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Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Having a Ball


I ran into a woman I know at a consignment sale; she’s a mom of a three-year-old. She was telling me tips on the types of trains I should get when Leo gets into that stuff. I said, “Right now he’s just into balls.” She said, “Yeah, at that age they’re all into balls…”


Um, I don’t think I explained myself correctly. Did I say he’s “into” balls? Because that’s putting it mildly. He’s OBSESSED with balls. Here is the evidence:

Every morning when he wakes up, I open his door and he can see into his play room. He always points and says, “Beeg ball!” about the biggest of all the balls he has.

And speaking of all the balls he has, let me count them: there’s beeg ball, two medium-sized blue balls, two small balls (one with Diego and one with Little Ensteins), a wire ball with holes in it, a football, a rubbery baseball, a small basketball and six little balls that go with his ball-popping machine. That’s 15 balls. And I’m sure I’m forgetting about some.

Yesterday we bought the little basketball at Target. He didn’t see it until the check-out lane. When he did he said, “Ball, ball, ball, ball, ball…” until the cashier gave it to him. Then he said, “Ball, ball, ball, ball, ball…” all the way out to the car and then throughout the rest of our car ride. When we went into the next store I told him we had to say “Bye bye” to the ball so he said, “Bye bye, ball” and then repeated that all through the next store. Then it was “ball, ball, ball, ball” all the way home as he held it in the car.

But he doesn’t just hold balls. He throws them. And he throws them really well! He holds them up over his head and launches them across the room. If anyone walks in the house, he tries to get them to throw the ball with him—even the cable guy and the exterminator.

He also likes to "Keek the ball." But if you "keek" the ball when he wanted you to throw it (or vice versa), watch out. There are lots of rules to his ball games.

When we arrive at any child care center (the Y, Mother’s Morning Out or the church nursery), the people working there immediately say, “Come on, Leo. Let’s go find a ball.”

When I tell him we’re going to the Y, he says, “Ball?”

When we get to the Y, he runs over to the window where you can see into the basketball courts. He watches the guys play basketball and says “Bah ball.”

He thinks anything round is a ball--fruit, vegetables, buttons, clocks. The other day he pointed at the sun and said, “ball.”

He likes to watch sports on TV just so he can see the ball. He even likes golf!

He loves his basketball hoop in the backyard and I think he would shoot forever if we would let him. He runs to the window and says, “Bah-ball!”

He’s developing more games with the ball—first there was high ball, then door ball and lately he’s taken to throwing the ball on the countertops and into the kitchen sink. My least favorite? Toilet ball.

Yesterday he and Frank developed what I guess we’ll call arm-basketball. Here we are playing it. Sometimes he misses and hits our faces; hence my reaction!




So maybe one day it will be trains or trucks or dogs or robots. But right now, it's all about the ball.

5 comments:

GR said...

When I come to visit in November, I'll take Leo down to the court at the Y and let him watch the game up close. Of course, he'll want to participate, so let's hope some team needs a speedy little point guard.

Writinggal said...

Yes, he's short but he's scrappy!

And I DID forget some balls--the balls in the bath tub, where he also has a basketball net.

Also forgot to say that when he throws his cup or his food from his high chair, we always say, "No, no. We don't throw our cup" and he says. "BALL!"

Writinggal said...

New game created today: dishwasher ball.

Popsey said...

Grandpa Ron will be sooooo proud. Good eye hand coordination is a good start. LOVE

Kristin said...

I guess for Christmas Leo just needs appropriate things to throw balls into!