First I'll play catch with Eli and then I'll push Maddie in the car, then I'll go back to Eli and so on and so on. While I was pushing M around the cul-de-sac this week, Eli decided to play catch 'all by self'. He found a section of (wooden) fence near the garage and threw the ball against it. He quickly learned that it bounced back to him. He immediately fell in love with this new 'game'. He lifts his little leg each time ('like the big guys do it') he pitches and then he squats down and picks up the ball in his glove before it passes him. Come to think of it, this is a really good drill for him to do on his own. The extra work is really starting to show also. Eli's skillz on the field are improving dramatically.When Eli isn't warming up in the pen, he and I place catch where I'm usually the catcher and he's the pitcher. We play on the chalk-drawn baseball diamond we keep marked in the driveway. Our game starts like this: Eli tells me, "woo (you) be catcher. E-i's pitcher. (or vice versa)" and "Mommy, stand like dis." (He then squats down to show me how the catcher is supposed to stand.)
This kid is a sponge, as I've mentioned many times before. He constantly asks about things and he repeats the answers to himself again and again. Eli knows a handful of Cubs players. First base? 'D-Wee' (Derrick Lee). Pitcher? 'Big Z' (Carlos Zambrano). Catcher? 'Gee-oh.' (Geovany Soto) Right Field? 'K-oh-skay.' (Kosuke Fukudome) This kid has a knack for memory, so we might as well start filling him with stats and whatnot now!
As much as he loves to play ball, he still enjoys mowing the lawn at least once a day. Lately he's been telling me, "Mow gwass for Daddy. He be happy." This makes me laugh because I am the one who mows the grass most of the time, and almost 100% of the time that Eli is awake for... But for whatever reason, he thinks he's doing it for Lehr.
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