Lina was the goalie (for the opening part of the scrimmage) for the white team.

“Scrimmage” also means “stand around and figure out what we’re supposed to be doing right now.”

Ane’s team scores a goal.  She yells to me, “Mom!  MOM!  We have TWO goals!”

There was a lot of running.

And some more standing around.

The scrimmage ended in a tie, which disappointed Ane.  She wanted to WIN.

But they had fun, and there’s always next year’s exhibition scrimmage.

And then we held our breath.  Because taking Ane and Tad to a ballgame is very different from just taking Rerun to his first baseball game.

Friend, Doc, the Brain and Head also bought tickets and went along (Rupert got to stay at home with Best-Babysitter), I packed a kid-friendly lunch of Uncrustables, chocolate milk, fruit snacks and granola bars, and after first service at church, we came home, changed clothes, and drove into Seattle for the game.

Ane and Tad did quite well, and we tried to keep them busy by getting them a playtime (with the Brain and Head) at the Children’s Hospital Playfield out in center field, sending them out for walks with adults to buy food/treats, and feeding them lunch.

I had packed 4 Uncrustables for my kids.  Tad ate three of them.  The boy does love himself some peanut butter.

Ane takes watching the game very seriously.  She gets upset when the other team scores, and her favorite player is Ichiro.

And Rerun?  He spent most of the game asleep, just like this:

We bought him a Mariners hat of his very own – Tad had an infant ball cap that he wore to his first game, but when I tried it on Rerun, it was HUGE.  Tad was almost eight months old at his first Mariners game, though.  So Rerun can wear that hat later.  He got a printed Mariners baby beanie cap, which is still pretty big on him.  But he was really cute in it!

Sadly, after a promising start, the M’s lost to the Tigers, 4-2.  Which is typical.  The Mariners have never won a game when we’ve brought one of the kids for their “first” game.  However, since the Webmaster is employed this baseball season, I think Rerun will have lots more chances to work his charms at the ballpark.

His sister and brother, though… next time, they get to stay home.  I think we can only handle all three kids at the game once a season.  We do actually like to watch the game, you know.

The Webmaster and I packed up the kids – all three of them! – and went to Auntie’s game on Monday night.  The game was at her high school, and her team was playing my alma mater.  Though, to be fair, I did attend Auntie’s school for a year.  So I have torn loyalties.  But I went to cheer for my sister.

It was the longest period of time that Rerun has spent outdoors.  We kept him bundled up, but the fresh air put him to sleep.

The nice thing about a high school softball game is that it’s free, and the kids can run around and burn off energy without people complaining.  There’s plenty of room to run at the high school, and some things to climb on.

Auntie’s team won, the kids spent lots of time in the fresh air and slept well that night, and we had a good time.  Though Rerun was plenty hungry by the time we got home, and he wasn’t shy about letting us know it.  That boy has an excellent set of lungs.

And today is my niece Berry’s second birthday!  Happy birthday, little girl!  Your cousins send you many birthday hugs!

Anyway, I’m totally stealing this from Doc’s blog, but that’s okay, because he’s cut and pasted posts from me before, too. The most awesome baseball call of the Mariners season happened on Sunday… but you have to listen to the clips to hear what happened. It was SO funny.

Never doubt Mike Blowers again. Ever.

It was a bright spot in what was otherwise a very crappy sports weekend in Seattle. Maybe next weekend will be better.

Each kid gets to take a turn hitting, then plays defense on the field. They are really trying to get the kids to track and hit the ball, instead of just hitting it off the tee.

However, as the photographic evidence clearly proves, Ane needs to work on keeping her eye on the ball.

She needs a LOT of work.

The other thing she needs to work on is taking turns. The kid would be happy to hit all day – but the Webmaster told her that half the game is defense, so she finally went to the field with her lavender mitt (a Christmas gift from Auntie) and played outfield, wearing her lavender Seattle Mariners hat.

Because you can still look like a girl and play baseball at the same time.

As University of Washington alumni, the Webmaster and I are very happy and proud of the softball team!

GO DAWGS!!!

This is what Auntie and Ane did for fun on Memorial Day… worked on Ane’s throwing, catching and hitting. Here, Ane is batting in Grandma and Gichan’s backyard, in the batting cage that Gichan constructed for Auntie.

Trust me, her batting stance is MUCH improved. The ball flying out of the upper right corner of the photo is one that she hit.

