follow-up, Cal took a turn as goalie, but not before first pulling the goal over behind a small tree for assistance. The other kids didn't like that much.

Clark the sports star goalie

Even though we now have two football helmets and two hockey helmets in our house, thus eliminating the need to create helmets from household objects, the boys still find ways to supplement our sports equipment supply. They use bibs as catcher chest protectors, snow gloves as hockey gloves, snow pants as hockey pants.

Clark in his frog bib chest protector and adult size catcher's mask

I can imagine that Cal and Clark might annoy some parent at some of our games...since they both think they're real stars, they take a lot of time to approach the plate (fully decked out in batting gloves that we will hopefully always remember to leave home), mimicking their favorite player. Clark usually admires his hits rather than running, and he can really hit, as we've noticed since he was tiny- he has a knack for it. But they're both learning how to act on a field. We had a fun practice tonight and are all ready for the first game this Saturday. Hopefully the showboat-y-ness will lessen as they learn they are not actually Nationals' players.

Clark doing his methodical Bryce Harper approach to the plate

Something else they love to do is be sports announcers. Usually their favorite place to do it is on the toilet-- especially Clark. I will hear him shrieking in the back bathroom and worry for a second until I hear that he's shrieking about shots going wide of the net and the goalie being out of position and Ovechkin SCORES!! They have no shame doing this while in public or in front of guests either. And they completely give themselves over to the moment: wide eyes, screaming so intensely that they spit, hands raised, hats flying off in celebration. Then they hug each other (their chuthers!) and jump around. They were doing it at the restaurant we were at for lunch today and got some amused looks.

The sports obsession also has bred a competition obsession. They compete at many things- some of which are quite helpful such as the nightly pajama race, and the clothes-sorting race, and some of which are not like who can throw the pillows the farthest or who can pee the fastest.

In about a week and a half we will have a full-out sports birthday party for them. Almost four years old already! It's so hard to believe. Sometimes.

Taking in Dad's softball game- and some popcorn