One Reason for Large Families

Benjamin's latest love is baseball. I don't really like the game, but I love playing sports with Benjamin. He's an incredible athlete and never ceases to amaze me. He got a tee, a bat, and a glove for his birthday and now we play in the backyard nearly every day - sometimes with the tee and sometimes without. However, there's the one glaring problem - there's only two of us. So it's up to me and Benjamin to fill an entire team's worth of positions. It's especially tricky when he doesn't make a home run and is stuck on a base. I end up pitching to myself, hitting, running after the ball and trying to tag him out, all while running the bases for myself too. It's total chaos - which is exactly how he likes it. Today, as I was the pitcher, first, second, and third basemen, running for the ball as he circled towards home, I thought, "this would be one reason to have more kids." I laughed in his face when he suggested I retrieve a ball that he missed and which landed behind him. So our baseball game now has the additional rule - if you miss it, your punishment is to retrieve it and give it back to the pitcher. Anyone who wants to come over and play baseball and save me from having to constantly bend over and pick up stray balls, you're cordially invited.


Another Bella story. It was forecasted to rain all day today but the rain didn't come. So I decided to risk it and take the kids to a playground. We had been there for about an hour or more when it started to drizzle. The kids didn't want to go, though. They wanted to play in the rain and I agreed. Love of water, remember? However, shortly thereafter the rain really hit and it poured so hard we were instantly drenched. It became far less fun and we all decided it was time to head home. One problem. Where is my car key? Here we stood in the dumping rain outside our car and I couldn't find the key. I checked my pockets and my diaper bag over and over again to no avail. We were soaked through. While I'm fishing, Bella says to me, "Me take it mommy. Me take your key." For some reason she often takes blame for things she didn't really do so I dismissed her comment for the moment. I decided maybe my key had fallen out on the playground and dashed around looking for it. Still no luck. I headed back to the kids and the car and I hear Benjamin say to Bella, "That wasn't a good idea, Bella!" and Bella answer, "Me sorry." Huh? "Bella, did you really take my key??!" I asked. "Yes." "Where did you put it?" "On the treppe" (German for stairs). "Come show me," I said, and held her hand as she led me and Benjamin through the still pouring rain across the playground. She led us in a straight line right to the base of a concrete stair case and pointed, "There!" she said, triumphantly. Sure enough, there lay my key. Unbelievable!! I don't know if she took it out herself or if it fell out and she found it and decided not to return it. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and say she's not a thief. However, she did successfully manage to get us all soaked to the bone. Funny that the whole way to the playground she kept begging to go to the splash park instead. I guess she figured out a way to get her wish after all.