I'm a soccer mom

As I said to Stefan tonight, this is a milestone!! Our “baby” is on his first soccer team! Somehow the momentous occasion didn’t sink in for Stefan… maybe he doesn’t have all the great memories of playing soccer like I do. I still remember my first soccer uniform… a little red “Carpet Rug Mart” t-shirt and white shorts. (I never once questioned “Carpet Rug Mart,” but now I think… what an odd name for a store! And why did we have corporate sponsorship in first grade soccer??)

So I digress. Back to Alex and HIS first soccer practice. His uniform is blue and it says “Eagles” on it. (all the Eberwhite Elementary teams are “Eagles” and we play against other elementary schools)

As the coach outlined in the beginning of the practice, the basic premise of soccer for kindergartners is just to get them running around with a ball. So, there was lots of running around with soccer balls. During the “scrimmage” at the end, the only positions named were goalies… all the other kids just ran around and kicked the ball as hard as they could. Alex and a few others also did some cartwheels, just for fun.

Jameson did his best to make sure I met all the other parents. He felt that my water wasn’t enough—he had to attempt to grab all the other water bottles, and pet a few dogs in the process. With my well-rehearsed skills in making small talk, I was able to chat with quite a few of the parents—what a great way to meet people! And we all have something in common--a kindergartner at Eberwhite. So we shared what class we were going to be in and what we had heard about the teachers (surprisingly, or maybe not, it was all good!). This soccer-mom-thing could be pretty fun!
Sunday afternoon Alex and I bought all his new soccer gear, so of course we had to rush home and try it all out. Here he is with his new water bottles---just like my camelbak water bottle!---that he requested because Sylvie has a pink one. It will also be his water bottle to take to kindergarten. Cleats, socks, shin guards, shorts, and soccer ball!Close up of his shin guards:Action shot: (after this one he said, can you put the camera away, Mama, so we can play? And since I was so excited to be engaging with him and NOT playing Star Wars, I obliged)

Of course... I thought we were just playing soccer... turns out Star Wars is never too far from his mind. Here's a quote:

"When I'm a jedi, I'm going to start a Jedi Soccer Team!"

And another random quote, which I thought was great:

"The missile I'm going to make will be fifteen feet long and nineteen feet wide!"