Soccer Mom

The boys started soccer the week before last. It's been going about as expected when you get a large flock of 2 & 3 year olds in a field.

For my guys, this is their first class of any time. For some of the kids, the parents put them in the day they turned 2. Conformity Compliance and ability to follow direction varies from kid to kid, week to week, no matter the age they started 'organized' sports.

The first week, as soon as we got to the field, Corwyn took a ball and began dribbling it down the field. Nathan started to do the same thing but then gave up and tried to leave (out the gate and on the way home). While carrying him back in, I noticed Corwyn had made it all the way to the other end of the field. I thought this was a good sign. But then he left his ball there and came back. And he didn't want me (or anyone to get the ball, he wanted it left there).

Then class actually started. Nathan stayed interested for 5 minutes in the 'airplane' practice (foot on ball, run around ball etc). Corwyn almost stayed interested, then Nathan dug into the snacks and he went to join them. The first 30 minutes of that 45 minute class was spent with them snacking. But then an activity caught their eye and they mostly participated with the part of the group that was also participating for the rest of it.

Despite this, I approached week 2 with some optimism. Rather than let them take 30+ minutes to walk the 10 minutes to the Community Center, I brought the wagon. No tired kids at the start of this one. And it was better. Corwyn loved almost any of the activities that involved an actual ball. He loved when they all rushed the goal with the balls. Nathan liked running to me and back to the coach and to me when they practiced that. Nathan got in a snit about something and wandered down the (fenced in) field and Corwyn really got into catching Mommy's tail (a shirt tucked into my pants). Luckily Auntie S had show up with her dog Bishop to the class and took care of Nathan who happily 'walked' the dog back to me.  Overall, it was a huge improvement and I think will get better each week. They are still not 3 and they are where they should be developmentally. I admit having two of them is harder than for the other families who often have two parents present with one kid and trying to get him/her to participate, but we're doing okay.

I got them soccer balls so they can 'practice' if they want to. They need to learn to carry the ball safely so it doesn't roll into the street though and we're still working on that. And if any of my local friends want to come take them to the field across the street after work or on weekends to do so, please do. (hint, hint, hint)