I think the girl could really play ball! She’s still figuring out which order to run the bases in, though – she keeps skipping third and just running from second to home. We have to fix that.

Ane is still learning the rules of the game (meaning that she’s still learning that you go from home to first to second to third to home again, not cut across the pitcher’s mound to go home from second), but according to the Webmaster, she actually connected for a couple of hits while one of the coaches was pitching to her.

But the best part is, she’s having a great time.

We just have to correct her batting stance, though. She’s standing so wide she might as well be attempting a split. And she needs a smaller batting helmet. She’s the only girl in the group, and all the boys have larger heads.

Auntie started in right field, went 2-2 with one BB, and one of those hits was a nice double down the left-field line. And she was “slapping,” so she was batting left-handed (she’s naturally right-handed).

Ane and Tad enjoyed the game – well, they enjoyed running around with the other kids. Tad mostly tagged after his sister and her friends, but they didn’t seem to mind too much. However, when Ane needed to go to the bathroom and Tad tagged along, she minded. A lot. But Tad refused to be parted from me, so he came along anyway.

Once Ane entered the stall, Tad decided to check on her. Sticking his head under the door (despite my scolding him and telling him to leave his sister alone), Tad asked, “Ane, you okay in dere?”

“Yes,” she replied, annoyed but not overly concerned.

Five seconds later, he checked in on her again. “Ane, you okay in dere?”

“YES.” She was clearly perturbed this time around.

A few seconds later, he was back. “Ane, you okay in dere?”

She’d had enough. “WILL YOU STOP ASKING ME THAT??” she shrieked in the enclosed concrete, echo-y bathroom. “I’M FINE!”

I gave him a knowing look as he pulled back, clearly satisfied that he’d gotten a strong reaction out of her. “Congratulations, Tad,” I said, shaking my head. “You are now officially an annoying little brother.”

Oh, and Auntie’s team won, 7 to 1.

Tad has been back now for two weeks, and his behavior at school has apparently improved. He’s come home every day with his green “good day” hand stamp, so something is obviously going well. His school had their walk-a-thon yesterday (a school fundraiser that I completely blanked about until two days ago), and the Webmaster attended his session to walk with him and cheer him on. I would have gone, but Tad doesn’t do well with me leaving him at school right now (and coming back and leaving AGAIN would have made it even worse), and Ane needed to get to school.

Interestingly, Tad has not had any individual speech therapy sessions since he got back to school. His therapist did language group this week with the class, and I think she was still on vacation last week. He would have had speech therapy yesterday, but I think the walk-a-thon messed with the class schedule.

And to just prove how distracted I’ve been, coming off all this spring break crazy… I got Tad dressed for school on Monday in a clean pair of jeans and a nice play T-shirt that Auntie gave him (grey with a ringer collar and an orange stripe across the front). It was going to be a warm day, so I’d just decided to dress him casually and in short sleeves.

After I’d kissed him good-bye and the Webmaster had driven him off to school, I happened to check the calendar while I was making Ane’s breakfast.

It was class picture day.

I called the Webmaster and asked him, “Did you like what Tad was wearing this morning?”

“Sure. Why?”

“Because it’s class picture day, and I totally forgot about it!”

“Oh. The shirt is fine. It’s clean and it doesn’t have any logos or characters on it. It’s just fine.”

And you know what? It’s his first year of preschool class picture. It is just fine. Plus, he looked cute.

Ane, of course, is thrilled and relieved to be back at school. Her teacher, who also attends our church, knows how much Ane loves school and is very kind and understanding. For example, after the class field trip to the fire station a few weeks ago, Ane was in tears because the school day had been cut short and we weren’t going back to school after the field trip. Her teacher gave her a hug – and then gave her homework (draw a picture of a fire truck for your mom and dad). I don’t recall that she actually did it, but the gesture helped.

Yesterday, Ane had Lunch Bunch. This means that I pay to let her stay an extra hour after school, pack her a lunch (no nuts allowed!) in her Princess lunch box, and she gets to each lunch and play with the other kids who have signed up for that day. Yes, she loves it. It’s so “grown up” to her. To a five-year-old, there’s nothing more grown up than having a Lunchable and a juice box with your friends after school.

What I can hardly believe is that Ane has only six weeks of school left. (I think Tad has seven weeks left, but don’t tell her that.) What am I going to do with her all summer?

In the meantime, she starts baseball next Tuesday. She will be handling a bat. Be afraid, everyone.