Baseball Ready

Ella had her first t-ball practice this evening. She is the only girl on a team with 11 boys. That threw her for a loop in the beginning. She was pretty timid starting off. She has never played ball AT ALL before, but luckily several of the boys have never played either. The coaches asked if everyone knew where first base was, and all the boys scream YES! She just sat there like a deer in the headlights. I finally spoke up and said, "She isn't going to say it, but no she doesn't know." It turns out that about half the boys didn't know either they just screamed yes because the other boys screamed yes. They had a really good first practice. The dads tossed balls for them to try to catch and throw back. Only one little boy can do it--it's his third year. He is really good. Then they practiced stopping grounders. This was when Ella started showing a lot of insecurity. At one point she looked over at me and Scott and looked really upset. I started going out to her to see what was wrong, but the coach saw too. He also started out to her, so I stopped. I figure it's better to let the coach have a chance to work with her than for Mommy to come to her rescue. I have no idea what he said to her, but it worked. She perked right up and started really hustling. Then they all ran the bases. Ella volunteered to try first. By the end of practice, she had learned that she had to touch the bases with her foot before going to the next one. Several of the boys didn't catch on, so I was quite proud of her. I will admit that I am a bit worried how it is going to be for her to be the only girl on the team. Tonight I felt like the coaches did a really good job of treating her the same, so things are off to a good start. She also learned how to stand "baseball ready."

Tonight when we got home she gets into position. The conversation went like this:
Ella: What is this called?
Mom: Baseball ready.
Ella: Yeah, baseball ready, but sometimes it's just called bending over.

ohmygosh! I laughed so hard I cried...literally had to wipe the tears off my cheeks...cried. I love that kid!