Another week, another game, another try

After the drama of last week's Miracle League game, this week was supposed to be the be all or end all game for Will.  The one where I put foam ear plugs into his ears and we figured out once and for all if he could handle being there.

I thought I had a mammoth pack of foam ear plugs.  But after tearing up the bathroom closets, I still couldn't find any.  And of course, it was time to leave for the game.  So inadvertently we gave Will another shot at a baseball game, sans ear plugs.

Grammy was visiting us from New York for the weekend.  During the drive to the park, we were talking about what to do if Will started screaming.  For most of last season and the first game of this season, he has started getting upset when we rolled into the parking lot at the field.

Strangely, he didn't do that on Saturday.  He was laughing as Uncle Joe pushed him around for batting practice.  The sound of the announcer and the clapping during the lineups didn't seem to phase him.  It was odd.  He was having fun trying to take the hat off of his head.  He was even tolerant enough not to cry when I snapped a picture of he and Luke with their buddies, Aunt Stara and Uncle Joe.  The boys have been playing Miracle League since March, and I've never been able to get such a shot before now. He even went up to bat, amongst the chaos and the announcer and the cheering crowd... with nothing but a little tension in his arms.

After the second inning stretch (there are only 2 full innings in Miracle League games at this age, and of course you have to sing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Who cares what inning it is!), Will's tolerance had waned. The noise was starting to get to him. Thankfully Grammy is good at coming up with new verses of 'The Wheels on the Bus' and kept Will smiling until it was his turn to go up to bat again. I can't tell if Grammy came up with the verse 'The boys on the bus say "Look at my muscles" though, since Matt's been singing that one all day.

It was Will's best game ever. We have no idea why! He was ready to go by the end, but he hadn't screamed for the entire game. Baby steps! And I'm still going to bring those foam ear plugs to the next game. Just in case.