First Soccer Game

Today was Bailey's very first soccer game. She was back and forth about even playing to begin with, her main reason for not wanting to was, "what if we don't win?" So of course I chime in with my motherly wisdom about how life is not always about winning.............yada yada. Anyway she decided to play and was pretty excited about it, a lot of kids in our neighborhood are playing this year so they all kick the ball around together. Practices had been going well and I thought game day would go off without a hitch, I had the video ready. Bailey decided to teach Ryan and I a little humility and how to keep our tempers in check. As we are getting out of the car she starts crying which eventually turns into wailing repeating over and over, I'm scared, wail wail, I'm scared. Scared of what I say, no response just more wailing. Wailing turns into screaming when the coach asks if shes ready to go in. Then she says she has to go potty, I say, no potties here, hold it and get out there, a parent then informs me that there port-a -potties, YEAH! In our jaunt to the bathroom I pull out my no messing around mom voice, it went something like this... "listen little lady, I paid 100 dollars for you to play soccer (I had to pay the dang late fee), and unless you want to pay me back every cent I suggest to get out there and play...... you have two choices, you can get out there and play, or we can go home and you can do jobs until you have earned enough money to pay me back. Those jobs include wiping baseboards, cleaning out closets etc. " I know it was a little harsh, but hey it worked :) She finally went into the game and she did great and loved it. It took her a couple of minutes but she got right in there and kicked the ball and almost scored on the last play of the game, she was scared she was going to kick the goalie in the face so she didn't really follow it in, but she did great. She was a completely different girl walking off the field than she was walking on. I think/hope we are in for a good season, she had a lot of fun and has the desire to run fast and score. I am hoping next week to get some good video. So on the way home, I once again I got to give her another of my classic lines, "you need to learn that mom is always right." She said, "sometimes mom is right, sometimes she's not." I guess I agree with that.

BEFORE & AFTER

Action Shot and Name Identification

(just in case I tried to leave her there, which was quite tempting early on)