8th Inning

I don't know what it is with Gavin lately. I feel like a broken record. I sound like a broken record. Upon leaving my lips, each phrase is deflected. Each gentile reminder is ignored. So my phrases and reminders get louder. Less gentle. Still he manages to bat them all away, like he's practicing for the home run derby.

Until my pitches are too fast.

When we get to that point, nobody is happy. I try not to hear myself, attempting to play Gavin's game, in order to cope with the situation at hand. Still, I hear myself. I don't like the sound. But the volume pushes my words through the clutter. Then they're not ignored.

We're making headway with "okay." Now I'm hearing, "I can do that." And things like, "I understand." I love those words. They mean communication is happening.

I'm certain that part of our problem is that we're in a long inning. You know that part of the baseball game where things are just slow. Summer is starting to feel that way for him. We have some really fun things planned at the end of the month, but right now we're stuck in the 8th inning.

He misses baseball. Today Gavin decided to wear his uniform... high pants and all... Summer sports this year were great for Gavin. He really grew through those activities.

With those good experiences under our belt (you know, the belt that's holding up our too-high baseball pants) we're looking forward to the fall sports season. Gavin decided on flag football and soccer. We'll start practicing a new sport and that will surely help to close out the 8th inning in style.