My Sweet Lito

This morning came with a question I've been dreading ... Lito said he wants to be in sports! He's five and I'm sure he's ready ... but am I?

I worry too much! That's exactly what Danny will say at this point in reading my blog (love ya honey!)!

So I asked him what sport he wants to play. We were passing the neighborhood park and he saw a group playing baseball, which is what I'm sure put the thought on his mind. He named off a few ... football, baseball, soccer ball (yes, that's how he said it!).

He then went on to tell me that he thinks about it every day! I asked him why he didn't say anything and he responded, "Because I can never go". I asked him what he meant and he said, "You never take me". Dagger right to the heart! I remember him mentioning it before but we were just getting him into school and we (or maybe just I) thought it would be too much for him. He'd never been in any type of day care and he was starting public pre-K. I guess I should have revisited the topic sooner ...

So now the question is, where do I start in getting him into a sport. I'm sure I'll figure it out ... in the mean time, we're at McDonalds (our usual spot) and I'm enjoying watching him play. He's made a new friend and they are having a ball!

Until ... they had an accident! He fell down on his cute little face ... his first busted lip. He instantly broke into tears and wailing and limping ... the works! I scooped him up in my lap and proceeded to check him out. I didn't tell him he had a little blood on his lip. When he gets hysterical like this, every little things becomes bigger than it is. So I cupped his little face gently in my hands, turned him towards me and said, "Hey, hey, stop crying and talk to me. What hurts?"

He turned his lip out, trying to stop crying, tears pouring down his cheeks and pointed to his knee. I had looked there already and knew he was fine so I said, "Okay, if it hurts, look at it. Is there anything there?" He hesitantly looked at his knee and shook his head after realizing his knee was fine. I asked, "Does anything else hurt?" He shook his head again. Good, his lip was a non-issue!

Knowing everything was fine, I then chose to capitalize on the moment, it was perfect timing. "Honey, if you really want to play sports, this kind of thing is going to happen all the time. You may fall a lot and get a little hurt, but you just have to look at yourself and figure out if you're really hurt. Are you sure you want to play sports?"

He was really thinking about it, I could see it in his eyes! His little brain was grasping my concept and I was so eager for his response. Could he handle the thought of 'getting hurt' just to play a sport? Then the woman at the next table crushed my tactic! She quickly told him, "You don't want to be a sissy girl do you? Boys are tough, you gotta be tough boy!"

Really? There went that game plan ... thanks, thanks a lot!

So the moment passed and Lito went back to playing. I guess I'll have to talk to him later, at home, with Danny. For now he's back at play and I love watching him have fun. My sweet sweet Lito!