Beat the House

I spent the day beating on my house - with wiffle balls. I bought my kid about 30 wiffle balls for batting practice. As with many of the toys I purchase that I think the child will love, I end up have more fun playing with it than the kid does. I started smacking them around the back yard, and it was very satisfying. Tossing the ball, swinging, and connecting so that it flies across the yard and bangs into the house is inspired. It really feels good to hit something and experience "cause" and then watch it crash into something (without breaking anything) "effect."

Watching it crash on the neighbor's house is just exhilerating. I feel like I am being sneaky, breaking the rules, being bad. The ball bounces off of the siding and into a planter. I giggle. Then, I have to run over, and let myself into their yard to collect it. I feel silly. So, here I am with the 4 year old who is enjoying the swingset, and I am the one who is acting out. What fun.

It's a great way to work out some of my aggression about the neighbor's "perfect" house and yard. I drop my ball into their yard and think, it's not so perfect now is it?

I truly believe that I have an inner 8 year old who likes to cause trouble. She is a lot of fun. She body surfs in the ocean at high tide. She cracks my bubble gum in public places. She likes to fart, and blame someone else. She laughs at dick jokes, and bathroom humor. She is snotty. She is nasty. She likes to be dirty, and tell everyone that she smells. She burps loudly. She flips off inadament objects because they are annoying. She runs naked past the picture window, hoping to grab the clean clothes before the neighbors see her. She uses the men's room if the ladies' room is occupied. She picks her nose. She picks fights, just because. People find her annoying, and she doesn't care. She whines. She makes fun of people she likes. She swears as often as possible.

Finding an opportunity to have fun with my inner 8 year old while hanging out with my 4 year old is a challenge, and, today, I found a way: batting practice.