Not a baby anymore

Stephen is old enough to play soccer now, go to preschool, get into and out of the car by himself, dress himself, and go potty by himself. My baby is no longer a baby. Tonight was Stephen's first night of soccer. In my crazy life of SWP (single working parent), orchestrating soccer was a huge event! Mini-mite soccer has parent participation to perform the exercises. Mr. Dan was his "parent" tonight. Mr. Dan is the coach of one of our local high school girls soccer teams and a great role model for Stephen. He has so much patience with coaching.

Stephen had a little trepidation right off the bat. Lots of kids, lots of adults, chaos everywhere as 90 three and four year olds were organized into "teams." Stephen got a ball and a jersey. I liked the orange! Erica was bummed Stephen didn't get Carolina blue.

Then playing with Mr. Dan warmed him up. He enjoyed following Mr. Dan in the exercises. Mr. Dan was so patient as Stephen tried to run backwards - more like hop backwards, run fast, and dribble the ball. Warm-ups were a little challenging, but ball skills were great!

The best part of playing organized sports is making friends. One little boy came up to Stephen and said, "We are teammates. Do you want to be my friend?" Then he ran off! When practicing Stephen played with a little boy and girl in a perfect triangle. They were so cute.

Eleanor was content watching soccer from my shoulders. I was able to pass the ball with kids and Mr. Dan, and keep Eleanor happy.

The whole experience was exciting, chaotic, overwhelming, and little sad that my boy was growing up. It was also anxiety provoking for me a little bit because of 90 little kids and about 140 adults. I would say about 50% of everyone there I recognized. I do try to keep work and personal life separated as much as possible. It was much more difficult to do that tonight. I prayed that without my uniform and with sunglasses on that I would blend in and not stick out. I pray that this continues! Plus if I get upset with my kids out there, then I won't be a bad role model. Here is the picture of choas: