New skills

Last week, the Hubs finally opened a box that contained a new game that has turned out to be a favorite with the kids. It was TracBall racquets and 2 balls. So they each get a TracBall racquet and a ball each. And the Hubs and I catch and return the balls back to them. It's been good because they can both play it on the driveway and they throw it at their own skill level. It's good for the Hubs and I because we're out there catching, throwing and chasing the ball. So we've been doing that every night it seems since the Hubs opened the box.

The Hubs did find out that it's easier for him to get the balls and throw them back to the kidlings if he uses his baseball mitt. We were playing outside after lunch and I thought about something we should get.

Me: We should get the kids baseball mitts.
Hubs: Baseball mitts? Do they make them that small?
Me: Sweetie, I told you they've got some really small ones at Tar-jay.
Hubs: Hmmm....maybe we should drop by there before we go out to dinner tonight.
Me: Okay. Let's do that.

So we went out to Tar-jay and picked up a couple mitts. A tan one (with attached ball) for the Bear. A pink one for the Princess. Then we went out to dinner. But after dinner? We went out and got them started on their catching skills. Normally we eat dinner around 5pm on Saturday so we can play outside in the lingering sunshine of the evening.

First thing, the Hubs told the kids how to move their mitt so they could catch the ball. They've never watched baseball. We're not big baseball fans. What can I say? I'm more of a football fan. Anyway, the Bear didn't get it. He just kept trying to get the ball with the mitt palm pointed up to the sky. The Princess was tentative about catching the ball. We did have a bit of drama though. The Hubs had tossed the ball and the Prin tried to catch the ball with the mitt palm facing up. And (you guessed it) the ball bounced up and hit the side of her head. She naturally started crying and ran to me because the Hubs just stood there laughing at her.

That's when I gave her a visual of how she should move her mitt.

• That she should NEVER catch the ball with the mitt facing up while it's right in front of her body. BECAUSE? The ball could bounce off the palm of the mitt and hit her in the face. Which is EXACTLY what happened to her. Of course, she'll be able to do this once she gets some basic skills with her mitt.
• Any balls to the left side of her body, she should stretch her hand out with palm facing the approaching ball. And to NOT move so that her body is behind her mitt.
• Any ball to the right side of her body, she should turn her mitt so the back of her hand is closest to her body. That her arm should cross over her body.
  
• I showed her that the MESH part is what takes the force of catching a ball that's thrown hard. Not the PALM part of the mitt, which is what she was doing.
  
• That closing the mitt is what keeps the ball secure in the mitt. So once she feels the ball hit the mesh section that she should close her mitt to keep the ball secure.

By the time we were ready to go inside, she was more comfortable with the mitt. I was standing about 10 feet away from her and tossing it to her left. She was getting used to catching it by adjusting the position of her arm and mitt. NOT moving her body behind the ball. This was a KEY learning experience for her.

It was fun. It was good. I'm sure we'll be out there practicing.