Jack's 1st Soccer Practice

In Arlington, soccer is about the only sport you can start at age 3 and even at that, it's 3 1/2, so Jack missed the cut off for last fall.  I anxiously signed him up for this spring though and even more anxiously waited for the call from the coach.  Well, it came yesterday in email form and stated that practice would begin that night at 6 PM and he needed a size 3 ball and he needed shin guards.  WHAT?  But I'm a planner.  And so is Jack.  If I had known about this over the weekend, we would have bought his cleats and practiced.  I would have been talking it up to him for days.  I would have laid out his practice attire, labeled his ball with his name and loaded the chairs in the car.  Travis would have arranged his schedule to be there because no dad really wants to miss his son's first ball practice.  But that's not always how life works, so instead, I frantically made a list on a post-it note at work of all I would have to accomplish between the time I picked up the kids at 4:30 until we walked onto the practice field at 6 and I sent Travis a series of texts - "What size is Jack's soccer ball?", "Do you wear your socks on the inside or outside of the shin guards?", "We must get him cleats this weekend!".  Now are you completely convinced of what a super anal person I am and why my oldest son is turning out just like me?  Lucky for us, my sister gave Jack a size 3 soccer ball, shin guards and soccer socks for Christmas.  The only problem there was finding it all.  Somehow I did manage to get it all done and we arrived on time for practice with Team Minton.  Jack seemed to enjoy himself, but I'm constantly reminded of just how laid back this child is.  I know, I know.  I just said he is anal like me, but in so many ways he completely chilled out like his daddy.  You see, they would stand in a line and take turns taking shots at the goal.  Jack would take his turn then go to the back of the line, sit on his ball and watch the other kids take 2 or 3 turns before he decided to get back in line.  Most kids would get upset at someone passing them in line, but not mine.

Jack's #1 fan in every sense of the word.  Jack scored that Toy Story chair at his last birthday party and he was generous enough to not only let his brother use it during his practice, but he even carried it onto the field for him.  Good thing.  Picture this clumsy mom walking down a hill carrying a chunky toddler, a diaper bag and my own chair and just imagine the disaster that could have occurred.  Notice the pacifier in mouth and you'll see his "binky" (blanky) in hand in another picture.  This child has become so very attached that it's hard to pry either from him even when he's eating.  I'm on a mission to limit at least the paci to his bed and the carseat, but I forget this when the whining starts.

Even Marshall found a buddy 19 days older than him whose big brother plays on Jack's team and even better, that buddy had a "binky" too!       

I was a little worried with Jack just making the 3 1/2 year cut off that he would be a lot smaller than the others, especially the 4 year olds, but as you can see, I had nothing to be worried about.  No girls were at practice, but it is a coed team, so I suspect there are girls on the team.  He took several unscheduled breaks because he was "firsty", another trait from his father. Give him a sippy cup and he doesn't sip. He downs it!  When practice was over, I asked if he had fun "Yep!".  I asked if he learned anything "Nope!"  No idea when the games start or even when the next practice is, but I know what we will be doing this weekend - shopping for those cleats!