Little League in Palau

Everyone is always asking questions about Jake and his interests (blowing things up, dinosaurs, legos, blowing up dinosaurs and legos) and does he like the boat(yes) and does he know how to ride a bike (sort of), and the big one that I always dread (no, not do we homeschool him), does he play any sports?  Why do I dread that?  Well, because no, he doesn’t and quite frankly, it doesn’t bother me a bit.  So please don’t mistake this post as a hidden insecurity, it’s meant to be strictly informational and slightly entertaining.  He’s an excellent swimmer, snorkeler, and he even has some bottom time.  I can go on and on about his accomplishments, but to the sports fanatic, it seems like he’ll never survive.  How will he learn to work in a team environment?  There are many other types of teams…one he learns from a lot is us…it takes a lot of team work to run this thing we call home.  How will he learn self discipline?  Let me see, his father and I saved for 10 years, planned and actually executed said plan to quit our jobs/retire and sail around the world (and we weren’t even 40).  I think we know a thing or two about discipline.  I don’t blame them or get mad at them…what we’re doing is just so foreign to them that they can’t fathom how he could have a normal life without America’s favorite pastime.  I get it.

To all those people…you’ll like this…Jake has started T-Ball.  And wait…hold your breath….he’s enrolled in Judo, too.  Why, you ask?  Why not?  I never said I was against it.  It’s just not usually something that we have an opportunity to do. 

 So for the past two weeks, every Sunday morning, Jake gets his glove and we walk about a mile to the community baseball field where he’s learning the basics of baseball.  For all you parents who have kids that play or have played T-ball, I’m sure you can relate when I tell you that this is the most humorous part of my day.  The first time he hit the ball, he made it to third base!  Of course he skipped first and second, but hey, he’s just practicing his knowledge that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  They put him in the outfield and after about 10 minutes, he decided to sit down.  He must have been pretty tired from our walk because not long after that I saw him lying down with his feet up in the air.  The second week went much better (a few discussions were had about the “nap” time) and he actually started to blend in a bit.  One little kid passed another one on  the bases and they both made it "home" at the same time.  Apparently, they’re getting uniforms in a few weeks, although I have no idea who they’re going to play.  Maybe the other states here have teams too?  That’s going to be a long walk…

 On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, we walk the same route up to the community gym where he’s learning Judo from one of the Palauan Olympic athletes.  The first week was awkward because he didn’t have his Gi (uniform) yet, so he stuck out like a sore thumb and I noticed everything he could or couldn’t do (I was a very coordinated child so his late blooming in that area baffles me).  Last week he got his Gi and sure enough, he blended in and demonstrated to his mother that yes, all little people are goofy.  I can already tell a difference in his mouth (he has a big one…wonder where he gets that from) and patience level…the old school sensei helped with that.  A little slap in the back of the head never hurt anyone, right?

The cool thing is, he loves it.  And, he loves to learn.  You can tell he’s concentrating really hard when they try to teach him something.  Something he doesn’t necessarily do when learning from his parents.  So, go ahead and ask me….does Jake play any sports?  Yes, why yes he does.