Soccer Season

When we asked Paul what activities he wanted to do, he told us t-ball or soccer.  After looking around, I found a Saturday-only soccer league and signed him up.  We’ve really enjoyed it so far.  They have four practices and then games for the rest of the season.  They also offer skills classes and conditioning during the week, but we figured that at this age once a week was plenty. We finished our last practice yesterday, and I actually remembered to bring the camera.  Paul cracks me up when he’s playing.  His team is 4-5 years old, and since he’s shorter for four anyway, he’s the midget on the team.  This would make him slower as it is, but he gets so caught up in watching his feet as he runs that he frequently heads off in a completely different direction from where he should be going.  The hair cracks me up as well.  It’s so ridiculously long.  I really am going to cut it.  And the tongue.  Oh the tongue!!  I’m afraid he gets that from both sides of the family.  Aaron makes the funniest faces and does the oddest things with his tongue when he’s concentrating, and my dad is known for sticking out his tongue when he’s playing sports or thinking hard.  I guess it’s a sign of good brains, since those two are the two smartest people I know. What he lacks in speed and skill (up until this point, he was only vaguely familiar with the concept of a soccer ball), he makes up for in aggression.  He definitely doesn’t shy away from getting in there and going after the ball, even if the other kid is a head taller than he is.  That is, he’s aggressive when he’s not following the coach around begging to be the goalie.  That’s his absolute favorite.  I think it’s because he doesn’t have to run nearly as much.  He wouldn’t be my son if he didn’t try to figure out the easy way of doing (or avoiding) anything remotely difficult.   Hasn’t quite figured out how to make the foot connect with the ball consistently.  Don’t worry, we bought him a ball to practice with.  Good thing we put in a big yard!   Obviously thinking hard, since the tongue is out big time. Stop watching your feet, Paul! Much better.  And that hair just kept getting crazier and crazier. Yay!  Finally goalie!