Play Ball?

This past week has been phenomenally warm; highs have been at or around 60 every day, and even though Thursday and Friday were a bit cloudy, it was still warm enough for me to go to work without a jacket yesterday.

This has reached such proportions that this afternoon the kids and I went outside and played some baseball. The gloves were cold and stiff from several months of laying inert (my legs felt the same way the first time I had to chase down a Ryan fly ball), but after about 20 minutes I had stripped off my long-sleeved shirt and was playing in short sleeves.

We played for a little over an hour, and a few things stand out that I would like to comment on. First, Isaac is truly ambidextrous, with a tendency to throw better with his right hand. He writes almost exclusively with his left, but when we play catch he now has to use a right-handed glove. I find it funny how his physical skills are evolving; it wasn't much more than a year ago that we bought a lefty mitt for him.

I was also reminded of how coordinated Ryan has become. He belted my first pitch,and by the time we were done, I had backed up and was pitching to him overhand. And he'll still pop it across the street pretty frequently.

It was also gratifying to see how well my children do play together. Allyson is very aware of and careful around Evan, who in turn follows her around like a little puppy. and all of the kids did a good job of taking turns with the scooter and the baseball bat.

I'm sure we're in for another dose of winter soon, but in the meantime, I'll enjoy this early spring.