T-Ball

     Well, it is official, Matt has been cut from the T-ball team. Seriously. Not kidding. At practice today, his coach mentioned to the parents that there was a few kids who were having trouble with paying attention and wandering around the field randomly. (Can you say Matthew?!) He said that if it continued, the child(ren) in question would have to sit on the bench only for safety reasons. I understand that completely, truly, it makes sense.
     After practice, I approached the coach to talk to him about the attention span thing. See, Matt may be turning 5, but he has NO attention span at all. I told the coach I  knew it would continue to be a problem because it is something we face everyday with Matthew. The coach was a bit concerned and we talked further about Matthew as  a child. In the course of discussion, I mentioned Matt's history with his health issues and explained why he was the way he was. The coach was taken aback and said he wished he had known from the start about his medical conditions. I simply told him, that I filled it in on the forms, he should have read them. I very specifically did not tell him because I did not want Matt to be labeled or judged from the start. The coach understood, and said he probably would have formed some sort of opinion based on the medical issues.
     That being said, he decided that due to the combination of Matt's attention span and his brain injury/ epilepsy, that he was uncomfortable with Matt playing on the team because it was too dangerous. I agree mostly with him. I mean, any 4 year old who would get hit in the head while playing ball would be a bad thing, but Matt being hit in the head could be exponentially worse. The more I think about it, the more I know he is just not developmentally ready to play. He may physically be turning 5, but he is not developmentally.
     I do not know why it took me by surprise, really. But it did. Living life around Matthew, he is just so "normal" to us, that when I am confronted with him in a group situation, I am always surprised. And it breaks my heart. But makes him ever so much more special to me. To have been blessed with this special child is a privilege beyond my dreams. So, for now, I am gonna snuggle with my wonderful boy and stay home from T-ball. We can wait until he is ready, because eventually, he will be. :)