Birthday Parties, Soccer, and Three Year Olds

On Saturday, Grant participated in his first team sport -- soccer. It was his first practice, and at the end, they played an impromptu game with another team of three and four year old kids.

Soccer with three year olds was about what you'd expect. Some kids actually went for the ball, some ran back and forth between the field and mommy, and others were content to graze like Ferdinand the Bull.

For most of the morning, Grant was relatively engaged in the actual playing of the sport. He seemed like he understood the basics; although, he did repeatedly line the ball up with the goal using his hands. I explained to him that whoever the geniuses were that invented this game decided that you couldn't use your hands. The expression of confusion he returned mimicked my own. In the end, it seemed like things were going along very smoothly, until Natalie informed Grant that she was BETTER at soccer than him.

Grant and Natalie were introduced to each other early in the practice. Natalie informed another teammate that she wanted to stand next to "the kid with the cool moves." (This came shortly after Grant had shown her some his patented dance moves. What girl could resist?) By later taunting Grant, she taught him a valuable lesson about the ladies -- they shouldn't be allowed to play on the same field as boys. (I kid, I kid...)

Anyway, after Natalie told Grant that she was the better midfielder, he immediately began hollering and growling (his latest habit) and stormed off the field. Erin and I did our best to calm him down and get him back onto the field, but his interest was pretty well gone for the day. Luckily practice was almost over anyway. Natalie 1, Grant 0.

Today we celebrated my nephew's first birthday. Happy Birthday, Drew Michael! Watching Drew Michael wander all over my sister's house got me to thinking a lot tonight about how quickly kids develop in the first couple of years. This, combined with Grant's soccer and dance moves, got me to thinking a lot about just how blessed we are to have healthy, active kids.

As I sit here, it makes me tear up to think about something...ANYTHING...taking away the beautiful energy and spunk that Grant possesses. He has an absolute passion for anything he gets involved with, including things as wide ranging as soccer and dinosaurs. He just lights up at the world around him, and it really is one of the things in life right now that I truly adore. The fact that Grant and Grace are so healthy and vibrant is a gift from God, and I just don't want to ever take that for granted.

I hope as parents that we're able to focus and cultivate that energy in all of our kids. It's a wonderful thing to look at both Grant and Grace right now and think that they can do anything they want to in life (as long as it doesn't involve the mob or a stripper pole). And it's pretty great that we, as parents, get to watch our kids grow up and help them along the way. What a gift...