I have an amazing group of readers. Seriously, you guys are the best – and I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your comments on my t-ball ventathon. It means a lot to me to hear your thoughts, your suggestions, your support. I hope you guys realize that these posts get written at the height of the emotion. Sometimes I think I’m coming off like this girl who is just lost and cannot make a decision, doesn’t know how to feel, what to do. That’s not really always the case.

I am really usually just trying to write down all those thoughts and emotions, good and bad, because these moments are so fleeting and I know that next week, next month, next year – everything will be different and a lot of these moments will be lost otherwise. In three years when I debate whether or not to enroll little BB in a team sport, maybe I will look back on that post and it will help me in my decision.

And of course it’s nice to hear from you all about your own experiences with these things. What age your own child did what and how it went and how you felt. To read that some of your own kids have the same difficulties with team sports (even the ones whose pictures I see regularly and think, “Wow look how much they love sports – I hope my own kids love sports this much some day!” To hear that your kids have been there and done that, too, is so reassuring!

And I look back at those pictures from practice and I’m noticing a lot of smiles in spite of the struggle we had getting him to get on the field. Despite my frustration with him as he wandered the bleachers, begging to not have to play, he was still happy. This kid? He’s almost always happy in spite of his troubles and I love that about him.

As a follow up to that t-ball post, I figured I’d let you know that I’m not going to take him out of the class – it’s only been 3 practices after all and it only goes a few more weeks anyway since it’s really just an introduction to the idea of the sport, it only lasts about 7 or 8 weeks. And I don’t necessarily want to encourage him to give up that easily on something – I think this is a good opportunity to teach him that sometimes we continue doing things even when they are hard or not necessarily our favorite thing.

Lastly, I wanted to mention this great comment from Nancy @ Life With My Boys who said:

Maybe something like soccer would be better to start with, where there are less rules and things to know.  "Kick the ball in the goal" is a lot easier than "hit the ball, run to first base, where you might get out but you might have to run to second base...." not to mention the fielding aspect of it.  I personally do think 4 is too young for T-ball, but of course that won't stop me from enrolling Zach in the spring if he doesn't miss the cutoff.

Which I thought was really encouraging to hear because I actually (like a bit of a doofus) already enrolled MM in a beginners soccer class for the second half of the fall. I enrolled him in both at the same time, months ago, figuring I’d give him a taste of both and see how he liked them. A lot of you also mentioned that he might enjoy an art program and I couldn’t agree more! He’s really been getting SO into arts and crafts and I am loving it. I noticed the Y also offers an arts & science class for his age group that I’m considering getting him into this Spring if money allows.