Baseball Fever!

Baseball fever has most certainly hit the Pease household.  John Dennis has been living, eating, and sleeping baseball the past month or so.   When we are not playing baseball, we are watching it on TV.  We even play "pretend baseball" in the car!  We have to set the timer in the kitchen so that Robert and I can get other stuff done...if not, we would be playing ALL DAY LONG!  The Helotes Little League Park is right down the street, and Robert takes JD there on Tuesday nights while I am at work.  He is mesmerized!  We also got to go to the Texas A&M vs Texas baseball game in Austin a few weeks ago and JD was in heaven!  Right now, if you ask him who his favorite team is, he will either say the Aggies, Astros, or Rangers.  

We're pretty sure JD is going to be a lefty.  He naturally lined up to bat left handed and definitely catches and throws better with a lefty glove.  And, not to be "that mom" who thinks her child is a superstar, but he's actually pretty good!  He hits a fair amount of the balls we pitch to him and when he pitches to us, he has a few good ones in there too.  The funniest part is that he clearly studies the players on TV.  When he pitches and bats, he does it just like the big leaguers do.  He puts the ball and glove up to his chest, looks back to make sure a runner is not trying to steal, nods to the "catcher", lifts his leg, and throws the ball.   When he bats, he does a few practice swings before he's ready.  If he hits it, he drops the bat and runs around the kitchen and living room yelling "home run hitttttttteeeeer!"  If he misses it, he hits his leg, and then does a few more practice swings.  So funny!   

Robert and I are really excited, not because we hope he will be a superstar (although we wouldn't complain if it pays for his college education), but because we both love baseball and have great memories of summers at the little league fields and family trips to watch the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. We found out that t-ball starts at 3 years old, so maybe the fun can start next spring if he still loves playing! 

JD used my gardening gloves as batting gloves until his Aunt Kim bought him some real ones!

JD with his official batting gloves. Thanks, Aunt Kim and Uncle Joey!

JD's first snow cone at the Texas A&M vs. Texas baseball game. What's baseball without snow cones?!

JD and Daddy watching the game. We normally don't give JD his pacifier unless he's in his bed, but since the game was smack in the middle of naptime and since it was an Aggie one, we decided to make an exception!

JD meeting a REAL baseball player!! Actually, he is a dear family friend, Justin Seely. He's one of the coaches for A&M. The first thing he noticed was that JD was wearing a lefty glove...apparently it's a big deal to be a left handed baseball player!