Soccer and More Dancing

I've really got to go through the stuff on this camera and get some updates done. It's actually been a pretty busy past couple of weeks.

School has started back up for Gabe. Norah is VERY displeased about this. She is seeing zero advantage to being at home by herself. Today, we dropped Gabe off. Norah is no longer allowed to get out of the car while I do this because, the first day of class, she threw a MAJOR tantrum when it was time for her to leave. So, now, I let Gabe out and open the door and let him go in on his own. And Norah screams and cries the entire time. Today, she didn't show signs of stopping until we were about five blocks from home.

Through her sobs she said, "I want Momma home now."
To which I replied, "Momma is at work.
She'll be home tonight the same time she usually comes home."
"I want Momma!" she demanded.
"Sorry, honey. You're just stuck with me again."
"I don't want to be stuck with you!" And that pretty much sums up her attitude towards spending time with me for the past couple months.

Anyway, in addition to school, Gabe started soccer last night. Or footbol. Or footie. Or The Running Back and Forth for Two Hours Game. Or The Sport that the Rest of the World Thinks Matters. Whatever you want to call it. It was . . . interesting. Seriously, it's a good deal he's been in preschool for a year because I can't even imagine what his instruction following skills would be like if it hadn't been for that previous exposure. As it was, he was pretty much all over the place doing his own thing. And often his own thing didn't involve kicking the soccer ball. And, once in awhile, he'd end up back with the rest of the group to stand around for ten seconds before wandering off to do whatever again.

I got some videos, but because we're so far away, you can't hear much. And, of course, he rather failed to be super entertaining while the camera was running.

After awhile they started to play a game where Clark (their coach) was a crocodile (or alligator, I can't remember which, though I'm sure it's a very important detail). The kids were supposed to dribble past him while he chomped in their direction. If he caught one of them, they became a crocigator too and helped catch the kids on the next pass. Until all of them were crocigators. After the first game, many of the kids (Gabe included) lost interest in kicking the ball and, instead, tried to get caught so they could be crocs.

Honestly, how anyone can have the patience to coach kids this age is beyond me, but I'm thankful that people with that degree of patience and dedication exist. And, hopefully, Gabe will show some improvement in his listening skills when it's all said and done.

Yesterday we also received a package from Libby's folks that contained a princess/fairy/ballerina dress in it. After Norah put it on, we had her do a little dancing for us. I'm not banking on the idea that she's going to become a world class dancer some day--unless there is a world class in interpretive dance, that she might be able to achieve.