opening day 2017

This might be my favorite family tradition. As you may remember, we have a history with the Nationals opening day. In 2015, it was opening day when I told Jon I was pregnant. Fast forward one year, and we were there with a 4-month-old Charlie. So, of course, we had to make it a family affair again this year.

It's always a bit of a gamble braving events with a toddler. At the end of last baseball season, he was still nursing, not yet walking, and still taking two solid naps per day. We kind of had it down to a science and ended up enjoying 7 games with Charlie last year. We had no idea what to expect now that he's older, wiser and much more rambunctious.

Much to our surprise, he was content to sit in our laps the entire game. Yes, our 15-month-old sat in our seats with us for nine complete innings of baseball - all of which happened during lunch and afternoon nap time. It should have been a disaster, but it was so much fun!

At first, I thought he might fall asleep in the ergo, but there was just too much to see. We had a good supply of snacks on hand to keep him satisfied. The one problem we did have was the cheering. He didn't mind the PA system or moderate cheering, but when the crowd reacted to HRs, etc., Charlie would completely lose it. First, he would make this amazing scrunchy face and then the tears would start. Luckily, they never lasted long. He wouldn't keep his headphones on to help reduce the scare factor. Since he recovered quickly, I can admit it was pretty funny - especially watching everyone else around us react. Once it had happened a few times, they would all cheer and then brace themselves for the tears. They all felt bad for making the babe cry.