Yesterday Conner had a tournament in Woodburn. Mike was out of town at a stake YM's activity, so that left me with all the kids and an early morning game. I had one of Conner's coaches pick him up at 6:45 and take him to the field. I followed an hour later with the girls. We actually had a good morning and were all able to get out of the house, with breakfast even, in time and no yelling. A HUGE accomplishment at my house! We got to the field about 8am, right before the first game started.
Now let me back up a sec and fill you in on a few things. First off, Conner has not had the best baseball season. He isn't playing much and basically only plays the outfield. He doesn't mind, but it drives Mike and me crazy. He's a great athlete, why wouldn't they play him??? After some nice discussions with the coaches (really! I didn't yell or anything!) we realized that Conner has been copping an attitude with the coaches. Totally NOT acceptable! Apparently there had been an "issue" with him throwing out a smart remark to a coach at a practice a week or so ago. We talked with the coaches about it and then we talked with Conner about it. I decided to take the girls to his last practice on Friday night to keep an eye on him. He actually had a good attitude and was playing really hard. He also had asked the head coach if he could practice playing short stop. That's where he has played in the past and really enjoys. He was able to practice there, as well as a couple other infield positions. I also made him asked him very nicely to apologize to the coach that he had made the comment to. That was difficult for him, but I felt that he needed to do it. Ok, back to the Saturday game...
So, come Saturday I was hoping for something good from him, but not holding my breath. We unloaded our house few items needed for a day at the park and settled in for the game. Conner started out by sitting on the bench...again. Ok, I can deal with this. The next inning, he was out in left field. No biggie, no balls either, but no big deal. He got up to bat, but I don't recall what happened there. The next inning he was up to pitch. He did pretty well, but the team had 6 errors in that inning, so the other team 5 runned us (that's when they call the inning regardless of how many outs there are because 5 runs were earned in 1 inning). Conner took that really hard. I think that's the second time that has happened to him. I tried to explain to him that the coaches WANT him to pitch so the other team can hit the ball, it's a team sport. It's not all about him and his pitching. There are 8 other boys who need to take responsibility for that inning as well! Anyway, he was back in outfield for the last 2 innings of that game. We earned a win, 9-7. Close game but the boys were just getting warmed up!
These boys seems to play much better in a second game when they're back to back. The next game, they were ready! I don't think I can recall exactly how it all played out, but I do believe that the 2nd batter of the game hit a home run. That will get the boys excited! Conner started out playing left field. The next inning he played center field. Then he hit short stop. He LOVED it! He also had a couple good hits. One really nice one over the 2nd baseman. He had one that he should have been out, but the pitcher over threw the ball to the 1st baseman, so that hit allowed 2 runs to score and we ended up 5 running them. That put a smile on Conner's face! He was in it now!!! I don't think any balls were hit to him while he was playing short, but he was able to "be in the game" because he had to be aware of where the runners were in case he needed to cover 2nd on a steal. I don't think Conner has had that much fun in a game all year. He was happy and smiling. It was awesome to watch! Anyway, they ended up winning that game as well 11-1. It was a really fun game to watch.
I felt like I had my happy little boy back. That was very important to me. We have been having some real struggles with him and his "whatever" attitude. Not that it's "bad" really, just "I don't really care". That has been hard. We've been trying to instill responsibility in him and have been very frustrated lately. It was nice to see him own up to his error in the way he spoke to his coach and then in turn, have a great, fun game. I sure do love that kid! I know that it's really tough for him. Being the only boy, and the oldest with 4 sisters. His expectations are probably higher and definitely different than the one's placed on the girls. He usually exceeds those expectations and it was nice to feel like he's back! So Nonnie, my love, You are amazing! Thanks for being such an awesome kid! I am very proud of you and I love you!!!
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