One, Two, Three Strikes...I'm out

Strike One: To the absolute delight of his Dad, my 15yo is capital S Serious about baseball. All of my boys have played, we even helped to run the local youth league for a few years, but this is the child that really cares about it. So much so that he has spent every Sunday morning for weeks attending pitching lessons to try to perfect a naturally strong arm. He’s good – no illusions here about “a future in the big leagues” – but he has talent and he enjoys it SO much. Tryouts for the high school team are Monday and there is excitement in the air.

So what’s the problem? Welll, ya see, ummm, yeah, it's kinda like this...I would never let him pitch for too long as a youngster because he threw sidearm. It was a great pitch for the younger leagues…natural curve, fast as hell, dropped at the last second…coaches LOVED it. But I knew that throwing sidearm was no good for his growing arm and I placed severe limits on the number of pitches I would allow him to throw. Coach after coach tried to help him correct his form, but he stubbornly held onto that sidearm pitch. That’s what led to the pitching clinic this winter. He wants to pitch more competitively and I insisted that he work with a trainer to correct his pitch so he doesn’t injure himself.

This was the responsible Mommy thing to do right? Well, the boy child enthusiastically agreed. We interviewed several baseball clinics and found one that understood our concerns and the boy attended and worked his ass off applied himself admirably. He corrected his form and the trainer announced last weekend that “When he’s in the slot he’s unhittable!” Score one for Mom being such a stubborn bitch. It all worked out perfectly!

Until….wait for it….

He woke me up this morning to tell me that his elbow “popped” and was killing him.

F...M...L!  I just plain suck at this. All that time arguing…with him, coaches, his father in an effort to avoid an injury just like this and “I” end up being the one who gets his arm injured right before tryouts.

Strike Two: Just to add some more tarnish to my wonderful mommy tiara? The 9yo who I sent back to school yesterday because he was feeling better was hacking up a storm this morning which means that I’ve probably infected at least half his class.

Strike Three: and the baby woke up with a fever.

Seriously…who thought it was a good idea to put me in charge of children??