Hey Batter-batter ...

Ben wrote a sentence a few weeks ago that I completely understood. He said something to the effect that he had been waiting his whole life to see that remarkable moment when Elliott took his first steps.

There are a lot of parenting moments that I daydreamed about YEARS before I had kids. I wondered what that would feel like to see a child walk for the first time or lose their first tooth.

One of those big daydreams for me was to see my kid play baseball. Long, long before there were kids in our lives, Marty and I have been baseball fans, regularly attending Mesa games and any professional teams would could catch.

This year, that moment was finally realized. Soren and Jonas are playing baseball and we are all loving it.

Soren is playing coach-pitch and he's a very proud Beaver. (I still can hardly say that with a straight face because I'm still a child myself.)

This pic was taken just prior to his first game against the Gators. Isn't he sweet in front of his mom.

When he got there, he tried to psyche the other team out by telling one Gator "We practiced three times ..." The kid replied "Oh yeah, well we practiced four." Then they looked at each other, then backed away slowly. The 'hell he learn that?

That game he hit two base hits, ran home, and got two outs.

He was also the catcher.

The Beavers lost, probably because the Gators practiced more, and I had my first talk about winning and losing some. He was teary-eyed.

I was absolutely the proudest momma of a loser ever. I thought he was awesome and it was truly a monumentous parental moment to see my boy givin it the hussle on the field.

Jonas is a T-baller on the CMU Mav team. Don't call them little because they will correct you — they are BIG kids who play on the BIG Mav team.

Here's Jonas right before his big game.

I was super nervous he might quit, given his tendency to hate stuff. But, he stepped right up, slugged it for two base hits, and he even knew which way to run once he'd hit it. Not all T-ballers get that which makes it more of a game of entertainment that suspense. He does have some trouble keeping is head in the game. When there's no action, he's building sandpiles in the dirt.

The best part about T-ball though is just between me and him. When he makes it to base, he finds me on the bleachers and gives me his Rock-n-Roll fingers. Those fingers are so Jonas and they are just for me. I love that he wants to make sure that I'm watching.

Three nights a week, I'm watching, with the proudest mama smile ever.

Watch out Big Leagues — the Ashcraft boys are comin!