What Motherhood Has Taught Me

Despite being around them daily, my kids still have the ability to take my breath away with their beauty, kindness, and general awesomeness. First, it was Westbrook who literally took my breath away. He is an aggressive batter. He will spin, jump, run, and fall to hit the ball. He also has a habit of charging the pitcher to hit the ball rather than wait for the ball at the plate. Suppy noted it was similar to Happy Gilmore's approach to golf.
Tonight, I reminded him to take his stance, hold the bat upright, and keep his eye on the ball. He smacked the ball hard... directly into my face. I should have kept my eye on the ball. It hurt something awful. It was my fault. I was standing too close because my underhanded pitching skills are not what they once were.* Unfortunately, my reaction time is also not what it was in my younger days.** It took me a few minutes to recover- my face is still tingling. It took Gram even longer. In fact, several hours later she is probably still laughing somewhere. I was relieved of my pitching duties after it was determined that the further away I retreated (for safety reasons), the worse my accuracy became. On the second pitch by Suppy, Westbrook once again hit the ball straight at me nailing me in the stomach.  Westbrook easily makes contact with ninety percent of the pitches.(Impressive for an almost 5-year old? Maybe.) Hopefully he will improve upon his accuracy and Babe Ruth like aim.

Llandis on the other hand is not really into baseball yet. She was more interested in the caterpillars in the yard. She found a little friend in the driveway at Grams. She carried it around the yard, letting it crawl on her arms while she watched it lovingly. When asked for the caterpillars name, Llandis gave Gram the very dry, obvious answer of "I don't know." How would she know? She doesn't speak caterpillar. Folks, Llandis is funny.*** And stunning.****Watching her float around the yard with her favorite insect was almost too much for my heart.

Happy Gilmore Style Golfing

*Truth: My underhanded pitching skills were never "what they once were"
**Truth: My speed and agility are probably the same which means I was either really slow in my prime or I am really impressive now. I will let you decide.
***Truth: She gets that from me.
****Truth: She gets that from me too. (I hope)