Soccer Mom

Today was Taz's very first soccer game EVER! It is so strange having your oldest child, who you still look at as being practically a baby, doing something that seems so old to you. Or maybe it just makes me feel old. Whatever the case, I am officially a "Soccer Mom." I think when these "firsts" come along, especially when it comes to your kids, there are two ways that we handle them. Either we are so excited that we are at the field an hour before it starts so that we can run a few drills with our new little athlete, make sure that they are stretched, fueled and hydrated, and (GASP!) not late...Or we don't take into account how long it takes to put on a soccer uniform, wash faces, brush teeth, make sure everyone goes to the bathroom, let alone taking into account that we have never been to the field before and so amid the 50 other soccer games going on, we feverishly run from game to game hoping to find our kid's team before the game's over! Can you guess which one was me? It really wasn't that bad. We were about 5 minutes late. Nine a.m. on a Saturday is hard! We did learn from out mistake, though, and we came up with a game plan that involves leaving the house at 8:30 SHARP! Now, onto Taz's soccer team, "The Red Rocks" (they got to vote on their name. I think it's so funny and cute). It is so funny to watch a bunch of four-year-olds run around and try to get the ball from who ever has it, teammate or not. I loved it! Taz is fairly coordinated, but also has a tendency to fall down a lot. We kept a running tally (we're so mean!) and we counted a total of fifteen falls. Also, being the rookie "Soccer Mom" that I am, made sure to plug in the video camera, but neglected to check it for film. However, I did happen to get a small recording from my digital. Taz is #2

I feel bad that the only video I have of his first soccer game is him falling. It's appropriate, given the fourteen other falls, but I still feel kind of bad. Even though he did fall down a lot, he did score 2 of the 6 goals for the team. He was so excited! Here are a few pictures from the game. This is Taz doing a corner kick. Taz, stealing the ball and taking it to the goal. These are a few action shots. The next series of pictures are from a little situation where... Taz fell, and the other team was laughing at him... So Taz went and told his coach, and his coach said not to worry about it... He did get a battle wound, though. I talked to him about it after the game, and he felt pretty bad that the other kids were laughing at him. I told him that since he felt bad, he should never laugh at anyone when they fall, he should help them up. I know that I said Scott and I were chuckling at his falls and keeping a running total, but it really is different. We were doing it in a spirit of love. Falling down has always been something he does a lot (and you can ask my mom, he gets it from me!). It is one of those wonderfully quirky things that makes him our Taz. It was so much fun to see him playing soccer. The best thing about it was this grin that he had on his face the entire time. I hope I can capture it on film one of these days. Right now I am seeing it in my mind, and I am smiling to myself, so glad that I am a "Soccer Mom."