Hey, Batt-ah, Batt-ah!

Remember the Brady Bunch episode where the boys break a vase while playing ball in the house? I can still hear the voices, “Mom’s favorite vase.” “She always says ‘don’t play ball in the house’!” I am sure we all have a similar scene from our childhood. I knew someday John would break something by playing too rough in the house.

I had no idea “someday” was a few weeks shy of his second birthday.

Jay and I never set a “don’t play ball in the house” rule because we had not needed one. JohnJohn threw a little rubber ball and a little plastic football and it hasn’t been a problem. We though when he got a little bigger we’d move those toys outside. One of those toys is a little plastic bat. John is just as likely to use it as a microphone (you should hear his original compositions) as he is to swing at the little rubber ball with this bat.

Unfortunately, he found a new game today. He took the bat and hit our TV with it. Hard. It cracked the screen. I was in the other room and heard the noise, but did not rush in because I did not hear him cry. I thought he hit the bookshelves. Then I saw the distorted picture on the TV. Oh, NO! I cannot begin to catalog my thoughts as they flew through my head in those few moments, but they were something like this:

John cracked the TV! We have no TV now! Thank goodness it is not the old-school glass screen TV; that would have landed him in the emergency room. Thank goodness the TV did not topple over on him. What made him want to hit the TV? How do I punish him when I never set a rule to begin with? Wasn’t property destruction a few years away from happening? Jay and I were clearly stupid to not have the TV on a higher surface. I can’t believe he broke the TV with his plastic baseball bat. Hey, wait…my baby knows how to HIT! Check that out, he is strong!

In the end, John took a time out, the bat and balls have been confiscated, the TV and TV cart are on the curb for bulky trash week and I finally calmed down. John learned about not playing ball in the house, and Mommy and Daddy learned a few lessons as well. I also gave myself an “atta-girl” for signing John up for Lil’ Sluggers this summer. Here’s a funny twist-Jay’s birthday is this week and I had no clue what to get him. Looks like Daddy’s getting a TV for his birthday!