the GREEN SLIME

You know those "Mom Plans" that you have before you are a mom, that you are so certain you will stick to.  My kids playing sports was one of those for me.  I definitely wanted them to try sports, but I really wanted them to wait until kindergarten or so, and not get competitively involved at too young of an age.  HOWEVER, when a certain 4-year-old witnessed one of his favorite friends playing soccer last fall, he was ALL IN.  He asked and asked and asked to get to play.  And when we didn't let him IMMEDIATELY, he just formed a team of his own, an imaginary team that lived in our home.  And that's when I knew... that I knew nothing.  He was ready to play, and was determined that Cbug would be on his team, too.  So, we signed up for soccer.

I could not have asked for a better introduction to organized sports for my boys.  They absolutely LOVED playing soccer for the first time.  And we couldn't have hand picked a better coach (with saint-like-patience), a better team of kids and parents...Actually, I let my good friend MRF handpick them :)

Let me introduce you to the

GREEN SLIME SOCCER TEAM

Before the first game, KJ asked if I thought that his "fans" would make a tunnel for him after the game.  GUESS WHAT?  They did!  This was a highlight for both boys after every game. Too funny.

And his "fans" were indeed amazing.  It was so much fun to watch people that love my boys, cheering for them.

(I don't know how we didn't get a picture of Grammy...she loves the Green Slime, too)

As for their competitiveness, I don't think we have to worry about their skills going to their heads anytime soon.  For approximately eight out of nine games, Cbugs soccer performance looked something like this...

Marching around the center circle, hanging from the goal, snuggling with Coach, running with his shirt over his face. 

You know.  Soccer stuff.

In the final game it was like a light switch flipped.  He actually CHASED THE BALL.  I was shocked.  He was thrilled.

KJ was totally into it all.  He was definitely a newbie, but he scored in the first game, regularly kept score, loved running back to the goal to play "defense" and couldn't wait to get the snack at the end of each game.  Here's a little video of his big goal!

But my favorite part was watching something we talk about all the time...TEAMWORK. 

We talk about these two being a "team" and watching out for each other.  It was so much fun to watch them have this good visual example of that life lesson, in a super fun way.

GO.GREEN.SLIME!

ABL