out to the ballgame - gabriel

Gabriel loves to get in on the action as much as the next guy. Since he's a professional mimicker, he watches everyone and then does his best at attempting it himself. He has a mean throw and does well at attempting to hit the ball (mostly Todd just throws the ball directly at the bat from a short distance), running the right direction and holding the much too heavy glove on his hand (occasionally he even gets it on the right one).

This clip is from January of last year.




I can't help but to get all sappy about this one. For me, the day that Taylor took Gabriel out back and showed him how to play t-ball was huge. HUGE. Yes, I said for me it had special significance.

When I was pregnant with Gabriel I did not have a pre-natal diagnosis of Down syndrome. We did know he was a boy. Taylor was so excited to have a brother. As the due date got closer, Taylor talked constantly of the things that he would do with a little brother and the things he would teach him. Baseball was number one on his 'to do' list.

The night we had Gabriel brought a flood of emotions. I knew little - make that nothing - about Down syndrome. I remember the thought coming to me sometime in that first day, that Taylor and Gabriel would never have the chance to play baseball together. I was crushed.

I was wrong.

It's a shame I didn't have a crystal ball to show me that everything would turn out a-okay.