My older brother Josh was a sports fanatic growing up. He would throw baseballs up in the air and catch them in his glove while we were watching TV. He would toss me Nerf footballs when I walked in a room and then tackle me when I caught them. He had tan lines from the wrist bands he wore constantly and a permanent crease in his hair from his baseball hat. His room was covered in pennants and posters of sports stars. He idolized George Brett (my parents grew up in Missouri so we were big KC Royals fans up until the Colorado Rockies were introduced). He played soccer, baseball and football. But baseball was always his first love. In fact, I spent a good portion of my summers sitting through baseball games and tournaments he was playing in.
And while Josh was definitely the biggest fanatic, he wasn't the only sports enthusiast in the family. My dad played football at the University of Missouri and when we were growing up, he coached high school football, track and cross country as well as my summer recreational track team. My mom coached me in soccer for a few years before I hung up my cleats to dedicate myself to gymnastics. And all 4 of us were big fans of our local pro sports teams in Denver where I grew up. Yes, I am a John Elway fan if you are wondering.
I still love sports. I like watching them on TV (although I've become a much bigger Seattle fan after living here for 12 years), I like going to games, and I like playing the few things my injured knees can still handle (too much gymnastics & soccer). So I always hoped that when I had kids that they would like sports as well.
While it is too early to tell if Kate will take a long-term interest in sports, living with Jack is like being in my own version of SportsCenter. He is obsessed with sports. He talks about them constantly - he literally says the word "basketball" about 100 times a day. He walks around with balls, bats, gloves, clubs, etc. in his hands at all times. He only wants to wear clothes which display some sort of sporting equipment. He only wants to watch sports on TV. He'll even hand you the remote and say "basketball on?" His favorite sport seems to be basketball but golf is a close second. One day he threw a fit because Kate wanted to watch Strawberry Shortcake and he wanted to watch the Final Four. When Strawberry Shortcake was finally over, we turned on the game. He ran into the family room, climbed up into our leather recliner, grabbed Dave's golf magazine and started flipping through it while he watched the game. I almost wanted to go get him a beer to make the picture complete. But I settled for a sippy cup of milk instead.
Here is just a sampling of what I'm talking about.
His favorite pajamas
Playing basketball at the park
His favorite shirt
And the shoes - high tops no less
His football jacket
Playing golf
And baseball
And basketball
And Soccer
It is so fun watching his personality develop. He is all boy through and through. And I might add, the cutest boy I've ever seen. Wouldn't you agree?
