Emmett's first baseball game

When the opportunity first presented itself, we really weren't sure we wanted to take him.  We have talked about taking him to see a Dash game (Winston-Salem's single A baseball team) but we haven't because Emmett is not a good sitter.  He prefers running around, wherever we are.  He is only willing to sit still while eating, and even then he's kicking his feet constantly.  He isn't the kind of kid who clings to our legs and wants to sit on our laps.  He is always moving and exploring.  So when Chris's company offered us a chance to see the Grasshoppers (Greensboro's single A baseball team) we game it some serious thought.  First of all, the tickets were free because of employee appreciation week.  We wouldn't want to pay for a game and have to leave early because Emmett wouldn't behave.  Second, the company has a box reserved at all the games, so not only would there be an air conditioned room for him to run around in, there would also be a section of seats out in front of the box that is basically fenced in so that he can be free to roam around without bothering strangers.  In light of that, we decided that the circumstances were actually perfect.

I got home from work Tuesday afternoon around 4:00 as I usually do.  I changed into casual clothes and packed a dinner for Emmett.  Then we headed to Greensboro to Chris's office around 5:00.  It takes a little less than 30 minutes to get there from our house, and luckily rush hour traffic is better going from Winston to Greensboro than the other way around.  We picked up Chris, grabbed a quick dinner, and headed to the stadium.  We were able to park relatively close, which is good considering we would have to carry Emmett, who is getting quite heavy and is usually not cooperative enough to hold our hands and walk with us.  We headed into the stadium and to the elevator that would take us up to the box.  The attendant operating the elevator asked us if this was Emmett's first ball game.  When we said yes, he gave him a baseball from his pocket as a souvenir.  Emmett smiled at him and said "ball."  We thanked him and headed up to the box.  Emmett explored the box room for a few minutes and quickly wanted to head outside to the seats.  This is the first picture we took on Chris's cell phone (we forgot our camera):

He loved looking through the railing down at the field and at the people below us.  He got to meet the team mascot:

He wasn't sure what to think of him at first, but then he shook his hand.  He wasn't afraid of him at all.  He did actually sit down on the steps for a little while as you can see in this next picture:

But I think his favorite "first" of the night was popcorn.  We had unlimited popcorn in our box and I let him try it for the first time (I never have before because I was worried about the kernels getting stuck in his throat or bothering his tummy - like they do me).  He ate about 2 cups full before I cut him off.  But he just kept his cup of popcorn in the cup holder and stood up against the railing watching the goings on.  The team has a black lab that retrieves the bats and he really enjoyed watching the "doggy" and saying "arf".

We ended up staying until the end of the 8th inning.  Emmett was in a great mood the whole time and we decided we'd stay until the end unless he started getting sleepy.  He sat on my lap for a while, which he almost never does, so I knew he was starting to get there.  Well in the bottom of the 8th we had a string of homeruns, after each there was a short burst of fireworks.  The first set just made him take a few steps backward.  The next set he looked a little concerned, and by the third set he started to cry.  I don't think fireworks would have made him cry under normal circumstances, but that was my signal that he was getting tired.  We decided to go because it was about 10:00 by that point I think, which is nearly an hour after his bedtime, knowing we still had at least a 30 minute drive home.  We stopped back at Chris's office so he could get his truck and we drove home.  I managed to keep him awake in the car, which is important for Emmett because we cannot pull him out of the car and lay him down still asleep.  He always wakes up and then takes forever to go to back to sleep.  We had him in bed by 11:00 and he slept in until 9:00 the next morning.  He was a little fussy when he woke up, and fussy at nap time, but otherwise he was fine the next day.  We were so glad he had a good time and we couldn't have asked for better behavior from him.  First baseball game was a wild success!