I love making things with this boy of mine. He gets just as excited as I do with a 'making' challenge, and works just as hard at puzzling it all out. In this case, he desperately wanted a baseball bat bag. And while they're certainly inexpensive enough, I was struggling with making the purchase (perhaps because of that price tag. How is a bag made for twelve dollars?! I think we know the answer to this.) Thank goodness, when I suggested we try making one, he was happy with the idea, and thrilled at the challenge to figure it all out.
There certainly was some 'puzzling out' to be done. We wanted a sturdy, durable bag (ended up with duck cloth for fabric), with a lining, a zipper (we used a durable 'parka' zipper), adjustable straps, and all that jazz. Also a place for the glove, baseballs, and a water bottle. Oh! And he requested that we make the bat bag big enough so that when he plays in the major leagues (notice the use of 'when,' not 'if'....love that), it will still hold a larger size bat for him. Phew!
All that drawing-of-plans, and puzzling out, and fun teamwork totally paid off. The bag is a success! I'm thrilled I didn't have to buy something I didn't love the values/workmanship of, but most importantly, thrilled that we were able to do this together. Really, really thrilled. I so treasure the time we spend making things together, perhaps even more so the older and more independent they get.
Sadly, this bag and my sweet baseball-lovin' boy made it to just three games this season. At the fourth game, Calvin broke his hand when a fast and hard pitch came his way at bat. For someone who lives and breathes baseball and looks forward to this season all year long, it's been a bit of a blow for him that his season is over so soon (just after making the 'big' leagues!). It's one of those moments where this Mama would very much like to give him a kiss and pop him in my sling and make everything just right. Ah. But such is growing up.
So this bag sits waiting and ready for when his hand is (fully!) healed, and for when he's ready to get back in the game (well, that's now...perhaps when his doctor is ready for him to get back in the game would be more accurate). Thank goodness we made it big enough for the Major Leagues, you know, because that's his plan. This is just one short season of rest. He assures us that there's a lot more baseball to be played.