Turning Two?

These are my nephews, Logan, Ethan & Brayden (L to R). Ethan, the youngest of the three boys, just celebrated his 2nd birthday today. He's only a couple of months older than Johnny. That means that Johnny will be turning 2 soon too, how can this be? A 2 year old is an official toddler, I won't be able to call him my baby anymore. Today after his nap, Alex was at a friend's house and I sat down with him to snuggle for a minute and he sat in my lap for at least half an hour. Just laying there letting me snuggle him in my arms. The whole time I was thinking about all the things I should be doing but he was being so still and so cuddly, I couldn't give it up. Alex never was a snuggle bug so I don't take it for granted with him. And here he is coming up on his 2nd birthday, I am racking my brain with a solution on how I can keep my little boy.....little. I'm going to have to face the facts and put him in a big kid bed (yes he's still in a crib) and take away his binki and make him grow up. I'm having a hard time making this transition because I really don't want him to grow up. Isn't there any way around it???

"Bubboo!!!" (As Johnny would say)

Oops! I dumped a little too many bubbles into the bath. Normally I don't do bubble baths but the kids were in need of extra cleansing so I figured what the heck. There are more bubbles in the tub than water in this picture. The kids stood up and their entire bodies were covered in bubbles. Needless to say, they loved it. Not too convenient for rinsing off though, that was a little tricky.

"Soccer is so much fun!"

Today was the big day, I really had no idea which way the coin would toss but Alex got in there and just had fun. At first, any time a team would make a goal she would run out and give me and Brad each a hug and run back in. I'm pretty sure she thought that any time either team made a goal, it was victory for all the kids on the field. And we all cheered any time either team made a goal. Nothing wrong with that, they don't keep score anyway. Although I found out that the kids do keep individual scores for themselves. Most of them remembered how many goals they made and one of the girls on her team would call out to her parents "That's 5! or 6 or 7!" any time she made a goal. She was always right in there, confident at her ball handling skills. It helped that soccer was her family's sport and this wasn't her first year playing. But she didn't compare herself to anyone else, she was just bubbly and excited for the game. Alex kept a safe distance usually when there were too many kids huddled around the ball but she chased after that huddle of kids quite enthusiastically and when the chance came that the huddle broke up, she made her first goal! Maybe next year she'll remember this to be a good experience and ask to sign up for another season of soccer. Then she can be the girl right in the middle of the huddle calling out to her parents "That's 5!" On the way home we were talking and she tells me excitedly "Soccer is so much fun!" And that's all I wanted to hear.

Bonkers for Balls

The kids and I made a trip to Wal-Mart this morning and in passing through the toy department to find a gift for an upcoming birthday the kids both googled over some balls on sale in an isle bin. Johnny is nuts for all sorts of balls and anything round enough to be a ball. And when a ball isn't present he'll use whatever's handy and pretend it is a ball. It hailed today and he was going bonkers over all the tiny bouncing balls falling from the sky!

Well Alex picked out a nice big disney princess ball like the one our neighbor girl has that she has been coviting for months now. Johnny didn't really care what was on it so we picked out a cool spiderman ball for him. He has never stayed in the cart better when I threatened to take away his ball if he got out. When we got to the register I had to pick him up and hold him over the counter so she could scan the ball while held safely in his clutches. When we got home the kids played out back while I unloaded the groceries. Johnny carried it up and down the ladder to the trampoline and held onto it the whole time he was on the trampoline. When they were riding bikes he picked one with a bucket on the front to hold his ball while he was scooting around. He didn't fight coming inside like he usually does as long as he got to bring his ball in with him. It was soon nap time and he was most insistant on taking it to bed with him. So Howie in one hand and the ball in the other, he drifted fast asleep. Upon awaking he still had his precious ball in his hands and then came the delima of his post-bedtime sippy. It seemed to make much more sense to drop his precious Howie to hold his sippy rather than his new ball. Needless to say, I think he's in love and I'm trying to figure out how I will get him to bed tonight without tucking his ball into bed right next to him.

Conflict of Interests

A couple of weeks ago we had a meeting for Alex's soccer team and they handed out uniforms. This is about how it went:
Coach: "Ok, Alex it's your turn to pick. What number do you want 2 or 5?"
Alex: (blank look on her face)
Me: "Pick a number Alex. Do you want 2 or 5?"
Alex: (blank look continues...) then "No Thanks".
I guess they weren't her color, I doubt they make "red, pink, and sparkly" soccer uniforms.

Well yesterday was her first soccer game. She's been looking forward to it for so long now. Dispite the fact that her uniform was yellow and green (for heaven's sake) and the shorts "looked like a skirt" and the shirt will still fit her when she's in junior high, she was excited to get dressed down for the game, shin guards and all. Cleats aren't neccessary for this age seeing as though their field is about the size of my bed. We got there and Alex realized that there were boys on her team and not only that, they were on the team she would be playing against too! The whole talk about why she needed shin guards led her to believe that these boys would be trying to kick her in the shins and "what if they kicked her in her knees, they didn't have a guard?" So she did not want to go out and play or even warm up with her team. It didn't help that we were a couple of minutes late (we had to stop at the porta potties on the way to her field). We tried to encourage her and put her mind at ease and finally bribed her with a trip to the park after the game. Well finally at the last quarter (they have 4, 5 minutes quarters) she decided that she wanted to go to the park after the game and it was worth getting "kicked in the knee". So she gets in and kicks the ball to the team mate next to her to start the game and then stands there with her arms folded for a minute until she walks off the field annoucing that she's done. On the way home we talked about all the things she was scared to do the first time she tried them (like jumping off of the high dive). She seems confident now that she will play in her next game and do just fine. We will do some practicing this week to build her confidence.

I just had to ask myself, "what's wrong with me?" Why did I put her in soccer and not dance? I know that she would love dance. I have visions of taking my daughter rock climbing and kayaking some day. I want to take her backpacking and climb to the top of a mountain with her. I want her to play in the mud and love the rain. If she gets in to dance or cheerleading, what will we have to talk about? I guess I'm trying to raise myself the perfect best friend and I need to remember that it's not what I want, it's what she wants that is most important. I am going to ask my friend about sign ups for her daughter's dance class today. Or at least look into a gymnastics class or something a little less agressive than soccer. I'll let you know how next Saturday's game goes.