I love my husband, but sometimes....

you know I love my husband, with all my heart, but sometimes the things he does, really makes me shake my head.

So the other day, he and M went to the park to practice Baseball.  He was hitting M grounders and fly balls and M was at shortstop.  They were working on fielding the ball and coming up throwing.  M was having a hard time at the team practice coming up and turning all the way to make a good throw over his shoulder.

During this process, my husband, the Love of my life, challenged my child, wait, lets not go there yet.  Here is the setup.

M was here, in the field at approximately shortstop position.

E was at home plate.  On the fence behind home plate, which you can see in the picture,

Yes, you can see it, its right there, yes, look again and you will see it, FINE)

THERE, see the fence, good!
ok, now where were we.  Oh yeah,  on the fence behind home plate, E put a leaf.  He hooked it in the fence and you can see it in the picture.   E told M that when he came up throwing he needed to aim for that leaf, and hit it.

Yes, there is a leaf hooked in the fence,  ITS RIGHT THERE...  FINE

NOW, do you see the leaf now?

ok, now that we have that out of the way.

2 or 3 balls into this challenge, M hadnt hit the leaf, and he says something like "there is no way I can hit that"  Getting whiny like a 10 year old boy does.

Here comes the thing that makes my scratch my head,

sit down, you need to brace yourself and be ready for it.

are you ready?

E says to M.

"If you hit the leaf I'll buy you another gun"

HMMM,  not, I'll take you to the movies, or I'll make you ice cream,  or I'll let you take the dog for a walk, or I'll let you rake up all the leaves in the yard by yourself, or I'll let you spend your Christmas money on underwear and socks...  (OK, maybe some of those wouldnt have motivated him as much as others..)

But does he use any of those things? no, he says "If you hit the leaf, I'll buy you another gun"

Now, if you know our child you can imagine the smile that spread so far across his face that his hairline re-ceeded.  You can also imagine how much more effort went in from that point forward.  (if you dont know our child then think about how happy Ralphie was when he got his Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun)

Well on the 2nd throw after the offer was made, from a spot in the outfield behind the Shortstop position, M put the ball right on the leaf, and I mean dead nuts on the leaf.

My husband, the LOML, my reason for being, then cussed out loud.  We wont repeat it here.

My child then laughed and jumped up and down and did kartwheels in the grass  (O.K. maybe he didnt do the kartwheels)

They kept going, and M got really good at hitting the general area around the leaf.  Even came real close when he was chasing a ball into the outfield and had to field the ball, turn and make a good throw.

It is amazing how much effort someone can put toward something when they really want to.

Needless to say now my husband has a new project to put some effort towards, and we will have yet another gun to find a place for...